Qin Shuhai picked up a strange sense from the two statues by the door; a scary sense. But his focus did not linger too much on them. He saw Su Ping sitting on the couch. He went inside with a smile and happily greeted Su Ping, “Brother Su!”
Su Ping nodded as a reply.
The familiarity displayed between Qin Shuhai and Su Ping didn’t sit well with the pairs of elders from the Mu and the Liu families. The four merely exchanged hellos and then began to size up the store.
The four were surprised to find that they could not peer into the many closed rooms in the store!
As if there were layers of seals outside.
More so, they were unable to feel the energy presence that usually came with seals!
That was strange! Su Ping remained seated on the couch as he said, “I see that your family heads are also too busy to attend. Isn’t that so?” His words had a frightening effect. Qin Shuhai smiled apologetically, “Brother Su, although our family head is swamped, he has specifically told Elder Haotian and me to come. Elder Haotian enjoys the same status in the family as our family head and he is our family head’s cousin. I hope you won’t mind. Our family head has prepared this small gift as a token of our sincerity.”
Qin Shuhai took out a gift box.
He had noticed that those from the Zhou and the Ye families had also brought gifts, and they had already opened them.
Those sly foxies… Qin Shuhai thought. He didn’t leave Su Ping guessing, opening his gift right away.
There was an herb full of green concealed in a transparent tube.
The herb was casting an emerald green hue on the golden silk that was inside the box. That hue was evidence of the high quality of the herb.
Su Ping recognized it at once. This was the Phoenix Frost Grass.
It was said that the grass grew out of phoenixes’ lairs and would go through the test of a phoenix’s force. The Phoenix Frost Grass contained a strong vitality. It could save the injured, no matter how severe the injury was, as long as the person was still holding on to the last breath. It could be said that the Phoenix Frost Grass represented a second life.
An herb like this was simply unavailable; it could not be found on the market.
It was beyond Su Ping’s expectation that the Qin family would be so generous.
Giving this herb as a gift was equal to their family head making a personal visit!
Those from the other four families stared at Qin Shuhai in shock after they saw the Phoenix Frost Grass. They would have never guessed that the Qin family would go to such lengths! The Pixie Pet Store had offended the Star Organization. There was no telling if the store could survive the Star Organization’s retaliation. Su Ping could find himself in serious trouble when the Star Organization arrived. Giving him expensive gifts would be a useless gesture because they would eventually fall into the pockets of the Star Organization, and those overlords might go after them later, to question why they had provided Su Ping with generous gifts!
The Qin family has always been the cunning kind, never making a wrong move. Why would they take such a risk today?
The elders from the Mu family pulled a long face when Qin Shuhai revealed his gift. The former pair felt they had been duped.
They were not alone. The rest of the families also thought they had fallen into the trap set up by the sly old fox of the Qin family!
The five family heads were absent. Naturally, they had held a secret meeting and had reached an unspoken but mutual understanding.
The Qin family did follow their agreement. Qin Duhuang didn’t go there in person but the gift was just valuable as his presence!
That would make the other four families look bad.
The two elders from the Mu family didn’t know what the others had prepared but their gifts would definitely fall short when compared to the value of the Phoenix Frost Grass.
Standing next to them were the two elders from the Liu family whose faces were clouded. However, the two from the Liu family ended up wearing scornful grins. The Qin family made the wrong decision! “This is a good one!”
Su Ping put the Phoenix Frost Grass away. He was very happy about it. It was actually one of the materials he needed for the second level of the Solar Bulwark! He had summoned the five families because he wanted to have them search for materials required for the Solar Bulwark.
He was more than glad that he had obtained one before he even asked. Qin Shuhai put on a smile, relieved that Su Ping had accepted the gift. Then, the two from the Mu family stepped forward to present their gift.
It was an egg.
That was actually a dragon’s egg. The cyan stripes on the shell showed that it was Nightwind Dragon’s egg, a dragon from the wind family at the upper position of the ninth-rank.
The Nightwind Dragon was not one of the rarest dragons but it could be counted as precious. Su Ping took a look but didn’t accept the gift. It was just an egg of a ninth-rank dragon. He didn’t care for it, and he didn’t plan on getting more pets for himself.
Besides, if he actually planned on finding another pet, he would use the pool to breed one.
The pool had been upgraded to the fourth rank and the chances of breeding a pet with a legendary rank bloodline were great.
Su Ping had zero interest in an egg of a dragon that did not even have a legendary rank bloodline. He would have to incubate the egg and then train the dragon which would not be as powerful as his Inferno Dragon. He would rather use that time and energy on the Inferno Dragon.
If he were to take on a new battle pet, it would have to be endowed with special abilities that could make up for some weaknesses he currently had. Otherwise, he would have to think twice, even if the pet had a legendary rank bloodline.
The representatives from the Mu family were stunned, seeing that Su Ping would refuse.
Why would anyone turn down a dragon?
The others were just as stupefied, including Qin Shuhai and Venerable the Blade. The dragon, at the very least, could be used as a secondary pet. No one would ever have too many dragons.
“Get me something else. Something like the Phoenix Frost Grass,” Su Ping mentioned.
The two from the Mu family were speechless.
Of course, the Phoenix Frost Grass was good.
It was equal to a second life and was extra effective to battle pet warriors below the legendary rank. Of course, legendary battle pet warriors would also want that as well. They wondered what the Qin family was thinking. Did they have too many treasures to give away? Since Su Ping would not accept the dragon egg, the two from the Mu family had no choice but to take it back. They would return it to the family warehouse and give it to some outstanding disciples in the family. The two from the Liu family squeezed a smile on their faces and took out their gift.
Also eggs, two of them. But the pets had merely eighth-rank bloodlines.
The others were unable to believe what the Lius had prepared. With great interest, they darted a look at Su Ping and then at the two elders of the Liu family.
All of them knew about the competition between the Liu family and Su Ping. As a matter of fact, the Liu family was the reason that Su Ping was dead set on getting the championship. At the very beginning, the Pixie Pet Store only had the Top 100 service, which was not high-profile. However, the Liu family had to compete against him before finding out more about him. The Liu family ended up hurt, also depriving all the other families a chance at winning the championship.
Using two eggs of eighth-rank pets was awfully pathetic. The market price of the two eggs was merely a few million.
Did that even count as money?
No!
That was nothing. If they were two well-trained eighth-rank battle pets already in adulthood, they could be worth over ten million, which could compare to the ninth-rank dragon egg that the Mu family had brought.
After all, to breed an egg and train the dragon would be a massive investment.
The more one spent, the better the training would be. A top-level dragon without quality training would end up worse than a wild dragon.
Su Ping shifted his gaze from the two eggs to the two elders of the Liu family. He was interested to see what kind of expressions were on their faces and what gave them the courage to take out the two eggs after what the Mu family had presented. The two from the Liu family were a bit embarrassed. However, their long lives had given them enough experience in going through the awkwardness. They still managed to keep a smile on their faces and kept on talking about the many advantages of the two eggs.
No one else said a thing.
Su Ping kept a poker face. He even felt an urge to laugh out loud.
After the two elders’ speech, Su Ping questioned them directly, “So, you’re either treating me like a fool or thinking that I’m doomed after having offended the Star Organization. Either way, how dare you to insult me with this?”
The others were eyeing the two elders of the Liu family, openly amused.
While it was true that they didn’t think much of the odds for Su Ping and the Pixie Pet Store, either, it was too much for them to have shown that so explicitly! The Liu family is a major family. How could you be so cheap? What jerks. “Mr. Su, no, we don’t mean that. How about we go back and get you two eggs from pets of the ninth-rank?”
The two elders of the Liu family smiled apologetically. Although they disdained Su Ping and were convinced that the store would soon be obliterated, they were scared. Su Ping’s cold glare reminded them he was a person that could kill titled battle pet warriors.
The Liu family was incapable of enduring that Su Ping made a scene in their territory before the Star Organization arrived. “Is there something wrong with your ears? Can’t you hear me? I run a pet store. Do I need pets? I won’t accept it even if you were giving me an egg of the Golden Dragon!”
Su Ping sneered. “Or, the Liu family is thinking that since I am doomed anyway, whatever you give me will be a waste of your money, right?”
The two elders of the Liu family turned pale. “Mr. Su, that’s not what we are thinking. This is all just a misunderstanding.
“Oh, I just remembered. We have another gift. This is a defensive treasure that can withstand the energy attack by someone at the upper position of the ninth-rank.” One of the two made up his mind and took out a jade pendant from his chest pocket.
Everyone turned their gazes to Su Ping.
Su Ping did not take it. The jade pendant was the old man’s item and he thought he could use that as a gift since he saw things were going south.
“I have more than enough junk like this!” A glint of coldness rose in Su Ping’s eyes. He lifted his hand; a golden glow was gathered around his fist as he punched out!
He did it within the blink of an eye.
There was a bursting noise in the air.
Fist of Exorcist!
With an overwhelming sense, the punch was directed at the face of the Liu family elder.
He was standing close to Su Ping who had been training physical skills. The Liu family elder had no time to react when Su Ping took this sudden action.
The others were frightened. No one expected that Su Ping would resort to violence at the slightest disagreement. Would he kill the elder in public just because of that trivial matter?
Bang!
A shield was summoned.
The glaringly golden fist smashed the shield.
The shield was cracked.
The wind stirred up by the impact was blowing the Liu family elders’ gray hair backward.
And Su Ping stopped his fist next to the old man’s nose. That was less than two centimeters away from his eyes!
The strong impact and the wind made the old man squint his eyes. The next second, the fist was moved away and Su Ping sat back on the couch before anyone could tell. But the jade pendant in the elder’s hand had turned into dust.
When the shield generated by the jade pendant was crushed, the jade pendant itself was also destroyed.
The gift that the elder was presenting to Su Ping no longer existed.
“I’m not a junk dealer. Don’t ever think I’ll accept everything.” Su Ping leaned against the couch. His voice was chilly.