Astral Pet Store

As he stood on the chilly snow-capped mountain, Su Ping turned around and gave one last look at the Tower. He had gradually pushed aside that disappointment in his heart; one had to rely on oneself while living in that world. It wasn’t good to always wait for others to aid them.

Su Ping summoned the Dark Dragon Hound which then took its dragon form.

Xie Jinshui and Qin Duhuang jumped up. The team flew away from the snow-capped mountain.

Su Ping took out the Soul Nurturer from the black box-once they were outside the Tower’s sphere of influence—and summoned the Inferno Dragon’s soul.

The soul was as thin as a mist and it was likely to disperse at any minute. There was a golden hue around the soul; it was the Divine Energy that was protecting the soul.

Su Ping had thought about what he should do if he would have been unable to find the Soul Nurturer. He would have taken the Inferno Dragon’s soul to the Demigod Burial in order to have it rest in the spring found in Joanna’s castle. The Divine Energy would sustain the soul as well, but it wasn’t the best solution.

Xie Jinshui and Qin Duhuang were still full of complicated emotions as they stared at the half-transparent dragon’s soul. They had exhausted their words. They had been reading reports when Su Ping was in a coma; they had found out that the famous Inferno Dragon had met misfortune in the battle, died in the hands of the Heavenly King of Otherworld. Fortunately, the dragon’s soul was quite resilient and didn’t vanish then, which created hope for reviving the Inferno Dragon.

That was why Xie Jinshui was willing to put aside all of his work and head to the Tower with Su Ping; he wanted to make it up for him.

To a large extent, Su Ping had the main credit for the survival of the Longjiang Base City. Thanks were very much in order.

The Soul Nurturer reacted when the Inferno Dragon’s soul came out. The plant began to produce a dark mist that surrounded the dragon’s soul.

According to what he perceived from their bond, Su Ping was able to tell that the Inferno Dragon was feeling quite cozy. The soul shrank and snuck into the root of the Soul Nurturer to float around inside, absorbing the energy to refine itself.

Su Ping was happy to see that the Soul Nurturer was working.

But, making the dragon’s soul last longer with the Soul Nurturer was just a temporary fix. He had to find the dragon origin that the system had mentioned to revive the Inferno Dragon. Only then would he rest easy.

Xie Jinshui was also glad that the Inferno Dragon’s soul became stabilized. Looking at the splendor of the snow-capped mountain flashing past his sight, Xie Jinshui could not help but exclaim, “From today on, the taxes that would send over to the Tower will be given to you, Mr. Su. You will be the Longjiang Base City’s guardian.”

Su Ping shook his head. “Save that money for base city’s infrastructure. If you do find you eventually find trouble because of having more than enough money to put to good use, try to reduce the tax so that people can have an easier life.”

The government’s tax income was quite high every year, amounting to several billion, to say a general figure. Su Ping was not in need of money that he couldn’t convert to energy points. He would not find anything to spend the money on. He was a person that was not interested in money, or spending money for that matter, because it became a boring activity.

Xie Jinshui gazed at Su Ping to make sure that he was not joking. He could not help but get emotional.

He was aware that Su Ping treated his pet store business quite seriously. He was always cautious and thorough in al his dealings. He had even made an enemy out of the Liu Family in the beginning, and they competed fiercely. However, when he decided to offer that massive sum of money to Su Ping, the latter had declined.

Xie Jinshui was convinced that Su Ping was a person that loved money.

He wouldn’t have done many crazy things for his pet store if it were otherwise.

So why the refusal? Xie Jinshui could not figure it out.

Su Ping’s rejection not only surprised Xie Jinshui, but also Qin Duhuang. He looked at Su Ping, not finding any words to say. Su Ping was looking at the dragon soul inside the Soul Nurturer with a tender gaze. He patted the herb, pretending he was patting the Inferno Dragon. There was a time when he was able to place his hands on the Inferno Dragon, but the soul was the only part remaining. The once easy display of affection had turned into an impossible task.

People didn’t know what they had until they lost it. That is how it had always been.

Su Ping put away the Soul Nurturer in his storage space, so that the Inferno Dragon could rest easy inside.

They traveled in haste, reaching the Longjiang Base City within half a day.

Su Ping flew back to his store.

Xie Jinshui and Qin Duhuang bid farewell because they both had their own work to attend to.

Su Ping didn’t invite them into his store before they left. He went back inside after he called back the Dark Dragon Hound to his contact space.

Zhong Lingtong and Tang Ruyan were sitting in the store, agitated as they waited. They didn’t think that Su Ping’s trip to the Tower would be a promising one. Admittedly, sometimes, girls had good instincts.

The two girls were alerted when someone entered the store; they gladly saw that it was Su Ping

“Sir!”

Zhong Lingtong ran to him gaily.

Tang Ruyan’s greeting arrived at a close second. She, too, hurried over to see Su Ping.

She sized him up and down and turned pale to see so much blood on him. “What did the legendary warriors of the Tower do to you?” Tang Ruyan asked. She was rarely that angry. Zhong Lingtong had finally noticed what was off about Su Ping. “Sir, you’re seriously wounded. I’ll go and find you a healer.” She didn’t even reach the end of her exclamation when she turned on her heels and began to run.

Su Ping grabbed her by the arm. Grumpily, he said, “What healer? We have the best healer in the store.”

“What?” Zhong Lingtong was baffled. She darted a questioning look at Tang Ruyan.

Tang Ruyan immediately realized that Su Ping was not talking about them, but Joanna was rarely with them minding the storefront. Joanna is a full-time employee; that legendary rank girl was quite mysterious. She even knows healing skills. She is indeed... older than I am, Tang Ruyan thought.

After all, one would need time to master too many things.

“I’m okay. There were some arguments but all the problems were solved.” Su Ping gave a summary of the events because he didn’t wish for the girls worry over his welfare. Their worry, as far as he could tell, was quite sincere. As his student, Zhong Lingtong was rightfully worrying about him. But why Tang Ruyan? She was his captive. Had she been staying with him for too long that she developed the Stockholm syndrome in the end?

Well, on the other hand, Su Ping wasn’t treating Tang Ruyan as his captive, but his friend.

“What argument? With the Tower?” Tang Ruyan could not help but press him for more information. If his time at the Tower had been unpleasant, then it couldn’t have been some simple argument. There had to be some serious troubles.

The Tower was the most powerful force on the Blue Planet. When the Tower sneezed, even an ancient family like the Tangs would tremble in fear. The Tower represented a force that could topple and wipe out any other faction. Therefore, many families would send some of their members to serve under the legendary battle pet warriors, and to collect first-hand information.

Tang Ruyan could not help but feel low.

Unfortunately, her connections with the Tang Family no longer existed. She could have used her identity as the fake family head and find out what had taken place in the Tower through her family’s channels.

Su Ping shook his head. He was unwilling to share more. “I have other things that I need to do now. Go and tell my mom that I’m back. Tell her not to worry.”

Zhong Lingtong nodded. She remembered something. “Ah, sir, your father is finally at home. I heard that he has just returned from the sea.”

Su Ping was surprised. The father he had yet to meet was back.

What a strange feeling, to see his father. But Su Ping shook his head. “I will visit them later. Please tell them that I’m back on my behalf.”

He wanted to revive the Inferno Dragon as soon as he could to lift the burden in his mind.

Zhong Lingtong nodded in agreement. “No problem.”

Su Ping patted her head, then he went to the pet room, and closed the door.

At the pet room.

Joanna was sitting inside one of the nursing pens, cultivating. She opened her eyes when Su Ping entered. “The Tower you visited didn’t want to give you the Soul Nurturer?” she asked because she noticed the blood which was offending to the eye.

Su Ping shook his head. “They did give it to me but there were some complications in the process. But it’s all in the past now.”

Joanna offered no comment.

“I’m visiting the realms of dragons to find the dragon origin so I can revive the Inferno Dragon,” Su Ping said to Joanna, “I will still leave the store in your hands.”

“Should I go with you?” asked Joanna.

Su Ping shook his head. “My death can be reversed but yours cannot.”

Joanna would die for real in cultivation sites other than the Demigod Burial, unless she visited the cultivation sites as part of the employee benefits that the system could give her.

If she was rated as an outstanding employee, the system would provide her with such a benefit, where Su Ping was able to use energy points and buy revival chances for her.

However, Joanna had not been an employee for long to gain enough points.

“Be careful.” Joanna thought of that strange revival ability Su Ping had. Suddenly, she laughed at herself for worrying about nothing. Reviving a dragon would be child’s ply for the mysterious and terrifying existence hiding behind Su Ping. After all, the pets had been revived countless times in the Demigod Burial.

That existence had to be trying to test Su Ping by not reviving the dragon right away. Joanna shook her head. She didn’t want to dig deeper because she could hardly figure out anything about that existence.

Su Ping pulled up the list of cultivation sites and searched for realms of dragons.

He realized that the number of dragon realms was beyond calculation.

The Elder Realm of Dragon (advanced cultivation site)

The Mighty Realm of Dragons (advanced cultivation site)

The Realm of Heaven Expansion Dragons (advanced cultivation site)

Archean Realm of Dragons (top-level cultivation site)