Chapter 1146 - Primordial Demonic Store
Astral Pet Store
Su Ping immediately tried to summon the pets, but he couldnât detect any movement; it was indeed as the system said.
âHumph!â
The system scorned him, as if angered by Su Pingâs probing
Su Ping didnât explain; he thought for a moment and then left the pet room. He saw that Joanna, the sutra old man, and the others were all in the living room; still, the old man and the cauldron woman werenât seated with others.
Golden Lotus, on the other hand, was seated next to Green Lady. There were a lot of other people with them, including the fat kid who had led the way for Su Ping earlier.
Everybody fixed their eyes upon Su Ping when he showed up.
The sutra old manâs eyes glittered. He couldnât help but rise and walk over.
âHow about it? The pill is quite effective, isnât it?â said the old man, fishing for a compliment.
Su Ping nodded. âIndeed. Do you have more of them?â
ââ¦â
The old man almost choked. âThat was a king-level Path Seeking Pill. Do you think itâs just some random pill?â
âDid you use her to refine the pill?â asked Su Ping, looking at the cauldron woman.
Even though the cauldron woman was no longer as aggressive as before, she still glared at Su Ping. âWhat do you mean by âuseâ? Iâm not something to be used! Thatâs so disrespectful!â
âYouâre not a human being anyway.â
The sutra elder nodded, ignoring their argument. âYes. Sheâs a top cauldron able to refine pills and items. Sheâll be able to refine even more things if sheâs improved to the emperor level.â
âIf you refined the pill, you must know the recipe, right?â Su Ping asked the cauldron woman.
The latter snorted, instinctively refusing to answer the question. However, she was living under someone elseâs roof; the previous pressure she had endured was still haunting her like a cloud. She didnât want to experience it again. âThe old monster took measures against me. I did refine it, but I never knew the complete recipe, which was acquired from him; you have to ask him for the recipe.â
She kicked the ball back to the sutra old man.
The old man wasnât angry at all; he nodded and said, âThatâs right. If you want the recipe, I can write it down for you right now; but some of the materials listed are already extinct.â
âThatâs all right. Just give me the recipe,â said Su Ping.
The old man wasnât really bothered by it; he immediately wrote the recipe down and gave it to Su Ping.
The latter memorized it after reading it once; some of the materials had already gone extinct, but he could find them in the cultivation sites.
Even the Archean Divinity is one of the systemâs cultivation sites. There must be deitiesâ places too; itâs just that theyâre beyond our universe⦠Su Ping thought.
After writing down the recipe, Su Ping asked them, âYou donât seem very close to Anna and the others. Why arenât you sitting together?â
The cauldron woman snorted angrily, but she didnât show it too obviously. âItâs not because weâre too proud; she simply thinks that weâre your prisoners. Thatâs why she doesnât want to talk to us at all.â
Joanna rose and glanced at them before she said, âThatâs exactly what you are: prisoners. Even if I despise you, so what?â
She turned her head and said to Su Ping, âIâm not rejecting them on purpose; theyâve simply been maliciously asking about everything, hoping to escape as soon as possible.â
The cauldron woman instantly said, âNonsense. We were just making conversation.â
âHumph. You were just trying to acquire information by chitchatting. Do you take me for a fool? Iâve lived as long as you have. Deities were just toddlers when the Archean Divinity was in its golden age!â said Joanna in disdain.
Even though her level was lower than theirs, she was a proud pure-blood god; nobody was prouder than a god.
âThe Archean Divinity is already gone; itâs just a grain of dust in history, not worth mentioning,â said the sutra old man indifferently.
Joanna sneered. âHow ignorant. Who says itâs gone? Even though we endured a major catastrophe, it still exists even to this day; you think you can even fathom the power of our Ancestral Gods?â
âAncestral Gods?â The sutra old man raised his eyebrows. It was evident that he had never heard of such a title before.
He was rather shocked by Joannaâs claims. He narrowed his eyes and asked, âYouâre saying that the Archean Divinity still exists? Thatâs impossible!â
âSee? Youâre trying to get information again. Hmph. I wonât waste my time on you!â said Joanna with a snort, unwilling to offer any more information to them. She had already learned from Su Ping that the two of them were items which had been buried in some ruins for a long time. So, they were probably eager to figure out what was new in the world.
She had simply kicked them aside when they talked to others regarding any new information, later refusing to communicate with them.
âYouâ¦â The sutra old man was infuriated by Joannaâs vigilance; there was unmasked anger on his face.
âI suggest that you figure out a way right now, either suppress them or lock them in a room; otherwise theyâll surely escape when you open the store for business,â Joanna said to Su Ping:
The latter thought for a moment. He was planning to sign a contract with them to have them become his employees. However, on second thought, both had tried to murder him; they didnât deserve to be his employees.
âTemporary contracts are available in the store. The host may sign them with appropriate candidates,â said the system in Su Pingâs heart.
The prospect was quite tempting. Temporary workers?
It had a nice ring to it; they could also be great scapegoats if needed be.
âWhy have you never mentioned it before?â
âItâs one of the new options after the store was upgraded to level 5.â
âFine. What are the privileges of temporary workers?â
âThe host can only sign temporary contracts with living creatures from the hostâs world. Temporary workers cannot enter cultivation sites; they cannot leave the store either once they become regular employees.
âTemporary workers may leave the store once a week, provided they return within 24 hours.
âThey would be considered absent if they donât return within 24 hours, and their cultivation will drop by one level!
âTheir contracts will be removed and they will be directly destroyed if theyâre absent for longer than 48 hours,â replied the system.
Su Ping sweated hard.
The price of absence seemed rather high.
The system was truly as brutal as before.
However, temporary workers could leave the store; that was great!
So, they can be my special aides if they become temporary workers. Even though they can only stay outside 24 hours per week, it should be enough in dangerous situations, Su Ping thought with delight. The new temporary contract was quite nice.
Maybe I can lure some experts with the storeâs mechanism and turn them into temporary workers too⦠Su Ping started planning. âThe number of temporary workers cannot exceed that of regular workers,â the system alerted.
âThatâs fine. I can always find more regular employees in the cultivation sites.â
âThe host can only sign contracts with a limited number of regular employees, which depends on the storeâs level. Right now the host can only contract five regular employees,â said the system.
Why was that rule not mentioned before?
Did the system just come up with the patch to prevent me from taking advantage of the bug?
âIâm glad you know it,â said the system.
It had openly acknowledged it! Su Ping: ââ¦â
Donât presume you can do anything you want just because I canât beat you!
âI know your mind inside and out. You had never planned it before, so there was no need to tell you the rule before. You came up with the plan just now, so I naturally clarified things to you. Please focus on raising pets instead of playing tricks,â said the system with unusual solemnity.
Su Ping raised his eyebrows. Fine. He would just take the systemâs word for it.
Instead of arguing more with the system, Su Ping glanced at the old man and the cauldron woman. âI have a benefit for you two. I wonder if you want it or not.â
âWhat?â
The cauldron woman became wary.
Su Ping was speaking in the tone used by every fraudster.
âJoin my store as temporary workers,â said Su Ping, âThat way youâll be under my protection; you wonât have to worry about the old monster ever coming to you for trouble.â
âWorkers?â
The sutra old man was stunned for a moment, not expecting Su Ping to propose such a demand. Thatâs right, demand. From the way he saw it, Su Ping wasnât really giving them the chance to say no, even though it sounded like an invitation.
He glanced at Joanna and Green Lady, and then looked around at the store he couldnât see through. All of a sudden-some information that had been deeply hidden in his head popped up; his expression changed drastically.
âThe Primordial Demonic Store?â the sutra old man couldnât help but ask. âWhat?â
The cauldron woman was considering Su Pingâs proposal when she heard the old manâs exclamation, someone who was always even tempered. âWhat demonic store?â
Unable to cover his shock, the old man looked around and said, âI shouldâve guessed it sooner; theyâre too similar. Yes, that must be the case. Is this the real demonic store?â
Su Ping felt dazed for a moment. He asked, âWhat are you talking about?â
The old man looked at Su Ping with a troubled expression. He then asked, âDoes your store focus on training and selling beasts, making money from your customers?â
????
Su Ping didnât expect him to ask such a question. He replied casually, âThis isnât about making money, at all; weâve only been helping our customers take care of their problems.â
âWhat a racketeer!â The idea occurred to the cauldron woman.