Astral Pet Store novel - Chapter 403

Chapter 403 Deterrence

The mist of blood filled the whole sky. Joanna’s voice sounded clear and cold. She didn’t hide her contempt in the slightest.

The three elders of the Tang family gazed at the mist of blood pervading the air around them. They were shaking in their boots. The Tang family had devoted great efforts and resources to develop the Feather Army and the Tactic Army!

Two thousand battle pet warriors had passed away, just like that!

In an average base city, even the death of ten master battle pet warriors would have caused a great sensation, not to mention the death of two thousand!

In the past decade, the Tang family had been on expeditions but the casualties had not been as heavy as this day!

Besides.

The death dealing had been too swift!

So quickly that they didn’t have enough time to stop it.

To be exact, they couldn’t even stop it!

Of the three Tang family elders, the toothless old lady was the one who had been stunned the most. Her lips trembled and she was feeling a leakage of air from her mouth. All of her battle pets had been killed just then! All of them!

The only one battle pet she had left was the bird she was standing on.

The bird carried her so it didn’t go and help the Thunder Sparrows.

That was the only reason why the bird had managed to stay alive. Desperation, fear, pain, and dread.. Those negative feelings filled the old lady’s mind. Those were the feelings that her battle pets told her about before their deaths.

The old lady shook even more violently after hearing the girl’s indifferent voice. She looked at the girl and a breathtakingly beautiful face appeared before her eyes. The girl was flawless!

As a female herself, the old lady felt she would have never been able to pick a flaw in the girl’s look, which was practically a piece of art! But the girl didn’t seem to be from the Subcontinent District.

Was she a legendary battle pet warrior from another continent?

The rain of blood continued and tainted both the sky and the ground.

Some puddles of blood were gathering in the pits on the ground.

The pungent smell of blood filled the air, making everyone feel like vomiting.

Some of the more squeamish reporters outside had passed out on the spot. Others wetted their pants when they saw the remains and pieces of flesh landing in front of them. Only a few with stronger minds could still stand there but their trembling legs gave them away.

A moment before, the sun was shining gaily on the street. Right then, the street had turned into hell!

There was no end to the bloodshed and the ground was covered with remains and bones.

What a tragic scene!

Even Xie Gange, Venerable the Blade, and the family elders who had endured many vicissitudes in their lives were appalled speechless by this hellish view.

Su Ping had punched the Dark Feather Phoenix into pieces!

That mysterious girl then wiped away an entire army with one move!

The Tang family had arrived with a swaggering step and only had three surviving members at this moment. The three old guys were more powerful than the deceased Tang family battle pet warriors, but anyone with a sane mind was able to tell how terrified the three of them were. One more straw would break their backs!

This girl is a… legendary battle pet warrior!

Xie Gange stood in a daze. Even he could hardly see a legendary battle pet warrior in action. He had witnessed legendary battle pet warriors’ battles before. Indeed, they were powerful but nothing he saw could compare to what happened this day.

Two thousand eighth-rank battle pet warriors had passed away, just like this!

They didn’t even have a chance to use their battle pets and their skills!

They didn’t have a single chance to show their strength or to fight for their lives!

They were crushed into pieces after being overwhelmed by the strong power, just like any other men on the street.

Venerable the Blade stared in mute astonishment. Last time, when Joanna almost killed Yuan Tianchen, Venerable the Blade had thought the shock had been great enough. This day, although he was mentally prepared, he still found the results hard to accept. He returned to his senses earlier than the others, but he was at a loss for a moment; he could not find any word. He clenched his fists. He was more eager to make the final breakthrough than ever before!

If he could make that breakthrough, he would become a legendary battle pet warrior as well!

The number of titled battle pet warriors was small. But the legendary battle pet warriors were the ones that stood at the top!

“Feather Army…”

Out of sorts, Tang Ruyan was shaking. She was so weak in her legs that she almost fell to the ground.

The famous Feather Army of the Tang family —an army that the other ancient families were dreadful of — simply disappeared.

There were merely five Feather Armies in total and one army was gone, just like that!

Joanna merely used one skill!

She didn’t even use her spear in a real sense. She just lifted it!

Tang Ruyan never knew that the girl that was also working in the store could be so terrifying.

She remembered how Su Ping would treat Joanna. Tang Ruyan was all the more confused.

Standing next to her, Yan Bingyue was so shocked that her eyes stared woodenly and her jaw hung. Finally, she understood why Xie Gange would treat Su Ping like that.

It turned out that a legendary battle pet warrior was in the store! A legendary battle pet warrior!!

Of the entire Subcontinent, she merely knew the existence of two legendary battle pet warriors. This day, she managed to see the third one!

The legendary battle pet warriors were the ones that stood at the top of the world!

They were the ones that could battle beast kings; they were extraordinary existences!

After being dazed for a long while, Yang Bingyue came back to her senses, only to become more frustrated than ever.

She had been taken by a force like this. The organization was willing to get her back merely for the sake of the organization’s dignity. She would never be of value to the organization in the future!

There was no telling if the organization would be willing to turn hostile against Su Ping because of her. The organization might have to pay a huge ransom to get her back! Everyone was thinking about different things. High in the air, the three elders of the Tang family were standing together. They could still feel the huge pressure coming from Joanna. They looked at each other and their faces were clouded.

One wrong step and they could all lose their lives right there!

They had thought that the three of them coming together was more than enough to deal with any possible secret force hiding in the store. It was just that they had never expected that the secluded force was a legendary battle pet warrior!

It would be pointless even if more of them had joined them.

Joanna waited for half a minute. She was unhappy since the three of them had shown no reaction. Impatiently, she said, “Do you refuse to kneel before me? So, you wish for death, right?”

The old lady turned pale. She was the one who was the most scared of the girl. After all, she had lost all of her battle pets and they didn’t stand a single chance. As of that moment, upholding the Tang Family’s dignity no longer mattered when her life was at risk, especially when she was standing in front of a legendary battle pet warrior.

“Now!”

The old lady passed a mental message to the two other two elders. In the meantime, she took the lead and dropped to her knees.

She knelt in the air!

The other two elders flanking her looked awful. They eventually made up their minds and got down on their knees. Disobeying a legendary battle pet warrior was simply out of the question.

Joanna snorted. She didn’t even want to waste another glance at them. She didn’t care about their kneeling or whether they would lose face. She merely needed a gesture from them, a gesture that told her that they had surrendered and they would no longer fight back. As such, she could leave the rest of the matter to Su Ping; it would then count as her accomplishing the task of protecting the store. She turned around and flew to Su Ping. “They are all yours. Tell me if you need me again.”

“Sure.”

Su Ping nodded.

He didn’t expect that Joanna was able to resort to such formidable means. He had thought there would be a fierce fight. Who could have known that one skill would be enough to crush them all!

No wonder she was a supreme-ruler at the legendary rank!

Besides, Su Ping could tell that she had held back.

After Joanna left, Su Ping flew to where the three Tang family elders were. He was not afraid of any possible surprise attacks since he was under the protection of the store.

“Tang family, right?” Su Ping asked.

The old lady could tell that the horrifying girl had left. She breathed in relief. She felt stifled when that girl was present, but she was less stressed out with Su Ping.

She was about to stand up when Su Ping snorted at her. “Who told you that you could stand up?”

The old lady’s face grew somber. “Are you the owner of the Pixie Pet Store?” “That is correct.”

Su Ping continued coldly, “Are you here for your future family head?”

The three Tang family elders were stunned to hear Su Ping’s answer. If he was the boss of the store, then who was that horrifying girl?

They couldn’t figure it out, and they weren’t in the mood to dig further. Either way, the girl was on Su Ping’s side and she protected the store. That was all they needed to know.

One legendary battle pet warrior in the store was enough to make the Tang family surrender and compromise!

“I… We are just wandering around.” The old man kneeling in the middle produced a forced smile. He was the master of that Dark Feather Phoenix, the second elder of the Tang family, Tang Mingqing.

“Wandering around? What a special way of wandering around.”

Su Ping sneered. “I’m not in the mood to waste time with you. You want your future family to head back? That can happen. After all, I don’t want to have a useless bucket in my store. Make me an offer. I can give her back to you if I am happy with that offer.”

The three were unable to believe this.

They could not believe that Su Ping would regard their future family head as a bargaining chip.

How rude and arrogant of him!

At the thought of the girl at the legendary rank, the three understood that Su Ping indeed had the right to be arrogant.

When someone offended the Tang family, they would usually try their best to reconcile with them. No one would use their future family head to strike a deal.

Evidently, Su Ping was not afraid of any possible retaliation.

The fact was he had every right to be like that.

As long as the legendary girl was still there, the Tang family would never try to seek revenge. One day, they would return for vengeance when the store and the legendary girl were gone. But they would never act rashly when such a girl was with him in the store.

Of course, when the day came for the store to be about to perish, the Tang family might not be the only force that would want to retaliate.

“An offer…”

The three Tang family elders looked at each other. They never considered what kind of price they had to pay or that they would have to regard their future family head as merchandise.

A moment of hesitation later, Tang Mingqing asked, “Do you want money or treasures?” “What kind of treasures? Enlighten me,” Su Ping answered.

Tang Mingqing replied after some thoughts. “We have two top-level treasures. One is the Kaleidoscope and the other one is the Heart Slayer. The former is a hidden weapon that can even help an advanced battle pet warrior assassinate a titled battle pet warrior! The second one is indestructible and can cut open the best battle pet of the stone family!”

“So?”

Su Ping eyed him with a meaningful look. “Your future family head has been staying with me for a long time and she has told me everything. Are you trying to fool me? She has already told me what you have in the Tang family. Do not waste the chances I give you!”

Tang Mingqing pulled a long face and so did the other two. A glint of anger rose in their eyes as they secretly darted a look at Tang Ruyan who was standing by the door.

“What do you mean?” Tang Mingqing asked.

“I know about your family heirloom. What about trading your future family head for your family heirloom?” Su Ping asked. The three of them were taken aback. The family heirloom?

“No way! No… I mean, we cannot do that.”

Tang Mingqing rejected at once but at the thought of the current situation, he adopted a softer tone. “The family heirloom is the thing which protects the good fortune of the family, and the future family head is a person who serves the family. If we have to use the family heirloom to get the future family head back, I believe she would rather sacrifice herself. I hope… I hope you can ask for something else.”

Su Ping knew that they wouldn’t agree. He made another proposal casually, “One future family head is not enough. Then how about counting the three of you as part of the trade?”

“What?”

The three family heads were at first boggled by what they heard. Indeed, Su Ping was the one controlling their lives as of that moment. After all, if the legendary girl decided to kill them… none of them could escape!

“That…”

Tang Mingqing’s expression changed. Finally, he understood why the young man had spared them. He was also planning to use them as bargaining chips. “Well, I have to ask our family head. I’m not sure what he’ll think about this.” Tang Mingqing filed his teeth.

The other two elders looked at him with complicated feelings.

“The three of us are too old to be of any value to the family. We have devoted years of our lives to the family and our deaths would not be regretted. The family head would definitely not trade us with the family heirloom.” The old lady suddenly lowered her head and her eyes reddened. But she sounded resolute.

Tang Mingqing and the other old men were dazed for a second, but they understood what she was implying

She was telling them that they would rather fight to the death than harm the family. When used well, the family heirloom could be used to kill a legendary battle pet warrior!

Anyone could be sacrificed, be it them or the future family head, or even the current family head. But the family heirloom could not leave the family!

The old lady had more integrity than the other two old men. She was ready to give her life away!

Feeling how determined the old lady was, Tang Mingqing took a deep breath. “She’s right. I hope you can choose another item. We know that it’s impossible to escape our doom. But we have lived long enough. To make one last contribution to the family means we can give ourselves entirely to the family in the end!”

Su Ping raised his eyebrows. Huh, those Tang family elders are indeed adhering to moral principles. So, they got bored of living, huh? Su Ping sneered. If that were the truth, they wouldn’t have gotten down on their knees.

It was just that the family heirloom was out of reach. It wasn’t likely that he could get that using those people as the bargaining chip. Such being the case, he had to choose something else.

“Come with me now,” Su Ping said.

He had to think about what to ask for. Standing there would get too much attention and it didn’t look good.

The three of them were surprised that Su Ping didn’t throw a tantrum. They heaved a sigh of relief, stood up, and followed Su Ping back to the store. The three of them gazed at his back, hesitating, but eventually held back the urge to strike him.

The young man was hard to understand. They couldn’t take the risk.

The legendary girl was in the store. They knew very little about the legendary rank and had no idea what legendary battle pet warriors could do. But they did know about teleporting which was a basic skill for all legendary battle pet warriors!

The three weren’t sure that their assassination would work when a legendary battle pet warrior was present. Su Ping flew to the store and the three Tang family elders followed him to the door.

The rain of blood continued. Su Ping took a look. Once again, he gathered his astral powers and punched the air!

Boom!!

Accompanied by the noise, a surge of violent power burst out. The cloud of blood in the sky was dispersed.

One punch and the cloud disappeared!

The street once again was blessed with light. The rain of blood vanished.

But on the ground, blood was still flowing into the drainage and the remains were still on the ground.

As sunlight broke through, Su Ping’s mood also turned brighter as well. He turned around and went into the store.

Joanna followed him inside and then went back to the pet room and closed the door.

The matter was resolved as far as she was concerned. She was no longer needed here.

If so, she was not willing to stay in the same room with those people. Su Ping was the only one she deemed to be better than the average human being. The others were all puny insects to her.

Everyone was relieved to see that Joanna was away. The suffocating pressure disappeared; they felt they could breathe again. “And you are…”

Right then, the three Tang family elders noticed Venerable the Blade and Xie Gange standing by the door.

They had sensed the presence of two people who had been hiding their strength but they didn’t know it was Venerable the Blade and the King of Arms!