“d.a.m.n it!”

The world was contorted in Su Ping's eyes; he was feeling a tingling pain everywhere. He lowered his head and saw many bugs biting on his flesh.

Is this an illusion?

Su Ping knew that none of that was real but he was unable to find a solution.

Buzzing!

Right then, a ray of golden light shone radiantly, accompanied by a Buddhist sound. Su Ping felt that something in his mind shook, and then the pain vanished. It was as if he had only dreamed of that pain.

The contorted world transitioned back to the real world.

laa

The moment everything went back to normal, Su Ping saw that the young man had teleported to where the Dark Dragon Hound was. His claw was enlarging and his fingers were twisted; there was a mouth growing out of the palm. He was planning on devouring his pet!

“Go away!!” Su Ping shouted. He poured all of his Ashura and Divine Energy into this one

cut.

s.p.a.ce broke. The ray of sword light landed on the weird mouth growing out of that palm.

The young man narrowed his crimson eyes. “I don't believe it!” he shouted in terror.

Su Ping's sudden move had taken him off guard. He had been unable to move his hand fast enough and the mouth ended up biting Su Ping's word.

Crack!

The sword then left a deep cut on the lips. s.p.a.ce began to crack along the cut, and the crack itself was about to suck the lips in when the young man closed it in time.

Whoos.h.!.+

The young man retreated for hundreds of meters, gazing at Su Ping sullenly.

A golden goblet appeared over Su Ping's chest.

The golden goblet was spinning, emitting rays of golden light.

Su Ping felt a spread of warmth inside him. He noticed that the golden goblet was one of the artifacts the old dragon king had given him.

It was one of the useful ones.

But he didn't know, before then, that it was an artifact that could repel spiritual strikes.

Thank you so much, dragon king, Su Ping said inwardly.

If it weren't for that golden goblet, things would have taken an awful turn for him.

“Wake up!”

Su Ping slapped the Dark Dragon Hound's back.

The pet trembled but clarity returned to its eyes; realization soon arrived, enraging the pet even more. It had tried to protect Su Ping, but the both of them had almost ended up getting killed.

The Dark Dragon Hound snarled and its claws were enlarging.

Crack!

The temperature was dropping and the air was freezing

The Dark Dragon Hound was emitting ghastly streams of cold air. It was a skill called Abyssal Zero, a skill that belonged to the old dragon king's species!

Those Heaven Expansion Dragons had once mastered all sorts of elements in nature, being able to manipulate them with agility. That was why the Dark Dragon Hound was able to learn more than a hundred legendary rank defensive skills after it got the legacy from the old dragon king.

Su Ping's hound was able to learn skills of different sorts before, but those skills were of the t.i.tled rank; the pet had only managed to learn them after its many brushes with death.

But legendary rank skills were much more complicated.

The Heaven Expansion Dragon's bloodline gave the hound the ability to absorb a great deal of different new skills within a limited time.

The Heaven Expansion Dragons' bloodline had two distinct categories: fire, and water. The old dragon king had been born with a nature closer to water.

“What?”

The young man watched as the air froze. Its eyes were able to see at the molecular level. At the moment he was able to see how the water in the air was freezing up!

The young man had also noticed effects on a deeper level; even the air itself was being affected by the falling temperature and began to stop moving! “Trying to free the s.p.a.ce?”

The crimson-eyed young man pulled a long face. The battle pet turned out to be something beyond his imagination; while at the Ocean State, with a shallow understanding of spatial mechanisms, the battle pet was still able to control s.p.a.ce. That skill was truly terrifying! “The Star Rank bloodline is amazing!”

The young man took a deep breath; dark liquid oozed out from his pores and the thick liquid covered his skin, forming many pigment layers.

The hand he had turned into a claw before returned to normal, but the cut on his palm was still bleeding.

The young man licked the blood; the four eyes on his forehead were rolling about wildly. He seemed to have become excited.

Bang! Bang!

His skin was opening up on his face, neck, and body, revealing the many crimson eyes inside.

The beast king had instantly opened up dozens of eyes and its momentum was rising!

“Watch out!”

Su Ping immediately cast some augmentation skills to the Dark Dragon Hound. In the meantime, he told the Little Skeleton to absorb energy for undead creatures which floated in the air, to then pa.s.s the harvested energy to him so that he could share it with the Dark Dragon Hound.

It went without saying that the Dark Dragon Hound was the one with the strongest defense.

The Little Skeleton was almost immortal but it couldn't pa.s.s that trait to him, the master.

On the other hand, the Dark Dragon Hound's defensive skills could benefit them all.

“Distract him. I will find us a way out!” Su Ping said to the Dark Dragon Hound in his consciousness.

He looked around. He had not chosen a random route while he was trying to run for his life. He had been making his way to the exit.

But the exit would not lead them to the Field of Ice which was too far away. It would take him at least half a day to get there!

He had been running to the exit closest to him. He had no idea what he would see on the other side.

But he was closer to that exit! It would take him five minutes to get there!

He would have to exert the utmost strength during those five minutes to keep on teleporting!

Still, distracting the Thousand-eyed Demon Beast for five minutes was too much.

The Dark Dragon Hound looked even fiercer after receiving Su Ping's order. Apart from the Abyssal Zero, the hound began to use other defensive skills at the same time.

Cl.u.s.ter of Wind G.o.d!

Hug of the Ice Queen! Dress of the Flame Muse!

Su Ping was surrounded by many defensive layers. Those skills could cover a large area, but they were currently being concentrated on Su Ping. There was a cyan shadow behind him. The flames were his clothes and his skin was covered in ice. There was dark armor covering him as well; that was the result of a demonic defensive skill.

Over a dozen defensive layers made Su Ping almost invincible. Not even a hundred missiles would hurt him; not one bit.

“Roar!” the Dark Dragon Hound bellowed. The suddenly spreading ice was blasted into pieces, landing on every corner of the pathway!

s.p.a.ce froze and so did the walls.

The crimson-eyed young man was unable to move.

“Run!” Su Ping shouted. That was a perfect chance.

Whoos.h.!.+

He teleported away.

He heard a noise of something cracking right when the first teleporting round ended.

In the meantime, a red shadow appeared in front of him. He lifted his hand; something b.u.mped into his sword and the impact threw him to the ground.

Su Ping stood up. Even though the impact was strong, he was completely unhurt.

However, three defensive layers had been broken!

Three layers cracked!

“I said it already; you cannot escape from me.”

The young man looked down at Su Ping from the air, while covered in red flames. He gazed at Su Ping and the Dark Dragon Hound with derision. “I might have feared you a little bit if your state was the same as mine. Truth be told, you would be a painful enough headache for me if you were at the Void State.

“But, unfortunately for you, you are too, too weak. You cannot ignore my superior rank without consequences!”

Su Ping pulled a long face.

Indeed, the beast king was not wrong

as

He had been progressing fast lately, but at the end of the day, he was still at the t.i.tled rank. He might have been able to protect himself from the weakest Fate State beasts, but that Thousand-eyed Demon Beast was definitely not a weak one. It might be at the peak of the Fate State.

Roar!

The Dark Dragon Hound showed its teeth at the beast king.

The young man darted the hound a glance. “You have a Star Rank bloodline, and yet you allowed yourself to stay with this human creature… How pathetic. Go away; I will deal with you later!”

The beast king was not in a rush to kill the Dark Dragon Hound since it didn't have teleportation ability.

Su Ping, on the other hand, was the problem. He would be able to get away at a moment's notice, given the chance.

Once he dealt with Su Ping, it would be child's play to kill the Dark Dragon Hound, which wasn't even able to teleport.

The Dark Dragon Hound certainly had many defensive skills. So what?

At the end of the day, it would be beaten up!

Since it lacked the ability to fight back, that was the only possible end for the Dark Dragon Hound!

Defenses would help you stay alive for the time being, but to get away and to win, you would have to turn to the offense. Defense alone would not do all the work.

The Dark Dragon Hound roared as if having understood the beast king's words.

The young man looked past the Dark Dragon Hound to meet Su Ping's gaze.

The young man with crimson eyes simply said one word. “Come!”

Whoos.h.!.+

The next thing Su Ping saw was the young man standing right in front of his face.

Bang!

Su Ping quickly struck at the beast king. He was inwardly appalled because he realized that the young man had not teleported. He was the one who had approached the enemy!

s.p.a.ce Transfer!

The beast king had moved him as well as the s.p.a.ce he was in!

“That's a good sword, but you're not worthy to keep it.” The young man grabbed Su Ping's wrist, as he tried to wrest the weapon away.

He had noticed that the sword was outstanding. The energy contained in the sword was only a little but the blade was sharp. There was something unique about the sword.

Something which had the Star Rank; a rank that he dreamed to reach.

The sword was clearly crippled or defective, because there was no energy of nature's laws imbued in it.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have been the one at a disadvantage right then.

“p.i.s.s off!” Su Ping bellowed.

He unleashed Divine Energy.

A stream carrying an unbelievable force swarmed out of his arm and pushed away the beast king's hand. At the same time, Su Ping lifted his other arm to smash the beast king's head.

The young man reacted quickly. He tried to grab Su Ping's fist but the strength on Su Ping's hand was more than he could imagine.

Bang. Su Ping landed a punch on his face.

The young man was pushed back dozens of meters. There was a trace of blood by the corner of his mouth. The violence in his eyes grew.

Insulting!

He, a Fate State beast king, had just been punched by a human creature!

After that, he pulled that human closer to him!

“Go to h.e.l.l!!”

The crimson-eyed young man snarled. More and more crimson eyes opened up in the air; they emitted rays of red light that locked onto Su Ping.

The golden goblet kept on spinning over Su Ping's chest but the light from the crimson eyes was diminis.h.i.+ng the artifact's strength.

Bang!

The young man opened the s.p.a.ce and directly reached for Su Ping. All of the young man's crimson eyes glared at Su Ping as the latter raised his arm.

Su Ping came to a stop. The claws reached his head…

But white bones crawled to protect his face and neck. The defensive layers were breaking one after the other.

The Dark Dragon Hound once again added defensive layers to Su Ping.

The young man struck again and again as if mad. s.p.a.ce trembled and anomalies occurred. There were terrifying repercussions with each strike.

Su Ping would be paralized in a sudden and bizarre manner every time he tried lifting his arm to fend off the strikes; his mind would also turn chaotic.

“d.a.m.n it!”

Su Ping was losing patience.

He was unable to do a thing while he was being struck. He would have died dozens of times if it weren't for the Little Skeleton and the Dark Dragon Hound.

Should I go on like this until death is inevitable?

Su Ping bit his teeth. He remembered his training in the cultivation sites and what Dusk had taught him.

Sword.

The sword in his heart.

His heart was his sword and his sword was him!

Su Ping closed his eyes.

He recalled the many battles he had fought in harsh environments.

Since his mind had stopped working, he would let his body do the work!

“Die!!”

The young man was getting even crazier. Right at that moment, Su Ping's sword reached for his neck at a weird angle.

That ray of sword light forced the young man to stop.

Bang!

A b.u.mp of flesh rose on his shoulder as he tried to stop the cut, but the b.u.mp was chopped off and the cut landed on his neck. But the sword was also stuck in his neck.

The young man grabbed the blade at once, pulling it out.

Blood gushed out from his neck. Soon after, the flesh wiggled and closed the cut.

The young man glared at Su Ping, who had his eyes closed at the moment. What is he?

He was able to tell that Su Ping was still under the influence of his skills, but he had indeed made a move!

He moved without thinking and the angle of that strike had been vicious and fatal!

Su Ping opened his eyes. He looked at the beast king and how the neck cut was healing.

So, that wasn't good enough. Without thinking? True. He did not think.

His body had learned to fight based on instinct after the countless battles he had gone through in the cultivation sites.

The young man with crimson eyes said ferociously, “You've really gotten on my nerves.”

Su Ping had deflected his strikes again and again. The young man was enraged by such humiliation.

The black pigment moved to the crimson eyes.

Black dots were seen inside the eyes. Su Ping sensed a profound stream of Ashura Energy inside the beast king! Yes, Ashura! The n.o.ble kind of the undead creatures!

Su Ping was worried. He had failed to cut the beast king's head off before and it would only become harder for him from that point on.

“It's over,” the young man with crimson eyes thus announced, his voice hoa.r.s.e. The world fell into darkness. From that darkness came out a claw. Su Ping quickly lifted his sword to defend himself but the claw had smashed Su Ping into the ground.

It was too fast!

The claw had pushed him further into the ground before he was able to stand up.

Crack!

The white bones outside Su Ping's body were breaking The broken bones would continue to heal but the claw would push Su Ping even harder, before the healing could be completed; the cracks on the white bones were deepened.

Su Ping bit his teeth. He poured all of his energy into the Little Skeleton.

The cracks on the white bones were healing faster. The bones were eventually able to withstand the strike.

However, right then, the young man came down from above and stomped on Su Ping's chest.

The bones were breaking! Su Ping was able to sense that the Little Skeleton would not hold for much longer.

Is this the end?

Su Ping remembered that Su Lingyue and Li Yuanfeng were still in the scroll; the Inferno Dragon and the Purple Python were still in the contract s.p.a.ce and the Dark Dragon Hound was still there with him. He could not allow himself to die!

But…

He was much too weak in comparison.

“I will trust them to you.”

Su Ping made a decision. He didn't have the luxury of thinking at his leisure.

All hope was lost.

Since death was inevitable, he had to at least save some of them.

He tried to summon the Dark Dragon Hound back to the contract s.p.a.ce.

The contract s.p.a.ce would open up in a random place around him after he died; that “place around him” could mean a large area. There was a good chance that his battle pets could end up above ground and they would have a chance to live.

As for the Little Skeleton, it had to take the scroll away for him.

The Thousand-eyed Demon Beast was powerful but it would find it quite hard to kill the Little Skeleton.

The white bones were still trying to protect him. Still, with greater and greater stress, the cracks began to widen.

There were so many cracks on the white bones that it was offending to the eyes. But still, like a miracle, the bones didn't break into pieces! What made the skeleton last that long? Su Ping felt a feeble message in his consciousness.

It was a message of love and affection.

The magnificent Skeleton King's image appeared behind Su Ping.

The Skeleton King sat on his throne and looked at the world of white bones from a height!

Roar!!

The Skeleton King stood up and shouted.

That shout dispersed the darkness.

The darkness went away as if a curtain had been lifted.

The darkness was gone and the Dark Dragon Hound was able to see Su Ping again. It hurried to him at once.

Su Ping was thrown toward the Dark Dragon Hound and he fell on its back.

The fur was as sharp as a sword, but then it immediately turned soft to brace Su Ping's fall.

Su Ping was covered in blood and his skin was covered in cuts. However, there were no more white bones protecting him!

The white bones were still under the beast king's claws!

Su Ping looked at the Dark Dragon Hound. He felt feeble and the force outside him disappeared. He turned around and saw that pile of white bones under the young man's feet.

White bones were scattered on the ground.

He had been thrown away!

Of course, the Little Skeleton did it.

Bang!

Without him as the body, the white bones were stomped into pieces!

Su Ping felt he could barely breathe.

The Dark Dragon Hound snarled in pain as well.

It would fool around with the Little Skeleton often and they shared a deep bond. With Su Ping, the Little Skeleton, that tall and big dude (what the Dark Dragon Hound would call the Inferno Dragon,) and the Purple Python… They would explore and fight in the cultivation sites.

They would trust each other with their lives.

Together they had endured Su Ping's tortures and they had trained together.

They had seen too many terrifying beasts.

They were friends!

“Hmm!”

The young man gazed at Su Ping.

Right then, the white bones gathered once more and formed the Little Skeleton again. Then, the Little Skeleton dashed forward and slashed at the beast king with its bone blade.

The young man reacted quickly. He grabbed the blade with his claws and kicked the Little Skeleton away to smash against the wall. The Little Skeleton fell to pieces. But the bone pieces quickly reformed the Little Skeleton and it made another try. In the meantime, Su Ping heard something in his mind.

GO… The Little Skeleton was telling Su Ping to leave.

Su Ping would rarely cry but tears filled his eyes.

Back at the Longjiang Base City, the Inferno Dragon had stood up to become his last s.h.i.+eld during that beast strike. The Little Skeleton was doing the same thing.

That might be a frequent occurrence for the other battle pet warriors. Battle pets would sacrifice their lives to buy some time for their masters to get away.

Pets were supposed to be disposed of like that, right?

But…

Su Ping remembered how the Little Skeleton would always look at him with its googly eyes and would always behave. How could he have the heart to use the Little Skeleton as a tool so that he could escape?

That was a skeleton, but on top of that, the Little Skeleton was Su Ping's dear friend!

The most important friend!! “Go and help out!”

Su Ping shouted but his voice was hoa.r.s.e.

He had merged with the Little Skeleton when he was fighting the young man and tried teleporting many times, gradually using up his strength. He could barely move a finger at the moment.

But the Dark Dragon Hound was still there with him.

He knew that his order was unreasonable. But he could not bear the thought of leaving the Little Skeleton alone to run away!

The Dark Dragon Hound looked at the Little Skeleton but didn't move. That was the first time it had disobeyed Su Ping's orders!

The Dark Dragon Hound heard a warning in its mind.

It was a warning of fatal danger.

But…

The Dark Dragon Hound picked up Su Ping in its mouth and ran! The contract started to burn and corrode the hound the moment it began to run!

Su Ping was stunned. “What do you think you're doing?!” Su Ping shouted at the Dark Dragon Hound.

He knew the Dark Dragon Hound was afraid of death, very much so.

Ninety percent of the skills it had learned were of the defensive kind!

But why would the Dark Dragon Hound disobey him at the risk of its life?

“Stop. Stop now! You'll be burned to death!” Su Ping shouted.

The Dark Dragon Hound looked straight ahead, determined and resolute. It did not stop. The burning was painful but the pet ignored it.

It ran and ran forward.

Su Ping looked back. The Little Skeleton was stalling the Thousand-eyed Demon Beast; he was barely able to see them. “I know you're trying to save me. But… do I

erve this?” Su Ping took back his order but the flames didn't disappear right away.

A moment later, the flame-covered Dark Dragon Hound left Su Ping next to a wall, then used its claw to dig out the scroll and turned around

Su Ping was surprised.

“Where are you going?” he asked. He already had an idea.

The Dark Dragon Hound turned around and gazed at Su Ping. The violence in its eyes had been replaced by affection and peace.

They looked at each other in that dim-lit pathway.

Su Ping immediately understood his pet's intention.

It carried him there because it didn't want him to die!

It was going back because the Little Skeleton was its friend!!

The Dark Dragon Hound turned around. Violence again filled its eyes. It dashed away with determination.

Su Ping finally came back to his senses. He knew that the Dark Dragon Hound was ready to help the Little Skeleton with its life.

But death was inevitable!

Why would the Dark Dragon Hound withstand the pain from the flames and save him? Why would it go back when it was safe already?! “Ah…” Su Ping shouted.

Finally, he recovered some strength. He used that strength to open up his contract s.p.a.ce.

Whoos.h.!.+

The Dark Dragon Hound was pulled back into the contract s.p.a.ce.

The contract between Su Ping and the Dark Dragon Hound was the Archean contract that could enable him to call back his battle pets as long as his battle pets were within a certain range, plus, the s.p.a.ce was stable and the battle pet was not currently under attack. Su Ping couldn't just stand idle as the Dark Dragon Hound headed to its doom! The Dark Dragon Hound struggled but eventually went back to the contract s.p.a.ce. Su Ping had exhausted all of his energy. Utterly frustrated, he felt he was a complete loser.

“Wait for me…” Su Ping said to the Little Skeleton in his consciousness.

The Thousand-eyed Demon Beast would be unable to kill the Little Skeleton for the time being. If he stayed there, he would do nothing other than drag the both of them to their deaths.

The Little Skeleton had given him a chance.

Su Ping knew that he would only slow the Little Skeleton down.

Swis.h.!.+

Su Ping opened the scroll.

Two people came out in a hurry. Both Li Yuanfeng and Su Lingyue were startled to see Su Ping covered in blood. “Ping!” Su Lingyue shouted.

Li Yuanfeng turned pale from fright. “Brother

Su!”

Su Ping mustered the energy to tell them, “Take me away. My battle pet is stalling that thing. We need to get out of here.” He knew that the faster they left, the less stress the Little Skeleton would have to face.

The Thousand-eyed Demon Beast would probably be unable to kill the Little Skeleton.

But, it could end up dying for real if it had to stall the Thousand-eyed Demon Beast for a very long time so that they would get away.

Li Yuanfeng could not believe that Su Ping's battle pet was able to stop that thing.

But then again, that was not the time to find the answer. He helped Su Ping stand up, poured some astral powers into him and said to Su Lingyue, “Let's get out of here.”

Su Lingyue held Su Ping's other hand and she, too, poured astral powers into him so that he could heal.

She knew that saying one more word would mean wasting another second for nothing.

Regret would not help her at the moment. She had been the cause of it all.

Whoos.h.!.+

Li Yuanfeng told Su Lingyue to support Su Ping with her hand while he explored the way.

Su Lingyue and Su Ping followed Li Yuanfeng.

Su Ping remained silent. He tried to mobilize the Chaotic Star Chart to gather more astral powers. Getting more astral powers could give him hope of getting out of there. He kept a brave face while sorrow ate him inside. That was what it meant to be a warrior. The Chaotic Star Chart enabled him to absorb astral powers quite quickly. The vortices in his cells were spinning quickly. Several minutes later, Su Ping felt he had recovered some astral powers; he was later able to move by himself thanks to Su Lingyue's continuous influx of astral powers.

Roar!

A beast king rushed at them.

Li Yuanfeng made a swift move, killing it immediately. Su Ping was the one who had fought the Thousand-eyed Demon Beast. He could not trouble him with an average beast king anymore. The three of them hurried to escape. Li Yuanfeng had taken charge of eliminating the beast kings along the way. After about ten minutes, when they went through another fork in the road, they saw a swirl up ahead.

“Look. An exit!”

Li Yuanfeng was happy to have found an exit that quickly.

It would not take them to the Field of Ice, but it would lead them to safety.

The Thousand-eyed Demon Beast was at the Fate State, but there would be complicated formations outside the swirl which would diminish the strength of those beast kings. That was why the Thousand-eyed Demon Beast had not left that place to roam about.

Having found an exit so soon came as a surprise to Su Ping.

“Let's go,” Li Yuanfeng said.

Su Lingyue helped Su Ping get into the swirl. Su Ping took a moment before he stepped in; he felt that the Little Skeleton was still alive.

He knew how st.u.r.dy the Little Skeleton's life was.

When something killed the Little Skeleton and the world of the undead was about to take it back, the Little Skeleton could draw energy from the world of the undead and come back to life!

That ability alone made the Little Skeleton become almost immortal! Of course, this could be prevented if there was a special method that could stop the Little Skeleton from absorbing undead energy from its homeworld.

Find a chance to escape. I will find you. Su Ping conveyed his intention to the Little Skeleton. He wasn't sure if the Little Skeleton would receive that message accurately since he was far away, but the contract would allow for them to know each other's locations. Once he left the Deep Caves, the Little Skeleton would know and it would also leave.

The Little Skeleton would then be able to run for its life.

“Let's go.”

Su Ping repeated his message to the Little Skeleton several times.

“Let me go first,” Li Yuanfeng said. He was worried that there could be beasts outside. Su Ping was in no shape to stop beast kings.

After two seconds pa.s.sed, Su Ping went into the swirl as well.

Su Lingyue was right behind him. The world spun. Su Ping saw blue skies and green gra.s.s when he opened his eyes. They were in a plain!

Beasts were crouching on the gra.s.sland.

Su Ping saw the sun in the sky. Is this… outside?! This is the surface?!