The Scramble Begins

"Have they started fighting over them yet?" Zhou Zheng asked.

"Not yet!" Feng Zhuhong shook her head.

"Mm."

Zhou Zheng nodded slightly. He was not surprised.

If the scramble had already begun, the two of them would probably have gone in and called him out long ago instead of waiting for him to emerge on his own.

"..."

Zhou Zheng said nothing. Given the current situation, he had two choices. The first was to wait until the scramble began, then have the three of them quietly head out. As long as they could find another half share of a Special Lifeform Corpse, they would meet the minimum requirement for this mission.

After that, they could lie low until the mission ended.

The second choice was to refuse to settle for the mission's bare minimum and instead scheme to obtain more Special Lifeform Corpses.

After giving the two options some thought, Zhou Zheng chose the second.

The reason was not the reward for this mission.

In fact, purely in terms of gains, he had already made an enormous profit from this mission by grasping the prototype of the Second-grade True Meaning, Proto Micro-particle True Meaning, and acquiring a considerable number of Origin Stones earlier.

Compared to that, the mission reward was probably nothing at all.

Zhou Zheng's goal was the Special Lifeform Corpses.

According to the Temporal Temple's rules, for collection missions like this one, all treasures obtained within the mission's minimum requirement had to be handed over to the Temporal Temple, while the team could keep half of any treasures beyond that requirement.

In other words, if Zhou Zheng's team obtained only thirty percent of the treasures, they would have to hand over all of them.

If they obtained forty percent, then after handing over thirty percent, they could keep half of the remaining ten percent—five percent.

Not only did these Special Lifeform Corpses contain vast amounts of Micro-particle Profound Mystery, but Zhou Zheng had also seen another possible path within them. He was still hazy on the details, however, and had yet to truly enter through that door.

It would be far too much of a loss if they could not keep even a little of such treasure. Naturally, Zhou Zheng intended to obtain more Special Lifeform Corpses.

I hope this scramble begins within three days, Zhou Zheng thought.

They had only three days left before the mission ended. If the contest began within those three days, that would naturally be ideal. They could fish in troubled waters and easily seize the greatest amount of spoils.

If both sides kept stalling, Zhou Zheng would have to think of another way—or simply force the issue.

That was right. Zhou Zheng could indeed choose to use force now.

Mastering one Second-grade True Meaning and mastering two Second-grade True Meanings resulted in entirely different levels of strength.

The stronger a True Meaning was, the more it involved the essence of heaven and earth, and the fewer flaws it possessed.

A First-grade True Meaning, for example, was nearly flawless. A Transcendental who mastered a First-grade True Meaning had no weaknesses, which was why people said that a First-grade True Meaning Transcendental was invincible.

Second-grade True Meanings, although already comparatively perfect when measured against other True Meanings, ultimately could not compare with First-grade True Meanings.

A single Second-grade True Meaning would absolutely have weaknesses.

When Zhou Zheng had only mastered Time Deceleration, he possessed formidable battlefield control and decent survivability, but his offensive power was truly average, and his killing techniques were limited.

But now that he had grasped the Proto Micro-particle True Meaning, his lethal methods had increased by countless times.

Under such circumstances, Zhou Zheng's strength naturally rose with the tide.

With greater strength came greater confidence. Even if he had to force the issue, Zhou Zheng was quite confident.

Of course, if he had a choice, Zhou Zheng would still prefer the safer approach.

Having fewer weaknesses did not mean he had none at all. For example, his body was too fragile, and he had few effective countermeasures against soul-based abilities.

Once he was countered, even a low-grade True Meaning could make Zhou Zheng quite uncomfortable.

Therefore, if he could play it safe, Zhou Zheng would naturally choose to do so.

The day after Zhou Zheng finished learning about the situation, Herk suddenly sent the three of them word that the struggle over those Special Lifeform Corpses had begun.

Upon receiving the intelligence, Zhou Zheng and the other two immediately set out.

However, the three of them were not in much of a hurry. Instead, they traveled slowly aboard Feng Zhuhong's Alchemy Flying Boat.

"There are a little over two days left before the mission ends. We'll search slowly for the first day and a half, then make our move during the last half day," Zhou Zheng decided.

He did not intend to expose their presence too early. Otherwise, it would be too easy for accidents to happen.

Nor was Zhou Zheng worried that the Transcendentals who had entered this world would seize all the Special Lifeform Corpses during that day and a half. Even if they did take them all, he could simply take them back from those people later.

By then, he would be very close to returning to the Temporal Temple. Even if he provoked some trouble, he could stall for a little while before leaving directly. No one would be able to do anything to him.

"Yes!"

Feng Zhuhong and Mo Zitong both nodded. At that moment, Feng Zhuhong flipped her hand and took out an Alchemy Compass.

She had studied that Transcendental corpse for nearly a month, so she naturally understood it to some extent. After hearing Herk speak of this scramble, Feng Zhuhong immediately made this positioning compass.

Feng Zhuhong did not dare guarantee how accurate it was, but it could at least determine a general area.

After flying for roughly two hours, they arrived above a stretch of continuous mountains and forests.

"There should be a fragment nearby," Feng Zhuhong said as she looked at the compass she had crafted.

"I'll go down and look!" Mo Zitong said, immediately preparing to send out an Illusion Clone to search.

However, Zhou Zheng stopped her.

"Twelve li beneath that tree," Zhou Zheng said, pointing in a direction.

Mo Zitong was slightly surprised, but she quickly sent out an Illusion Clone and headed to the place Zhou Zheng had indicated.

After descending roughly twelve li underground, Mo Zitong indeed found a fragment of that Special Lifeform Corpse.

However, it was not very large, only about the size of a person.

"Not bad."

After Mo Zitong brought the incomplete corpse back, Zhou Zheng nodded with considerable satisfaction.

"Captain, when did your scouting methods become so powerful?" Feng Zhuhong asked in surprise. When they had searched for treasure in the Transcendental natives' lair before, they had clearly needed to rely on Mo Zitong. Yet now, Zhou Zheng had not even moved and had directly discovered the target.

"Not long ago."

Zhou Zheng did not elaborate, and Feng Zhuhong and Mo Zitong did not continue asking. However, they understood that this was probably why Zhou Zheng had gone silent for so long.

Did he master some powerful secret technique?

Zhou Zheng knew the two women were both guessing, but they would never be able to guess the real reason.

The reason he had suddenly become so proficient at scouting was naturally because he had grasped the Proto Micro-particle True Meaning.

Micro-particles were everywhere!

And the micro-particles in different locations existed in different states.

With the aid of micro-particles, Zhou Zheng could naturally investigate everything around him with ease!

Moreover, his current detection range was astonishingly vast, extending over two hundred li!

This was only the Proto Micro-particle True Meaning. If Zhou Zheng mastered the complete Micro-particle True Meaning, that range would probably expand several times over. Reaching a thousand li would be perfectly normal.

A Second-grade True Meaning often came with many auxiliary abilities, making its wielder far more versatile. That was the strength of a Second-grade True Meaning!