The Purple Flame Lion felt like laughing but the pain from the Vermillion True Flame kept his mouth shut.
"Human, you should be proud of forcing me to use my Domain against you. You can die in peace knowing that I consider you as a worthy opponent"
Immediately, purple flames engulfed Lu Zheng as the Domain disappeared. Lu Zheng fell to the ground clutching his chest.
His hair suddenly turned scarlet red and his black pupils became the deepest tinge of red.
Vermillion True Flame burnt on his skin to repel the Purple Flame Lion's purple flames.
The bloodline of the Vermillion Bird Race had sensed the threat to Lu Zheng's life and was acting according to instincts. Lu Zheng had lost control of it.
A crimson pillar of flames shot up from Lu Zheng and pierced the sky, causing a resonation with the fire Qi in the secret realm.
The blood within Lu Zheng's blood vessels boiled and the runes appeared again. This time however, Lu Zheng could read them.
"Ignition, the ability of the Vermillion Bird Race bloodline!"
At once, Lu Zheng's already scarlet hair multiplied in length as his aura exploded.
Dense flames surrounded him that caused the very air to churn.
A strange transformation took over the space around Lu Zheng as his Qi leaves were expended.
"Domain! This is the formation of a Domain!"
The Purple Flame Lion was tongue tied and ran towards Lu Zheng to kill him swiftly.
The pillar of crimson flames spread out into a sea of flames that engulfed the Purple Flame Lion.
At the same time, the injuries on Lu Zheng's body disappeared and his skin became even fresher than before.
An omnipotent aura exploded from him as he got up. The Purple Flame Lion was cowering in fear.
"It seems I have broken through again" Lu Zheng muttered as he checked the blood in his vessels.
Various runes flashed in it but the only one he could read was 'Ignition'. Nothing else made sense to him.
"You" Lu Zheng focused his attention on the Purple Flame Lion. "I didn't do anything to you and you attacked me. You should die"
The Purple Flame Lion shook uncontrollably.
Lu Zheng's aura was overpowering its instincts.
"Please, please spare me" The Purple Flame Lion begged. "I have treasures. If you spare me, I will give them to you"
"Treasures?" Lu Zheng was surprised but he only shook his head. "I don't need your things"
A ball of Vermillion True Flame formed on his palms, he only had three Qi leaves left.
"Wait, wait! I… I can become your beast pet. Please spare me" The Purple Flame Lion begged again.
Lu Zheng was intrigued. This beast sure knew how to beg.
The Purple Flame Lion noticed Lu Zheng's hesitation to attack and it continued: "See, here's my beast core. We can form the contract now. Please don't kill me"
Lu Zheng cancelled his martial technique and stopped using his bloodline powers. His hair shortened in length and returned to its usual black as his pupils became black again.
A drop of blood floated from Lu Zheng's finger and flew towards the beast core in the Purple Flame Lion's forehead.
"Accept the beast contract, or die" Lu Zheng threatened.
The Purple Flame Lion hesitated. It knew that after this, its life would forever be in the hands of the human and unless he died, it would never be free.
But if it didn't accept the contract, it would die.
The Purple Flame Lion quickly enclosed the drop of blood in its beast core and completed the beast contract.
"Now, pet, what is your name?" Lu Zheng asked.
"Themur, I am Themur" The Purple Flame Lion answered.
"Good. Themur, help me hunt down beasts. I need their meat preferably rank four beasts like you" Lu Zheng said patting his belly.
"I am the only rank four beast in this world" Themur said with a tinge of pride.
"Oh? Well then, don't keep me waiting" Lu Zheng said with a smile before jumping into the lava pool.
"What?!" Themur was stunned to see his master jump into the lava pool.
The lava pool contained extremely hot magma. Even for a fire path beast like him, it was too much to bear much less for a mere human.
However, after some probing, Themur noticed that Lu Zheng was still alive.
"To bathe in such hot Earth flames [1], he must come from a strong family" Themur concluded in his heart as he went to complete Lu Zheng's task.
[1] Flames are graded into five grades which are Human, Earth, Immortal, Mystical and Heavenly in ascending order of power.