Astral Pet Store (WN)
chapter-1183

Chapter 1183: Advancement

Phew!

The next moment—Su Ping was pulled into the bloody mouth by an attractive force.

He tried resisting, but his strength wasn’t enough to counter the effect. He inevitably flew into the mouth as an unknown power fell over him.

Su Ping instantly felt that his body and consciousness were destroyed. The world blackened, and he returned to the resurrection space.

“Instant kill…” Su Ping’s lips trembled. He was absolutely incapable of resisting when facing that Celestial beast.

The gap between them was too wide.

Revival on the spot!

Su Ping waited a dozen seconds before he chose to resurrect. However, he was consumed by a destructive power again, even before he could open his mouth.

He could only return to the resurrection space.

“What’s going on?” Su Ping felt dazed. Was the Celestial State beast chewing his body?

This time, Su Ping wasn’t in a hurry to go out. He could remain inside the resurrection space for an hour; he would wait it out as much as he could.

He chose to resurrect on the spot when the system’s reminder popped up.

Hardly had he returned when he saw an enormous shadow looming next to him. The massive creature clearly noticed his reappearance. It opened its scary eyes in the murky and dark soul ocean.

There was obvious astonishment in the creature’s eyes.

Damn it, why didn’t it leave after eating? Su Ping changed his expression and quickly dived to the bottom of the sea.

But hardly had he moved when he was surrounded by a force again. Su Ping felt he was grabbed and pulled towards the soul beast.

He was soon pulled to a place close to one of the soul beasts’ enormous eyes. It was gazing at him.

The thing observed him for a long time. Su Ping tried to struggle, all to no avail.

The soul beast stared at him for a while. Suddenly, a bubble popped up and covered him.

He instantly felt that his body was confined and all his power was dwindling. He was under the pressure of a special force field and couldn’t get out.

Is this thing trying to seal me and study me carefully? Su Ping’s expression changed somewhat.

Just as he expected, the soul beast turned around and dived down after being stored in the bubble; Su Ping was pulled along like a tear in the guy’s eye.

The environment became dimmer and dimmer, until it was completely dark.

Su Ping focused his power on his eyes, but he could only see things within a thousand meter radius.

Is it taking me back to its nest? This isn’t so bad, though; I don’t have to finish the journey on my own… Su Ping’s eyes glittered.

The soul beast stopped shortly after. There was a complex nest floating in the soul ocean; the soul beast landed right in the middle of it. Many undead creatures were floating around.

All of them backed off when they saw the soul beast, only gathering after the greater beast lay down in the nest.

Su Ping then saw that the smoke on the soul beast was retracting, gradually turning from an enormous mountain to a being several thousand meters tall. The shrinking continued until it shrank to dozens of meters tall as a magnificent specter.

Its body’s upper half resembled a brawny man, while its lower half was a beast with many strange limbs.

He extended his hand and grabbed Su Ping to observe him carefully. Then, he used his fingernails to squeeze one of Su Ping’s arms and then tear it off.

Su Ping’s arm came off instantly; the pain was excruciating.

The brawny man observed Su Ping. He went into deep thought after seeing how the young man’s wound was gradually healing. It then threw Su Ping’s arm into his mouth.

Moments later, he tore Su Ping apart from the waist, then ate his body parts one after the other.

It didn’t take long for only his head to remain.

“This guy is studying me!” Su Ping was infuriated, but all his words were blocked by the bubble.

His vitality path had been suppressed by some sort of power; his own healing was extremely slow.

Su Ping felt enfeebled soon after.

The muscular man then darted out a white snake towards Su Ping and pulled an illusory being out of his head.

Su Ping instantly felt cold. His soul had left his body; he could feel that the head behind him was already stock-still.

Is this the Naihe Soul Ocean? It’s too cold without a body here! Su Ping shivered constantly when he felt the chill.

The muscular man, however, was astonished to watch Su Ping shiver. It was clear that Su Ping’s soul wasn’t on a high level; it wasn’t special either. It was rather unbelievable that he could endure the ocean’s corruption.

He observed for a moment, and then ate Su Ping’s soul piece by piece.

Su Ping felt the greatest misery when his soul was torn apart, all because he lacked the protection of his body.

Still, he gritted his teeth and cursed, not begging in the slightest.

The last piece of his soul was soon minced and eaten up, and he returned to the resurrection space.

Damn it, this thing regards me as research material. It won’t let me go until it figures out everything. I’ll be immediately noticed even if I resurrect; escaping is impossible.

The guy will only become more interested in me, if I resurrect again and again. It won’t let me go until it figures out everything about me!

How can I leave?

Su Ping thought quickly. Considering the circumstances, random resurrection seemed to be the only option.

But if he were to randomly resurrect, where would he end up in this vast Chaotic Realm of the Undead?

To escape from a Celestial… Su Ping was grim; the task was basically impossible. He might be able to do that if he were in the Ascendant State, but the gap between him and the Celestial at the moment was still too wide.

He wouldn’t be able to fight a Celestial, even if he condensed seven small worlds!

After all, he was only in the Star State…

“Huh?”

Suddenly, Su Ping’s eyes glittered. That’s right; he was in the Star State, but he could become a Star Lord at any moment!

He wouldn’t be a match for a Celestial opponent, even if he became a Star Lord, as his combat ability would not increase significantly. However…

It’s worth trying.

Su Ping’s eyes glittered.

He communicated with the system and displayed the ranking of all species.

Even though he was in the resurrection space, it was no problem to talk to the system.

Su Ping soon found his ranking.

He was ranked at the top among all human beings!

That meant that his combat ability while in the Star State was unparalleled in the history of humankind!

Five small worlds plus a really sturdy body were indeed beyond anyone’s imagination!

He checked the rankings of all species, and he saw that he had risen from the nineteenth, all the way to the sixth!

I was only in the nineteenth spot when I had four small worlds. My ranking has soared after I established an additional small world. It’s true that every small world is like a huge deal. Maybe I’ll reach the top three if I establish a sixth small world while in the Star State… Su Ping’s eyes glittered.

Once he became a Star Lord, his combat ability would be comparable with that of other Star Lords.

His ranking would probably drop by then.

However, Su Ping wasn’t obsessed with being the best in the Star State in history yet. After all, there was still a long journey ahead of him. He needed his strength to grow!!

Besides, none of the best in history could be seen anymore; it was possible that they died prematurely.

I never sought a breakthrough because it seemed unnecessary to me. The improvement to the Star Lord State wouldn’t significantly boost my combat ability. I’ve already exploited the Star Lord potential. Given the right opportunity, I’ll be able to rise to the Ascendant State…

However, it seems to be the only option at the moment.

Su Ping took a deep breath. He didn’t have anyone to protect him in the Naihe Soul Ocean; he couldn’t go any deeper on his own, and he had to try his luck.

An hour passed rather quickly.

Su Ping resurrected and immediately saw the soul beast, who was actually staring back at him, as if knowing that he would return.

This guy…

Su Ping was grim. He immediately saw a bubble flying towards him, trying to confine him again.

However, Su Ping unleashed all his power and revealed the five small worlds before the bubble approached. He also released the shackle he had on at the same time.

His surging power found an opening, and everything gushed out.

Su Ping’s aura rose at a fast pace, even causing ripples in the soul ocean.

Dazzling golden light burst out. The divine power hidden inside his body was unleashed without restraint, illuminating the dark ocean and making it look golden.

All the undead creatures around the nest were stunned. Then, they became excited, throwing hungry gazes at Su Ping.

The soul beast knew that their reaction wasn’t good, its expression changing a bit as a result. It released a power that looked like a black curtain, preventing Su Ping’s divine power from being detected by anyone else.

However, right when the black curtain had covered him—a golden lightning came down from the sky and struck and pierced the curtain!

The soul beast was shocked, it looked at the sky.

All the seawater began to revolve, turning into a vortex that led straight to the sky.

A vacuum had been formed in the murky soul ocean, with the nest and Su Ping’s body as the center.

Golden lightning bolts were everywhere, coming from the sky above the vortex.

It was a Heavenly Tribulation caused by advancement!

“Roar!!”

The brawny beast was furious.

Once again, it tried to cover Su Ping’s aura with darkness. However, the thunderclouds above seemed to be infuriated. A lightning strike resembling an axe struck down and tore all darkness apart!

The brawny soul beast shivered, as it detected some sort of power; it seemed to have alarmed some sort of being.

It looked up at the sky with a mix of shock and fury while shivering, not daring to do anything else.

The ocean was instantly boiling too. Countless undead creatures left their nests and approached the vortex as the water revolved, all because of the tempting divine power.

Soon after, all of them saw the young god who was glittering at the bottom of the ocean!

“This guy…”

Hovering above the ocean—the black bird detected the unexpected change as it was about to leave the ocean. It couldn’t help but look at the vortex, only to see a golden flash at the very bottom.

The beast was rather shocked, not expecting that Su Ping would go as deep and cause such a ruckus!

“He’s blatantly releasing his divine power. Is he asking to be killed?” mumbled the black bird.

Many more soul beasts and undead creatures were gathered around the vortex. When seen from the depths of the ocean, they looked like Buddha statues, except that they looked evil and scary. All of them were gazing at Su Ping with shock and greed.

Roar!

Some undead creatures up above couldn’t hold back their natural instincts, roaring and charging into the vortex in the hopes of approaching Su Ping and eating him.

However, the thunderclouds in the sky seemed to become infuriated the moment the undead creatures entered the vortex. They expanded in size when a lightning bolt struck down.

There was a boom, and several undead creatures were hit; they were immediately obliterated.

The scene left many of the soul beasts and undead creatures in awe. However, some of them were still too bloodthirsty to hold themselves back. They jumped into the vortex and charged at Su Ping again.

The lightning bolts continued glittering and illuminating the entire Naihe Soul Ocean, annihilating all the undead creatures that entered the danger zone.

Furthermore, the undead creatures approaching were considered as Su Ping’s allies by the tribulation. The cloud range kept increasing as a result, turning from a continent into a medium-sized planet. It floated above the vast Naihe Soul Ocean, while emitting a ghastly lightning aura!

“He’s caused a Heavenly Tribulation of the gods!”

“It’s been a long time since I saw one!”

“Weren’t they already extinct? How can there still be a Heavenly Tribulation? Could it be…”

Many undead creatures who had awakened their consciousness were shocked and suspicious.

Some whose auras were profound seemed to be excited.

“It’s a Heavenly Tribulation of the gods. Our clan is still there!”

“The Reincarnation Path has been cut apart. We cannot return to our homeland anymore, but our people have found us!”

Many of the undead creatures were souls of deceased gods; they had the memories of their previous lives as gods and other creatures. However, their other previous lives weren’t as strong as their lives as gods, so they would always consider themselves as gods.

Even though they dwelled in the Naihe Soul Ocean as undead creatures, they still considered themselves gods, and they had been conspiring as an alliance.

The vast ocean wasn’t entirely chaotic; it had been claimed by plenty of forces.

Those factions were divided based on the species they used to belong to when they were alive.

“Is he here to guide us home? If not, let’s just eat him!”

“He had us starve for ages… It’s unforgivable!”

Some undead creatures who were previously gods had strange expressions. They saw themselves as gods, but their hearts had already warped; they were as evil as the rest of the undead creatures.

Su Ping had broken free from the brawny soul beast at the bottom of the ocean while the undead creatures and soul beasts were watching. That strong guy no longer dared to get any closer to him, fearing that he would be considered as Su Ping’s ally and thus be punished by the Heavenly Tribulation.