Astral Pet Store

“Like I said, I’ll only use one hand. Or do you think I’d still be too strong for you?” asked Ye Ling casually.

Loulan Lin said bluntly, “What’s the point of such practice? You won’t gain anything from it. Besides, it wouldn’t be fair for him. You would only demean yourself, whether you win or lose. Might as well wait until he reaches your level.”

Su Ping looked at the girl in surprise, not expecting her to defend him and argue with the third place holder of the Divine Lord Rank. That man’s ranking was much higher than hers.

Ye Ling glanced at Loulan Lin with glittering eyes. He realized something and said coldly, “You’re talking as if I were bullying him. Fine. I’ll just let you go for Princess Lin’s sake. Such a disgrace. You won the Universe Geniuses’ Contest, yet you hide behind a woman. I am very disappointed.”

The young geniuses of the Loulan family showed slight changes in their expressions as they looked at Su Ping.

With a weird expression of his own, Su Ping asked, “You’re merely third place in the Divine Lord Rank. Are you even qualified to be disappointed?”

Silence!

The entire square fell silent. Everyone had their eyes trained on Su Ping, stunned. They didn’t expect him to be as aggressive.

Six Lives Buddha and Lilian also glanced at Su Ping; however, they didn’t think he was being too cocky. Seeing Su Ping being looked down upon made them feel frustrated too. After all, Su Ping was the champion of their batch; they were elated to see Su Ping fight back!

They didn’t believe that Ye Ling could bully Su Ping in public.

It was important to recall that Su Ping was a Celestial expert’s disciple. Even if Ye Ling really wanted to attack him, the Loulans would probably step in to prevent it.

A surprised Loulan Lin looked at Su Ping who was still wearing a weird expression. She didn’t see any anger on Su Ping’s face, and he seemed to mean what he said[a].

“What did you just say?”

Ye Ling quickly turned gloomy. He obviously didn’t expect that Su Ping would be bold enough to say that.

“Are you so old that your ears aren’t working properly anymore? Do you need me to repeat what I said?” Su Ping snapped, “As far as I know, the Universe Geniuses’ Contest is held every couple of hundred years, right? You participated in it before, so you must be at least a thousand years old… And yet you’re still acting like a child. You haven’t reached the Ascendant State in a thousand years, either. You’re planning on waiting for ten thousand years?”

“…”

Everybody looked at Su Ping in disbelief. Most top geniuses weren’t as talkative as Su Ping, who was blunt and straightforward to a fault.

If not reaching the Ascendant State in a thousand years was something to be ashamed of, all the cultivators in the universe would have to cry, as many had been stuck right before the Ascendant State threshold for tens of thousands of years.

Ye Ling said with a contorted expression, “Ignorant! I know you just participated in the contest and you’re still young. Do you think it’s as easy to reach the Ascendant State as it is to become a Star Lord? Some reached the Star State at twenty, became a Star Lord at thirty, but failed to reach the Ascendant State even at 30,000 years of age!”

“Will you be one of them?” asked Su Ping.

“!”

Ye Ling was completely infuriated. He said with cold eyes, “Are you trying to get killed?”

Su Ping looked at him as if he were an idiot, before he raised his finger and said, “Firstly, don’t talk as if you could kill me. Secondly, would you even dare to kill me?”

Ye Ling fell silent.

The whole square fell silent. All the Loulans had trouble breathing; they felt that the air had solidified.

Ye Ling gazed at Su Ping, and the fury in his eyes was replaced by coldness, which gradually receded; what Su Ping said had calmed him down. It was pointless to continue arguing, and he couldn’t kill him in public. After all, the fury of a Celestial expert was overwhelming, even for his master!

However, not being able to kill Su Ping didn’t mean that he couldn’t teach him a lesson, making him realize that he shouldn’t just tease anyone.

Ye Ling suddenly raised his hand and roared, “On your knees!”

There was a boom; a strange law was released, and a brilliant small world was manifested around himself. The small world looked like a splendid royal palace, ablaze with light; laws were flying in the sky like chains. The power of faith was spreading out of the small world, just about to suppress Su Ping like a force field.

“Oh no!”

Six Lives Buddha realized what was going on and his face had a distraught expression.

Lilian’s face also changed, as she showed unveiled anger. She didn’t expect that the man would dare to attack Su Ping and humiliate him in public.

The overwhelming pressure fell upon Su Ping like a gigantic invisible hand. Right when everybody thought that Su Ping would fall on his knees as declared, Su Ping simply stood there; unmoving, as if nothing had happened.

Everybody was stunned yet again.

“????”

They were completely confused. Ye Ling made use of his world, yet nothing really happened?

Before they came back to their senses, Su Ping had unhurriedly raised his hand and pressed it down. He then said coldly, “On your knees!”

After a boom, the air quaked violently and the surrounding time and space solidified. A horrifying aura was spread out, giving off an intimidating pressure. The illusion of a dead and desolate small world surfaced behind Su Ping’s back at the same time; several laws began to emerge and hover, their power as mighty as dragons.

The terrifying power gushed out of his small world and enshrouded the square.

On the opposite side—Ye Ling’s demeanor had a quick change. He trembled hard, as if the entire sky were falling down; an irresistible force fell down over his head. The ground underneath his feet quickly started to crack. His feet sank into the slab of stone, but then he shook as the pressure rapidly increased, almost falling to his knees.

He managed to support himself with astral power, right when his hands had almost hit the ground. Then, he raised his head with disbelief on his eyes.

Su Ping looked at him indifferently, then slowly put his hand down to dismiss his small world. The pressure around the man was instantly eased.

Su Ping had challenged all the top ten warriors when he tried his hand on the Divine Lord Rank, although he didn’t secure a higher ranking. He remembered that only the Star Lord at the top had fully mastered all the four supreme laws and reached the limits of his small world.

Since the latter didn’t have the world multiplication technique, that was the best a Star Lord could theoretically achieve in the scope of the Federation.

Aside from the best Star Lord, those below him were far weaker. Take Ye Ling for example; he hadn’t even perceived the four supreme laws yet, let alone fully mastering them.

The whole square was silent after Su Ping relaxed his hand. Everybody looked at Su Ping, appalled, as if he were a ghost. They couldn’t believe what they had just seen, thinking it had been an illusion.

Nothing happened when Ye Ling attacked. Conversely, he was subdued by Su Ping’s attack!

“What just happened?”

“Was it a hallucination? How is it possible? Was it because Ye Ling was careless and unprepared?”

“Didn’t that man just advance to the Star State? Ye Ling is third on the Divine Lord Rank. All the top ten rankers are monsters. He’s definitely strong!”

All the descendants of the Loulan family were screaming in their hearts, unable to believe what had just happened.

Ye Ling’s face was grim and cold, but there was no anger. He coldly stared at Su Ping like a wild wolf.

The two people that were accompanying him were also stunned.

“There’s still a long road ahead of you,” said Su Ping with a peaceful expression.

There wasn’t any emotion in his words. He was only stating a fact.

To reach the limits of a small world was only the first step. Based on the world multiplication technique, the difficulty to add a new small world would be doubled. Su Ping felt that there was still a lot he needed to accomplish when he thought of the Ancestral God who had managed to establish seven small worlds.

Standing next to Su Ping—both Six Lives Buddha and Lilian snapped out of their shock. Their eyelids twitched when they heard what Su Ping had said. They wondered what kind of monster the guy next to them was. He had confronted Ye Ling, the third place holder of the Divine Lord Rank, without suffering a loss; he was even about to defeat the man. Are we crazy, or is the world crazy?

[a]Removed the last bit, which was somewhat ambiguous, and there’s enough information/context before and after