Astral Pet Store Novel - Chapter 366
Chapter 366: Physical Skill Practitioner
“Is that the level of your swordsmanship? How disappointing.”
Yan Bingyue turned her waist and sheathed her sword.
She gazed at Qin Shaotian, waiting for his reply. If he were too stubborn to give up, she wouldn’t mind resorting to more merciless methods!
“I…”
Qin Shaotian looked at her with leaden eyes and confusion.
The coldness coming from his neck told him that… he had already lost.
If it weren’t for the fact that Yan Bingyue had shown mercy…
Rather, if it weren’t for the fact that he was the future family head of the Qin Family and she had to consider that, he would have been a dead man by then!
He merely used one skill; there were more he didn’t get the chance to use.
What was the good of that?
He had lost.
No rule had ever stipulated that both parties would have to put all their cards on the table before they could decide who was stronger and who was weaker.
This was a battle, not a card game.
In that instant, he chose to use that skill to fight her but he had misjudged her strength. She wounded him within one move and that meant he had lost.
To fight a battle, a person would need the combination of skills in vision, judgment, spontaneous decision, and strength!
Qin Shaotian lowered his head and said in a low voice, “I give up…”
He had lost in a swordsmanship competition.
He had lost to a younger girl and of the same rank.
He was disappointed, in pain, sad, and upset.
For a moment, he felt all hope was dashed to pieces.
Yan Bingyue kept a straight face as she heard Qin Shaotian admitting defeat. She told her battle pets to stop at once.
…
The Lava Dragon that was still trapped in the Crystal Prison raised its head with a dull look in its eyes. The dragon saw how its master was in a desolate mood. The dragon was unable to believe it was its master.
The dragon was experiencing a cloudy mood that it had never felt before. Dissatisfied, the Lava Dragon cried into the air!
In the distance, the Bloody Servant took a pause and then let out a wild scream. A heavy mass of dark mist came out and the Bloody Servant forced away the Hell Viper and the Crystal Ocean Dragon to get to its master.
The Bloody Servant crossed several hundred meters in an instant.
The huge Bloody Servant placed itself in front of Qin Shaotian.
With its bloody-red, hideous eyes, the Bloody Servant stared at Qin Shaotian. His image was reflected in those crimson eyes.
All of a sudden, sadness appeared in the Bloody Servant’s eyes.
“Crack…. Gulp…”
The Bloody Servant’s throat moved. It was trying to say something but was unable to utter any sound.
The Bloody Servant raised its arms as if trying to pat Qin Shaotian and to comfort him. However, at the same time, the Bloody Servant was afraid that its sharp arms were going to hurt him. The moment its arms were about to touch Qin Shaotian’s head, the Bloody Servant put its hands back.
Roar!!
The Bloody Servant raised its head and cried out a ghost cry.
Standing behind Qin Shaotian, Yan Bingyue was a bit scared about this shrill cry. She had no idea what Qin Shaotian was thinking. She was too far away from her battle pets and was besieged by her enemies. If the Bloody Servant were to attack her, she would be in immense danger.
She made a move and dashed away from Qin Shaotian.
After the Bloody Servant finished its cry, it wildly fixed its blood-red eyes on Yan Bingyue. It seemed that the Bloody Servant was on the verge of getting out of control.
Eventually, the Bloody Servant did nothing else other than stare at her.
That relieved the judge. If the Bloody Servant were to lose control, it would be hard for him to deal with that mess.
…
Next to the stage in the front row.
Both Qin Duhuang and Qin Shuhai were down spirited. Qin Duhuang showed no emotion on his face while Qin Shuhai’s eyes looked troubled. They knew Qin Shaotian very well. That was a young man who had been fond of studying swords since he was a kid, to the point of addiction. He would even carry a sword to bed with him.
And yet, he had been defeated by another swordsman who was at the same rank.
This was a crushing blow for him!
“Shaotian…”
Qin Shuhai heaved a sigh. However strong you were, there would always be someone stronger. The girl was not only good at swordsmanship. The more frightening thing about her was her physical quality, which was unusual for a sixth-rank battle pet warrior.
The girl’s physical strength should be about the seventh rank.
After all, she belonged to that place; those people couldn’t be seen as normal.
The other family heads were still in shock. They weren’t in the mood to mock the Qin Family.
Intimidating!
Yan Bingyue was intimidating!
She had managed to break through the protection of two dragons and the Natural Guardian, reaching all the way to attack Qin Shaotian.
Qin Shaotian was not an average young man. He had demonstrated outstanding skills in the previous battles. However, he lost to the girl within one move!
Qin Shaotian would have died if Yan Bingyue were not lenient!
Was Qin Shaotian weak?
No way!
No other family—be it the Ye Family, or the Mu Family—could claim that their talents could defeat Qin Shaotian.
It wasn’t that Qin Shaotian was too weak… It was the girl who was too powerful! She wasn’t a person that they could compete with!
More importantly, the girl had just used three battle pets up until then. No one believed that a person from that place would only have three battle pets.
…
Qin Shaotian had turned ghastly pale. The judge heaved a sigh. Qin Shaotian was a local from the Longjiang Base City. The judge was also unwilling to see him lose to an outsider. But facts were facts. The girl was formidable.
The judge flew down and asked Qin Shaotian to confirm, “Do you give up?”
Qin Shaotian trembled but kept his head low. “Yes.” His voice was hoarse.
The judge’s gaze lingered on him as he whispered, “Do not mind one defeat. You are the future family leader of the Qin Family. Don’t be discouraged.”
He finished his words quickly. After all, he was supposed to be neutral, unable to favor any family. Soon, he flew back up and announced the result.
Qin Shaotian trembled again after he heard what the judge whispered to him. He kept his head low in this entire process. He just turned around slowly, opened up the swirls, and allowed his battle pets go back in.
…
Silence was the reply to the judge’s announcement.
No one would have imagined that Qin Shaotian would lose, not to mention how quickly it happened!
Their battle pets had yet to begin a serious fight when Qin Shaotian was defeated by the girl!
In his previous battles, Qin Shaotian’s dragons and the Bloody Servant weren’t the only things that people would take delight in talking about. They would praise his physical skills as well. However, it turned out that he had also lost to a girl in physical arts, a girl at his rank!
For a moment, the audience didn’t know what to think. Was it the girl too strong, or was Qin Shaotian too vulnerable?
…
“That was it?”
Xu Kuang was still in disbelief.
Su Lingyue was stunned still as well. She didn’t know that Qin Shaotian would lose.
Both Ye Longtian and Mu Yuanshou looked sullen.
They would not go so far as say that Qin Shaotian was better than they were but they would admit that Qin Shaotian was a powerful young man. Still, the girl was like a monster when compared to him. She could fight the Bloody Servant herself and then sneak up to Qin Shaotian, hurting him within one second!
She was scary.
…
“Her physical skill is good!”
Fei Yanbo watched the entire match in shock.
Being a teacher, he was able to notice more things than the audience. The girl was not merely good at swordsmanship. She must have learned some long-lost physical skills. She had made her body as strong as that of a beast.
The device that was used to test the astral power rank was unable to measure the physical strength rank. The only way to find out about the latter was through some professional evaluation.
However, that evaluation method had been abandoned ever since the cultivation of physical skills fell into disuse.
Mr. Luo and Ms. Lin were just as dumbfounded as anyone else. Each new generation would excel the previous one. They believed that the girl at the sixth rank might even be more powerful than they were back then; they weren’t confident that they could have beaten her. They, the normal people, would never compare with a freak.
“Physical skill?”
Su Ping was curious.
The girl had done well, indeed.
She was the most skilled one he had seen thus far.
“Why did physical skills fail to be handed down from past generations?” Su Ping asked.
As far as he could tell, the Celestial Gods and the True Gods in the Demigod Burial were quite physically skilled. They would never rely completely on their battle pets.
“I don’t know the exact reasons but I heard it had something to do with the wealthy people…” Fei Yanbo replied.
Su Ping was even more baffled. What did it have to do with wealthy people?
Fei Yanbo could read Su Ping’s doubts from his expression. “It does make sense. Think about it. No matter how strong the physical skills are, battle pets will always be better. Of course, this didn’t apply to Yan Bingyue there. I’m talking about normal people.”
“Cultivating physical skills is hard and rarely can a person make achievements in that regard. They would rather spend that money on a battle pet.
“The wealthy people can buy good battle pets to make up for what they lack in physical skills. Therefore, people would rather go and make some money or cultivate astral powers. That way, once they had a stronger battle pet, they would be able to immediately establish a contract.”
Su Ping was speechless. So, it was like “bad money drives out good money”?
Su Ping believed that this explanation was more like a joke; too one-sided.
But in a way, he could understand part of the reason: the cost to cultivate a physical skill practitioner was huge!
Beasts abounded on the Blue Planet. Humans had to train more and more battle pet warriors to safeguard the base cities and the borders. It was unlikely that so many resources would be invested in cultivating physical skill practitioners.
After the teachings from the True Gods at the Demigod Burial, Su Ping realized that breakthroughs in physical skills would only come slowly. One had to train diligently and use top-level herbs to make bodily improvements. The cost would be higher than making one battle pet warrior.
Anyways, I’m sort of a physical skill practitioner, Su Ping thought.
He had never seriously learned any physical skills and the combat skills he had picked up were from life-and-death struggles.
But recently, he had learned something about using weapons from the True Gods and Celestial Gods in the Demigod Burial.
He could hold his own with swords and sabers alike.
Of course, the thing he focused on the most was the “Fist of Exorcist” he got from the system. That should be counted as a secret physical skill.
It was from the ancient ages.
…
On the stage.
After Qin Shaotian admitted defeat, both him and Yan Bingyue left the stage.
Qin Shaotian went back to his seat. He still kept his head low. No one could tell what he was thinking. He just kept on stroking the sword in his arms.
People didn’t have to ask to know that his confidence had been crushed.
Not everyone was able to recover from a severe setback in an area that they considered as their forte.
Yan Bingyue remained as composed as ever; it seemed as if she would have never used much strength during the battle. After she sat down, she said to Qin Duhang, “I’m sorry.”
It was more like a taunt than an apology.
Qin Duhuang pulled a long face. However, the girl didn’t seem to be gloating at all. Qin Duhuang frowned. He suddenly remembered that the people from that place would cultivate since they were kids and they lacked worldly wisdom. At that thought, Qin Duhuang replied with a casual “hum.”
