Astral Pet Store

“Su Ping…”

Mo Fengping committed that name to memory. He knew that Han Yuxiang was right. At least, he didn’t think he could ever forget that intimidating person. “A titled battle pet warrior less than 24 years old. So, he is just as old as the students…” Mo Fengping murmured to himself.

“Sir…”

Xu Kuang was another stunned witness. All of a sudden, he felt something was waking up inside him.

He thought Su Ping was his peer the first time he met him.

As Su Ping showed more and more of his skills, Xu Kuang felt the gap kept on widening and he was more than willing to call Su Ping his teacher.

As time passed, he slowly started to treat Su Ping as a senior. But there, right then, he realized once again that Su Ping was of his age.

Su Ping was a teacher he recognized.

He remembered how Su Ping had killed titled battle pet warriors at the Elite League and his heroic deeds while protecting the Longjiang Base City. Xu Kuang felt his blood was boiling.

He wanted to be like that!

Inside the cave to reach the peak.

Su Ping and the young stenographer found their way in.

“Tell me about the Dragon Tower,” Su Ping requested.

He could tell that the youth was at the fifth rank, which was not bad considering his age. At least by Longjiang Base City’s standards, he could have been admitted to the best academy.

“Of course.”

The young man was very polite. “Sir, there are 33 levels in the Dragon Tower. The higher it is, the more difficult it becomes. There are evil things and other demonic things, which are more powerful the higher you reach. Reaching the 10th level would mean he or she has a combat strength close to the titled rank.

“The 13th level means the person has combat strength close to the intermediate position of the titled rank.

“The 16th level would signify the upper position of the titled rank!

“The 18th level would imply the peak of the titled rank!

“It is said that anyone who can reach the 20th level can be named Fate Challenger

“Sir, are you here to find your sister, Miss Su?”

“You know her?”

Su Ping turned to him.

The young person felt how Su Ping’s gaze fell on him and somehow became nervous. “I met her a couple of times, I don’t know her that much. She’s nice. She’s not like most of the students here… They’re too arrogant. They would hardly talk to people like me, if at all.”

V

Su Ping nodded. “She was here before she went missing. Were you commissioned here back then? Did you notice anything strange?” The young man shook his head. “I was on duty but everything was normal. I told the Vice Principal that she had tried for the 15th one but failed after she reached the 14th level. She left the Dragon Tower and then went missing. I don’t know where she could have gone.”

Su Ping gazed at the young man. “Did you see her leave with your own eyes?”

“Yes.” The young man nodded, still nervous.

Su Ping looked at him. He didn’t think the young man was lying but it made things even more confusing She left?

So, she didn’t go missing in the Dragon Tower.

Su Ping thought.

“Sir, we’re about to reach the first level.”

The young man’s voice pulled Su Ping back to reality.

Standing in front of them was a huge, black door. There were other stenographers using the same clothing as the young man. All of them were young and one of them seemed to be the leader.

“Are you here for the challenge?” that apparent leader asked Su Ping.

Su Ping darted a look at the door. Since he was already there, he thought it would be good to see the 14th level first.

“Yeah.” Su Ping nodded.

“Sir, this is a position finder. Be careful. You can come out at any time if you cannot take it. I will keep the record.” The young man handed a small silver pin to Su Ping. Su Ping took it over. “Aren’t you going with

me?”

“I cannot even if I wanted to.” The young man blushed.

Su Ping stuffed the silver pin in his pocket and went toward that black door.

Once the door was closed, the other stenographers asked that young man, “Sen, who is that guy? Are you afraid of him?”

The nervousness had vanished from that young man. “That is someone we cannot upset. You know well that Senior Fei just got out from this place, right? That person just taught Senior Fei a lesson. The Vice Principal Han was there when it happened and he didn’t do a thing.”

“That guy taught Senior Fei a lesson?”

“No!”

“The Vice Principal didn’t stop that man? Are you kidding, man?”

The young man’s peers were full of doubts.

“Hmm.” The young man named Sen didn’t elaborate.

Bang.

The door closed. Su Ping felt he was in a different world; he could no longer feel anything from outside.

There was a dim-lit passageway in front of him.

The lighting came from the lamps hung on the walls. The light flickered, casting a red hue to the passage.

Su Ping felt somewhat uncomfortable as he gazed into the passageway; it was as if something were staring at him in the darkness.

That discomforting sense was getting stronger as he moved onward.

Su Ping soon realized why he was feeling so uncomfortable.

It was his instincts sending him a warning!

Something could hurt me here?

Su Ping was surprised. According to that young man, he was at the first level of the Dragon Tower.

Even the average student would be able to get through that level. Why was he feeling danger?

So, was this danger from elsewhere? From someone further inside?

Su Ping didn’t waste time thinking about it. He strode forward.

Either way, since he was already there, he had to make the trip worthwhile.

Not long after, he began to smell some blood in the air. Following that, Su Ping saw that some dark mist was oozing out from the cracks on the walls; it turned into a ghost that pounced at him.

Consciousness? Su Ping frowned. He didn’t think that was real. It was his consciousness playing tricks in his mind.

Boom!

Inside his mind, a blade was formed with his killing intent and the ghost disappeared. Everything went back to normal.

Su Ping continued his journey. He reached a staircase soon after; there was another opening at the end of the steps.

Su Ping went inside; another wide passageway extended in front of him, which looked quite similar.

Is this the second level? Did he pass the first level?

But he didn’t encounter any strikes from the so-called evil or demonic things as told by that young man. Or, was that thing that disturbed his consciousness the evil and demonic thing he would have to face?

Su Ping went on. He didn’t hurry because he wanted to spend time observing the place. Some time had already passed, but he wanted to find any possible trace left by Su Lingyue.

Maybe it had been too long indeed. Su Ping picked up some scents but none belonged to Su Lingyue. The strongest trace of all was the one left by that student surnamed Fei.

Woo~!

Right after, the dark mist began to seep out from the walls again.

That blade formed with killing intent was wielded and the mist disappeared once again.

The third level, the fourth level, and the fifth-level…

Soon, Su Ping had reached the 10th level. He encountered an evil thing, but it wasn’t a strike on his consciousness this time; it was a tangible strike!

The 10th level was no longer a passageway; it was a seemingly boundless place.

It was like a complete Mysterious Realm!

A large number of evil creatures approached him. Those things smelled strongly of blood and they had twisted features.

Su Ping unleashed astral powers that killed all those evil creatures.

I don’t think I can summon battle pets here. So, she climbed to the 14th level all by herself? Really! He found that the local space was strange. No matter how he tried, he was unable to open the swirl; he was just like a common man without battle pets.

But, he was still able to clearly feel his connection with the Little Skeleton and the Inferno Dragon. “So, this is a thing left behind by someone at the Star Rank. There must be some laws established,” Su Ping said to himself.

He could not use battle pets, nor figure out how Su Lingyue had climbed to the 14th level by herself.

That young stenographer was correct. The local, evil things were close to the titled rank. But Su Lingyue was merely at the fifth rank when she first entered the academy. Say she had managed to progress by leaps and bounds, the best she would have been able to do was to reach the sixth rank. She had a long way to go before she could reach the ninth rank.

Su Ping was unable to find answers. He believed he would have to ask Han Yuxiang about this.

The boundless place began to fade away as the evil things were killed. Su Ping reached the end of the area; there was a door with the digit “11” next to it.

It was clear that someone had carved the number there.

Su Ping looked around. There was no blood nor other trace of battles, nor any traces of Su Lingyue.

He went up to the 11th level.

Time zipped by

He reached the 14th level.

He punched out and killed all the evil creatures. Su Ping looked at that space. Was that the place where Su Lingyue had managed to reach?

He expanded his perception to the extreme. He then suddenly found the piece of a scale in a corner.

It was a silver scale the size of a nail.

It smells of her and the Moonfrost Dragon. But I don’t think the Moonfrost Dragon had such small scales. She couldn’t have summoned it here. Su Ping began to ask himself while staring at the scale. He was sure that the scale had been left there by Su Lingyue.

She had put up a hell of a fight there.

After some pondering, Su Ping decided to put away the scale first.