Su Ping knew that the extraordinary two-star trainers were considered to be on par with Ascendant State experts.
They could train Star Lord pets, and were known to develop a wide range of connections. Even Ascendants would think twice before affronting them. After all, their friends and associations could someday need their help.
“Are they willing to help? I mainly want to borrow some materials from them,” said Su Ping.
Elder Yan didn’t think deeply about Su Ping’s question. He said with a smile, “You certainly can. Your status is equal to that of an Ascendant by merely being Master’s disciple. Even the normal Ascendants would serve and help if you need any resources during your cultivation.”
Su Ping was surprised by this revelation; he knew that he was receiving a lot of attention, but he didn’t know he would become as popular.
“I will definitely return Master’s favor someday,” Su Ping said to Elder Yan.
Not considering it a big deal, Elder Yan chuckled. “Do you want to go there right now?”
“Yes.”
Elder Yan grabbed Su Ping by the shoulder. Then, they flashed and reappeared above a palace.
The place was built like a temple, with a majestic statue by its gate; all kinds of oil paintings were hanging in its corridor. A white robed middle-aged man was at the moment feeding a rabbit, which was as big as an elephant, on the lawn.
“Bernie,” Elder Yan called out to him.
The middle-aged man turned his head and was astonished when he saw who the visitor was. He moved so quickly to greet him that his thighs and chest were exposed to the air by accident, indicating that he wasn’t wearing anything underneath.
“Lord Yan,” Bernie hurriedly paid respects to Elder Yan.
Being Lord Supreme’s pet, Elder Yan was known by everyone in the Celestial Court.
“Do you have time to train pets right now?” asked Elder Yan casually.
Bernie was obviously smart. He only hesitated for a moment before he said, “If you need my help, Lord Yan, I definitely have time.”
Elder Yan smiled and replied, “This is Lord Supreme’s new disciple. He has a few pets in need of your training. Please try your best!”
Bernie was stunned by the announcement. He looked at Su Ping and asked, “Is he the best genius of the universe under the Star State?”
The news of Shen Huang taking Su Ping as a disciple caused furor in the entire Celestial Court. After all, the young genius would become another strong warrior, if not a Heavenly Lord when he grew up!
Su Ping looked at the trainer, then corrected what Elder Yan had said, “Sir, I hope I could borrow your training facility, as well as some pet food and special materials. Would that be possible?”
Bernie nodded with a smile. “No problem. I saw your matches and observed your pets closely. To be honest, your pets were extremely gifted, to have unleashed that amount of strength when they were only Fate State creatures! Aside from that, I didn’t find their information on the encyclopedias collected from many planets, but I’m certain that they’re not pets with rare bloodlines. Am I right?”
Su Ping was stunned, not expecting such an extraordinary figure to have paid attention to his matches. He knew he was already famous, but he didn’t know exactly how famous he was until that moment.
Many people he would need to look up to already knew and paid attention to him.
However, Su Ping wasn’t really flattered because of this. After all, he had seen too many great beings to feel shocked. He also didn’t think he would be weaker than anyone with the system’s help.
“Indeed. Their bloodlines are unremarkable compared to other pets.” Su Ping nodded and acknowledged the elder’s statement.
Even the Little Skeleton’s bloodline was only mediocre.
Its bloodline was obviously much inferior when compared to the other pets in the past competition.
As for the Dark Dragon Hound and the Inferno Dragon, their bloodlines had indeed mutated, but they were still below average.
They couldn’t have competed with other pets without Su Ping’s cruel training.
“Just as I expected…” Bernie nodded, happy that his conclusion was confirmed. He then asked curiously, “Are they your main pets?”
“Humph!”
Elder Yan suddenly snorted.
That question was a breach into Su Ping’s privacy. A growing genius like Su Ping would need to keep his trump cards a secret.
Bernie was slightly dazed by the reaction. He shook his head and said, “Sorry for being presumptuous by asking. Forget it. Would you like to train your pets right now?”
“Yes.” Su Ping nodded.
“Give them to me. You can fetch them half a year from now. I guarantee you’ll be satisfied,” said Bernie with a smile.
Su Ping thought, Why would it take so long?
He said, “Senior, I plan to train them on my own. You only need to lend me some materials.”
“You’re going to train them on your own?”
Both Bernie and Elder Yan were stunned. The elder soon remembered something and immediately said to Su Ping, “Training pets is an important matter. I don’t know where you usually train yours, but Bernie is quite skilled, even among the extraordinary trainers.
“He is the perfect choice if you want to train your pets.”
Bernie gave Su Ping a puzzled look.
After thinking for a moment, Su Ping could only speak the truth. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, senior, but I’m used to training my pets personally. They’re used to following me, and they’ve never left me. I can’t let them leave me either. So, sorry.”
Bernie looked at him in shock and asked, “You’re a trainer too? You’ve trained all your pets? How is that possible? Your pets are obviously extraordinary. Some skills couldn’t have been trained by anyone, unless they were born with exceptional talent…”
He had observed Su Ping’s pets carefully during the competition; his trainer eye allowed him to discover a lot of things that normal people couldn’t. He knew they had certainly received an unusual training, or they wouldn’t have been so formidable; similarly Su Ping wouldn’t have been confident enough to use them.
Considering Su Ping’s fame before the finals, he could have easily gotten hold of a few rare and superb Star State pets if he wanted.
As long as he said the word, many organizations that wanted to rope him in would have offered him pets.
Elder Yan was also stunned. He knew that Su Ping had a pet store, thinking it was just a hobby of his. However, Bernie was obviously implying that there was something more to it.
Bernie thought of something and asked Su Ping, “Are you a certified trainer? How many stars do you have?”
“I am not.” Su Ping shook his head; he wasn’t certified, but he had his share of skills. His training, with the help of his store, was more effective than that of a trainer with any number of stars.
However, he wasn’t in his store, so he was temporarily without access to the cultivation sites. He could only help his pets advance with the trainers’ skills he had grasped.
Fortunately, Su Ping had mastered multiple trainers’ skills. He also knew his pets well after such a long time training together.
After overcoming his surprise, Bernie heaved a sigh in regret. “If you trained all your pets, you are at least a four-star trainer. I would still recommend that you leave your pets in my care, for your own good.”
Su Ping didn’t care about the number of stars he could attain. He shook his head and said, “I appreciate your kindness, sir, but I would rather keep them around. Let me handle it.”
Bernie was rendered speechless after such a lousy excuse. All pets would usually stay in the contract space, not around as the young man mentioned.
However, he no longer tried to persuade since Su Ping insisted. After all, he was more accustomed to others begging him to train their pets, not the other way around.
Elder Yan also heaved a sigh after hearing Su Ping’s response. It would be pointless to press further since the lad had made up his mind. Fortunately, he already had a backup plan. He could still ask Bernie for help if Su Ping’s training wasn’t satisfactory; Su Ping’s pets could also be replaced by better, rare pets if they suffered permanent damage during training.
Bernie looked at Elder Yan for confirmation. Seeing that the latter was silent, he said to Su Ping, “Fine. What do you need? I’ll provide it if I can.”
Su Ping felt relieved, and was quick to thank him. He then listed the materials the Little Skeleton, the Dark Dragon Hound and the Inferno Dragon required.
Bernie was slightly surprised by the materials that Su Ping had listed. He nodded and remarked, “Now I’m convinced that you’re capable of training them well. I had already prepared those materials when I thought that you might come here. Among all those materials, the Abyssal Bones and the Blood Hatred Pearl are of the highest quality; they are the best materials to help undead pets advance.”
Su Ping smiled and said, “Thank you very much, senior.”
“Sure.”
Bernie immediately led Su Ping and Elder Yan to his treasure vault, where a myriad of pet materials were stored. Many of them were rare pet foods, while others were rare materials used for advancement and treasures that could improve pets’ bloodlines.
Su Ping’s eyes glittered as he watched. He felt the urge of looting the place, but he held back and picked only what he needed.
The Little Skeleton and the Inferno Dragon had already reached the ceiling of the Fate State; they could step into the Star State at any moment. Su Ping had stopped them from breaking through, mainly because he didn’t find a good opportunity for them to unleash their greatest potential. Now that he had those rare materials, he could finally let them go all out.
“These are the Bloody Path Seeds!”
Bernie pointed at a few red spheres and said, “Some rare skills are sealed within them. I can give them to you if you want. Just feed them to your pets; they will digest and grasp the skills on their own. These seeds are extremely rare; they have long gone extinct in their former habitat. I personally developed them.”
Su Ping glanced at the offering. Those were obviously expensive consumables, but he didn’t refuse them; he already owed the man a big favor as things stood.
“Thank you.”
Su Ping accepted the seeds and placed them in his storage.
He then picked a few more of the rare pet food items and left the treasury.
“I need a place to train my pets.”
“You got it. I’ll spare the biggest room for you. It should be spacious enough to accommodate your pets,” said Bernie.
The places for training pets were similar to those where human beings would cultivate, except that they would usually be bigger. Pets had to appear in their real forms to ensure the effectiveness of the training, and human rooms were usually too small for them.
Bernie relocated two dragons, both a thousand meters tall, that were originally in that room. Two Star Lords had requested Bernie to train them, but they would have to wait now.
“Is there anything I can help you with?” asked Bernie.
Su Ping shook his head; he could take care of everything from that point on.
Bernie didn’t insist. He said, “Call me if you need anything.”
“Sure.”
Elder Yan remained silent; he left with Bernie after Su Ping was done talking with the latter.
Above a palace thousands of meters away from the training place, Bernie remarked, “I didn’t know that the invincible genius under the Star State was also a trainer. It’s terrifying enough, even though he’s only a four-star trainer.”
It required a tremendous amount of effort to become a four-star trainer. Su Ping could have been even stronger, had he solely devoted his time to his personal cultivation.
Elder Yan glanced at him and said indifferently, “You’ll need to fix the situation if anything goes wrong with his training.”
Bernie was stunned by this. He cried, “Lord Yan, he asked to train his pets on his own. It can’t be my fault if anything goes wrong.”
“You should have insisted.”
Bernie: “…”
Inside the training place—
Su Ping summoned the Little Skeleton, the Dark Dragon Hound and the Inferno Dragon. As for Little White and the Purple Python, they had yet to reach the Fate State bottleneck; their breakthrough could wait.
Su Ping’s main pets were still those first three.
“These are for you.” Su Ping gave each of them a couple of the Blood Path Seeds.
The Little Skeleton weighed them in its hand curiously and then chewed them. Once chewed, the seeds somehow melted, turning into crimson energy which was spread from its jaw to the rest of its body, dyeing its bones pink.
The same happened to the Dark Dragon Hound and the Inferno Dragon; both grasped the rare skills inside the Blood Path Seeds.
Each of the rare skills had the chance of including laws and paths.
Some of the skills could even be traced back to the four supreme laws…
Such skills were extremely rare throughout the cultivation world. They were quite extraordinary.
