His Golden Crow bloodline was no longer a secret; it was pointless to deny it. He was quite eager to find out how strong he had become.
âYouâre going to issue a challenge again?â asked Elder Yan, as if having read Su Pingâs mind.
Noticing Su Pingâs surprise, Elder Yan smiled and said, âAll kids are the same. You always want to have a try after a breakthrough. Itâs nothing bad; in fact, I really envy you. People like us havenât made much progress in a long time.â
Su Ping was momentarily lost for words.
Is this some kind of high-level showing off?
Choosing not to comment on that, Su Ping went on to say, âIâd really like to challenge the rankers again.â
âOkay. Youâre free to go anywhere you want. Iâll cover the cost of the challenges for you.â Elder Yan accepted his request and then thought of something else. âDo you want to record your constitution before the challenge?â
âOkay.â
Su Ping nodded.
Even though his constitution could be exposed after being recorded in the database, he was already the disciple of a Celestial expert who would definitely prevent any leaking of information.
AlsoâŠ
As long as he grew fast enough, exposure wouldnât be an issue.
Elder Yan summoned a couple of scientists to collect Su Pingâs blood and scan his body from every perspective with their equipment.
The registration process was soon concluded.
âLetâs go. The data has already been uploaded. Itâs time to try it out,â said Elder Yan with a smile.
Su Ping nodded.
The two of them went to the city where the simulation equipment was located; it was quite crowded at the moment. Elder Yan casually explained, âA virtual contest is taking place. Those with high ranking will be awarded. You can have some fun there if youâre interested.â
âA virtual contest?â
Su Ping asked curiously, âAre there any restrictions?â
âAs long as youâre not above the Ascendant State,â replied Elder Yan with a smile.
Su Ping got it. Not bothering to ask about the awards, he said, âIâll participate if I have time.â
The two of them flew above the city and reached the building they had previously gone to.
The virtual equipment was only available to Su Ping at the moment.
Su Ping was already familiar with the process. He simply activated the device and entered the virtual battlefield.
It was another randomly simulated map.
Clowe showed up before Su Ping. He first glanced at the latter with his beautiful silver eyes and then summoned his pets.
Everything was the same as the last time.
Su Ping didnât waste his time. He summoned his pets and merged with them. Then, he fully unleashed his small world, sending out sword auras through it.
Bang!
His small world collided with Cloweâs and caused an opening. The sword auras dashed out, about to cut off Cloweâs head.
However, Clowe was quick to act. The holy light in his small world turned into a round shield that blocked the sword auras; it then darted towards Su Ping like a sharp dagger.
âVoid Flames!â
Su Pingâs body shivered, and the temperature around him soared. Golden flames erupted from his pores and covered his skin. A mass of the flames flew out with the snap of his fingers, burning space apart and crashed into his opponentâs small world.
A shocking scene happened. Cloweâs small world was softened and soon burnt through by the Void Flames!
A lot of holy light was gathered as an attempt to stop the flames. However, the flames collided with the power of faith creating dull noises, just like a heavy hammer smashing mud.
The flames moved several dozen meters more, until they were stopped by a greater power of faith.
While amazed by the overwhelming power of the flames, Su Ping didnât dawdle. He stepped up and punched his opponentâs small world with brutal force.
Bang!!
Space trembled, and the deeper spaces began to crack. There were ripples on the secondary and tertiary spaces.
Cloweâs small world was instantly broken. It was knocked through by Su Pingâs fist!
Su Ping roared and broke into the small world. He simultaneously gathered the power of faith he had refined from his Force Field, turning it into a light sword!
Slay!
Su Ping brandished his sword, unleashing an unstoppable sword aura that cut apart Cloweâs small world and struck him at dozens of times the speed of sound.
Clowe trembled, then his head and body fell apart.
The world before Su Pingâs eyes slowed down; even the dust seemed to be frozen. Then, he saw a couple of words: Challenge Successful!
Su Ping found himself standing in front of the equipment right after, seemingly taken out of the battlefield.
Did I win? ?Su Ping was surprised and delighted.
He knew he had gotten a lot stronger after cultivating the fourth level of the Golden Crow constitution, but he didnât expect the victory to be that easy to attain.
My fist penetrated through his small world, which means that my body is definitely at the peak of the Star Lord State, ?Su Ping thought.
He reviewed all actions during the previous battle.
He was aware that, besides his physical strength, the power of faith he had refined played a critical role in his victory.
His power of faith had crushed his opponentâs. As a result, his opponent didnât have enough power of faith to resist his sword aura.
Those twenty streams of faith power that Su Ping gathered in his body had surpassed what some of the top Star Lords had!
I didnât use the Sorcererâs Constitution⊠It seems that my limits are even higher. ?Su Pingâs eyes glittered. He was already able to crush average Star Lords!
He could even beat them up with nothing but his physical strength.
âYouâre out already?â The nearby Elder Yan was surprised to see him open his eyes, as it had only been two minutes since his session began.
Why did Su Ping endure less than last time when heâs already made a breakthrough?
âDid you have an epiphany?â asked Elder Yan.
It would be understandable to stop the fight whenever a moment of enlightenment arrived.
Although challenges were costly, they represented an insignificant proportion when considering all the resources that would be invested on Su Ping.
âNo,â Su Ping shook his head and said, âI was kicked out because I defeated him.â
âYou⊠defeated him?â
Elder Yan blinked, disconcerted.
What did I just hear?
Soon, his eyes widened. He stared at Su Ping as if he were a ghost. âYou defeated him?â
âYes.â
âYou defeated the 100th person on the Divine Lord Rank?â
âYes.â
Elder Yan was silent. He realized that the last question was meaningless the moment he asked it, because he had been the one who had arranged the appointment for Su Ping.
There was no way the equipment could fail!
ButâŠ
How long has it been since the end of the contest?
No more than three months!
Su Ping had just risen to the Star State, too!
And yet, he defeated a Star Lord genius, one who was 100th place on the Divine Lord Rank?
Doesnât this mean that Su Ping could practically crush any regular Star Lord?
Elder Yan gave Su Ping a weird look; he had not been as surprised in years. The elder had seen all sorts of extraordinary human beings over the nears, but none were as monstrous as Su Ping.
Is he an example of humanityâs infinite potential?
Elder Yan glanced at Su Ping and said, âIâll report your progress to Master. The training resources for you will be further upgraded in the future. Judging from the circumstances, you will also be a leading figure in the Star State!â
Su Ping said politely, âI couldnât have achieved it without your training materials.â
âYouâre too kind. You didnât ask for anything else anyway. Besides, you didnât waste any of the materials. They were all too effective!â said Elder Yan.
He ascribed Su Pingâs change to the rare training materials he had procured. Had he known how much the boy would improve, he wouldnât have spared a moment to get them.
Looks like I need to work harder to get the new batch of materials he needs; I need to appoint more men to widen the search. It wonât be long before this kid becomes an invincible Star Lord that only Ascendants can subdue. Still, no Ascendant would even try without good reason.
Elder Yan was laden with mixed feelings. He stared at Su Ping as if looking at a rising star that would illuminate the entire universe!
âIâd like to continue challenging others,â said Su Ping to Elder Yan.
The elder snapped out of his pondering and smiled. âOkay, no problem! Who do you want to challenge? Iâll make an appointment for you.â
âHow about the 90th?â asked Su Ping.
He didnât want to challenge each and every one of them; it would be better to skip a few. Even if he failed, the only thing lost would be the appointment cost.
âOkay.â Elder Yan was not planning on stopping him.
None of the geniuses of that level could be stupid. He didnât need to offer any suggestion unless it was about cultivation.
Soon after, the appointment was made.
Su Ping continued challenging.
âŠ
Somewhere, far away in spaceâ
On a gigantic planet in the middle of a prosperous galaxy.
âHuh?â
Inside a luxurious palaceâlocated in a forbidden land of the planetâa white-haired young man was cultivating. He suddenly opened his eyes and a notification was displayed.
âSir, the projection you left on the virtual Divine Lord Rank has just been defeated. Please get ready for a challenger,â said a beautiful female voice.
âHumph. Boring.â
Clowe snorted. For his projection to be challenged meant that someone was interested in entering the Divine Lord Rankings. However, the guy wasnât very strong, since he chose the last on the ranking as his opponent.
On the other hand, the projection he had left was from decades earlier. The new contender was in for a lesson he would never forget if he thought he could win in reality after having defeated the projection.
âŠ
Inside the Celestial Courtâ
In a building from the city of virtual arenas.
Su Ping suddenly opened his eyes. He breathed heavily, while looking pale and exhausted.
âYou endured for five minutes. Not bad.â Elder Yan could not help but smile after seeing Su Pingâs appearance. âYou almost skipped ten rankers. It would be normal to see stronger fighters in adjacent rankings, but a skip of ten rankings is too much. Youâve endured long enough; you can probably crush average Star Lords.â
It took Su Ping quite a while to catch his breath. He nodded and said, âIndeed. He was much stronger. I almost lost.â
âThatâs understandable⊠Wait, what?â
The bewildered senior looked at Su Ping. âYou almost lost? You mean that you won?â
Su Ping nodded. âNarrowly.â
Elder Yan was astonished.? Seriously? The man defeated the 90th place on the Divine Lord Rank after having just broken through to the Star State? ?Su Ping was actually capable of defeating those below the 90th place!
Projections were generally weaker than their real-life counterparts, but the difference wasnât too big.
This meant that Su Ping could already change the Divine Lord Rank if he were to challenge them in real life!
He could already appear on the Divine Lord Rank!
It was the ranking for Star Lords, while Su Ping was still at the Star State. It was incredible!
âIâm still too weak.â Su Ping heaved a sigh with undisguised regret. The last battle was much more difficult than the one against Clowe. His opponent had less power of faith, but he had still been unable to crush the guy. Aside from that, his opponent had other secret techniques, and an invulnerable small world.
He didnât use the Sorcererâs Constitution in the battle against Clowe, but he did in the last battle, and almost lost.
âI need to accumulate more astral power and power of faithâŠâ Su Ping took a deep breath, then thought about going back to cultivate.
Elder Yanâs eyes twitched after hearing what Su Ping said. He replied with, âItâs already remarkable how far youâve gone in your current level. Youâve only been in the Star State for two months. Just consolidate your power. Besides, your pets are still in the Fate State. Thereâs still a lot of room for improvement!â
âYes.â
Su Ping nodded and smiled bitterly. It was hard for his pets to rise to the Star State when he wasnât in his store.
Suddenly, he slapped his head. Why would he be forced to train them in his store?
All sorts of resources were available there. He was a trainer too. Wasnât he like a chef that had all ingredients with him?
I need to promote my pets to the Star State first. My combat ability will then be multiplied if I merge with them; their boost will be even greater if they become Star LordsâŠ
Su Pingâs eyes glittered. He became solemn and earnest for a moment.
âElder Yan, do you have a place where I can train pets?â asked Su Ping right away.
Seeing the young manâs enthusiasm, the elder smiled and said, âOf course. There are always extraordinary two-star trainers here; all of them would be capable of training Star Lord pets.â