Astral Pet Store (WN)
chapter-696

“Sure.”

Ye Wuxiu and Li Yuanfeng turned around and left.

They wanted to hurry back to the Longjiang Base City to help improve defenses.

Gu Siping took a deep breath after they left. He pulled a long face and sneered; then, he changed to an indifferent look.

He stood up and gazed past the cottage.

“I think… it is not too late yet…” he murmured to himself.

Longjiang Base City.

The materials Su Ping had asked for had been delivered to him in less than two hours from the moment he called Qin Duhuang.

Those materials were quite precious; forces in the upper class controlled their supply. The factions were quite informed, and still they had not heard word that three continents were gone. They had only started to hear news about the Nordic Continent’s destruction.

The establishment of the three defense lines as well as the frequent appearance of the normally elusive legendary battle pet warriors made those forces realize that the recent strikes were anything but common.

Su Ping was urgently requesting those materials. His call was swiftly answered by those forces.

“Keep going. I need more… The more the better!”

Su Ping told Qin Duhuang and Xie Jinshui to contact the other legendary battle pet warriors and keep searching for more materials.

The stock he had was only enough to construct four Wandering Spirit Formations, which could only trap a limited number of beast kings. “Yes!”

“I understand.” Qin Duhuang and Xie Jinshui quickly left to continue the search. Su Ping grabbed the materials and the Dark Dragon Hound took him away from the Longjiang Base City.

He was going to the east side first, going fast while casually checking if he had missed any beast kings still in hiding. He reached the ocean side in less than 15 minutes. Nothing was out of the ordinary as he checked along the way.

In front of him was the glittering surface of the ocean. Su Ping was able to tell that there were some wild beasts swimming in the far distance, but they were all of low rank.

He looked around to find a suitable spot.

Next, he started building the formation.

He took out the materials and laid them out to build the basic layout accordingly.

He would pour astral powers into each formation node. The Wandering Spirit Formation’s shape was rectangular, three thousand meters long and five hundred meters wide. Once ready, it would entrap anything or anyone while provoking an absence of consciousness in them. Only spirits or those particularly strong in resolve could set themselves free. Otherwise, only external blunt force could destroy the formation.

Su Ping finished the formation ten minutes later.

All the nodes were firmly pinned to the ground. He told the Dark Dragon Hound to reinforce the formation nodes by adding rock layers around it. Only Void State beast kings or above would be strong enough to break them.

Su Ping was happy about his work; he left that spot right away, not intending to linger.

He took a detour to a valley he had noticed on his way over. If the oceanic wild beasts invaded from the east-targeting the defense line at the center of the continent—the valley would be the only way the wild beasts could take. They could use water to fill the valley and turn it into a river!

Let’s see how you like this trap.

Su Ping dove down and landed in the valley; he then started building the formation in a flat spot he had chosen.

Each formation was merely effective within a certain range. The formations’ size was negligible when compared to the scope of the entire continent.

Su Ping had to build as many formations as possible in order for beasts to step into every trap when they arrived!

That would be enough to disrupt the wild beasts.

Su Ping then built another formation somewhere away from the valley, as he only had one share of materials left. He called Qin Duhuang on his way back to confirm whether more materials had been collected.

The answer was yes.

Seven extra shares of materials had been collected!

Su Ping was happy thanks to this answer; he then told Qin Duhuang to continue collecting more materials. Su Ping also requested from the latter to tell the legendary battle pet warriors of the three defense lines to make a public statement: no matter who, hiding such materials would be deemed as committing a felony!

That was right! He understood that people could be selfish sometimes. Still, it was a matter of life and death for the entire human race. If would be stupid to hide such materials at this time!

Qin Duhuang didn’t object.

He had no idea what Su Ping was doing with the materials and he didn’t have time to ponder about it; he simply followed his orders to a tee.

Su Ping picked another location that the wild beasts would potentially consider as a convenient route; that would be the place to build another formation with the available materials. He had built four arrays on the east side.

That… was not enough.

Compared to the vast eastern side, the four formations were like four pebbles that everyone would overlook. Su Ping would have been fine if he had enough material to build hundreds, or even thousands of such formations. That way the entire east side would turn into a trap, and the wild beasts would be angry enough to cuss at him!

Soon after, Su Ping arrived in Longjiang. The several shares of materials had been delivered to his store; Tang Ruyan received them on his behalf and he immediately left after picking up the new stock. He would then head to the west side.

He built five formations on the west side and kept two shares of materials for later.

As added bonus, he had found a well hidden group of beasts on the west side. There were eight Void State beast kings, over twenty Ocean State creatures and over a hundred thousand beasts of different kinds. That was a terrifying force; that army of wild beasts would have been enough to make the entire continent panic in the old days.

However, that army of wild beasts was just average by the current standards.

Finishing that group of wild beasts didn’t put Su Ping in a happy mood. If anything, his mind felt even more burdened.

In the meantime, legendary battle pet warriors of the three defense lines were having a video conference.

At the Xing-Jing Defense Line-apart from the legendary battle pet warriors that were already here—Xue Yunzhen and the bald guy had also joined in.

She directly took command of the situation as soon as she arrived.

After all, combat strength represented the say in all matters. The number of legendary battle pet warriors on the Blue Planet was small, not to mention those who were at the Void State. Not only did Xue Yunzhen have the Void rank, she had a wealth of experience. She was better than the twelve legendary battle pet warriors from the Tower combined, and she had also earned credit and fame because of her service in the Deep Caves.

She was the representative of the Xing-Jing Defense Line in the video conference.

Xiang Fengran was representing the Sheng-Long Defense Line. The man who had originally been in command there was Yuan Tianchen, who had recently broken through to the mid Void State. Still, he had no other choice but to step down since Xiang Fengran was at the late stage and had been serving in the Deep Caves for hundreds of years.

Jing Shen led his team and went to the other defense line where he also took over. Therefore, the video conference was actually among those three: Xue Yunzhen, Xiang Fengran and Jing Shen.

They quickly established their respective responsibilities.

The defense project commenced right after the meeting Some legendary battle pet warriors went to help the general public relocate; others went to mobilize forces to procure money or manpower for the construction. The job for the general public was to focus on the relocation efforts and avoid trouble.

Thanks to the addition of Xue Yunzhen and her friends, the number of legendary battle pet warriors at the three defense lines were doubled!

Many issues were quickly solved. Those of lower ranks and the general public were given a chance to witness what the legendary rank meant.

No one dared to say no to legendary battle pet warriors. The work was carried out in a smooth and orderly manner.

Su Ping came back from the south. He then received a call from Qin Duhuang who told him they had decided where the reinforced defense project would be built.

Su Ping asked for the details.

Qin Duhuang told him about the location and the areas covered. Su Ping then noticed something peculiar… The defense project would cover the base cities that were part of the Heaven Lock. What a coincidence.

“Who decided this?” Su Ping asked.

Qin Duhuang immediately understood that Su Ping had noticed something was off. “Miss Xue, Mr. Xiang and the other legendary battle pet warriors reached a consensus. All of them pitched in.”

Su Ping was about to ask for more specific information but then decided against it.

The current priority was to defend against the wild beasts. Nothing else would matter if they weren’t able to do that.

Some of them know about the Heaven Lock and that Tower Master has to know as well. I wonder what he thinks of that formation… Su Ping shook his head.

Su Ping hurried to the north after picking up more materials.

Construction planning started right after the location was decided. Many experts in military facilities were taking part in de project development.

Professionals were appointed to handle the technical work. Legendary battle pet warriors were powerful but they weren’t knowledgeable in all aspects.

All the summoned experts were gathered at conference rooms.

All of them had extensive practical experience Some of them had already been enjoying their retirement days. They answered the call, said goodbye to their partners and kids and hurried over to the conference rooms across the defense line.

After heated discussions that lasted about an hour and a half, the final construction drawings were approved.

The next step was construction.

The drawings were distributed to all related parties. The legendary battle pet warriors had then taken the mantle as team leaders. They helped mobilize resources to facilitate the construction process.

Battle pet warriors were also involved in the construction; some of their pets had no combat strength but they had other special abilities. For example, there were pets able to naturally produce nuts and bolts, while other pets could become excavators after some training.

There were pets in every aspect of humanity’s day-to-day living. Apart from those used for practical purposes, there were other pets that were only kept for aesthetic reasons. Of course, when compared to battle pets, those two types were mediocre and much cheaper.

Some base cities received relocation instructions while the defense construction was in progress.

There were groups of people who had moved recently, but then they were told to relocate again before they even had a chance to settle down. Some people who had gone through the hassle were actually happy to see it was finally time to move for some of the previously lucky ones who hadn’t moved before. On the other hand, some were upset because they had just settled down; they had purchased fixed assets and invested in certain businesses. Many were worried; they felt their situation was as precarious as it could be.

Regardless, a mass migration led by the legendary battle pet warriors took place. People were unwilling to move and some even protested, but they had no choice but to give in due to the pressure exerted by the legendary pet warriors.

Some of the local tyrants knew that relocating would cost them heavily. However, they too had to follow orders; otherwise, they would lose more than just resources! They would lose their lives!

Dragon Swamp Continent-In a Class A Base City. There was a time when people swarmed to the teleportation portal. The passageway had been cut off and wild beasts attacked them. The base city was no longer crowded with people; beasts had taken their place.

All the buildings were left in ruins. Some human remains were still dangling down from several places.

“So, we are going to save that continent to the very last…” the Thousand-eyed Demon Beast sneered and said in an unpleasant voice, “The most powerful of those puny things are gathered there. Saving the best food for last. I like that.”

“Our lord has a bigger agenda, food is only a part of it,” said a toad covered in messy dots. “Haven’t you heard from that fellow called Heavenly King of Good and Evil? There’s a formation in that place, which has sealed off astral powers and territories of the world. Our lord doesn’t want to see new problems crop up unexpectedly by destroying the formation before the time is right.” The Thousand-eyed Demon Beast turned a dozen of its eyes to look at the toad. “Listen, there’s no limit in the universe; this world is just a ball. Haven’t you heard that there are other puny things above the sky? They say they are much better than the puny things here.”

“Hmm, I don’t care if this world is a ball or something. I’m only thinking that this is going to be our territory in the future. Those things from above the sky have already left. The Otherworld Heavenly King said that those puny things don’t come often. We can make them stay when they come back… We can get information about the world outside from them.”