Lu Zheng walked to the mission hall to select a mission.
Within the mission hall, people bustled around, minding their own business. Most of them were focused on the large board that stood at the foremost part of the hall.
Out of sheer curiosity, Lu Zheng walked the board.
One of the boards had a grand demeanour with tens of names. Beside the names were figures signifying their contribution points.
Lu Zheng gawked as he saw the contribution points those people had amassed. Those contribution points were at least nine digits and the highest being over eleven digits!
Compared to them, Lu Zheng's contribution points were only so meagre. Every once in a while, the numbers would change and the names would swap positions.
The people before the board saw this as a form of entertainment.
Lu Zheng shook his head before walking away. He had learnt that no matter how great you were, there would always be someone greater than you.
The only way to change this was to be the undisputable number one.
Lu Zheng did not linger long before moving to where he could accept a mission.
His soul consciousness roamed through the information path artifact and he soon found a suitable mission.
It was a mid-grade mission that needed one more person to join the group: "Retrieve the Deep Sea Flame from the Flood Lizard race's Mu Sect"
The Deep Sea Flame was an Immortal Flame. Anyone that was burnt by the Deep Sea Flame would feel an immense pressure as if they were deep underwater.
They would also feel a drowning sensation that made it difficult to breathe.
Lu Zheng was surprised. The mid-grade mission was for Acquisition realm experts.
~Maybe that's why it is a group mission~
After selecting the mission, Lu Zheng was teleported away to another place.
…..
A bright multi-coloured light flashed and Lu Zheng appeared on a teleportation formation.
Standing before him were two people.
The former was a fair woman with outstanding beauty and a pair of wings made of crimson and pink feathers. She bore an expression of faint arrogance and Lu Zheng could sense a fiery aura from her very being, one that rivalled the one emanating from within him.
The latter was a stout man with sturdy limbs and a bald head. His facial hair obscured his mouth and when he spoke, it was like a hundred birds were chirping together.
"Houyan Meili [1], your teammate has arrived. You can leave for the mission now" The stout man said.
"Houyan Meili" Lu Zheng muttered softly.
"What a fitting name"
"Tch!" Houyan Meili snorted. "I don't need teammates!"
Her wings flapped rapidly as her figure crossed many hundred metres, flying into the distant horizon.
Lu Zheng was just about to follow her when the stout man held his arm: "Friend, take this advice. Don't piss her off"
"Hehe" Lu Zheng smiled as he executed a strange footwork, following after Houyan Meili.
"Sigh, they never listen" The stout man shrugged his shoulders before turning his back, walking as his figure faded away.
…..
Lu Zheng flew behind Houyan Meili as he watched her attractive behind. He had attempted starting a conversation but she ignored him.
"You are a Vermillion Bird" Lu Zheng stated.
"Hmph! Mind your business and you'll live long!" Houyan Meili sneered as her wings flapped even faster.
Lu Zheng merely spatial skipped and the gap between them closed again.
Lu Zheng nodded and he didn't attempt conversing with her again.
The Vermillion Bird Race was the strongest and proudest of the Four Regal Bloodlines. It was normal for her to behave like that when she thought of Lu Zheng as a human.
Her wings slowed down as she stood in the air above a large empty space.
Lu Zheng also stopped and observed the space below them. He was a space path martial practitioner and a Grandmaster artificer, he could sense the space concealing formation that lay out before them.
Lu Zheng had a plethora of methods to destroy the formation but he did not act and rather watched to see what Houyan Meili would do.
"Bam!"
A huge hand made of crimson and pink Vermillion True Flame crashed at the formation, obliterating any trace of it from existence.
Lu Zheng was stunned.
From the giant hand, he had sensed a very familiar aura – bloodline power!
[1] Houyan ==> Blaze, Meili ==> Beautiful