Douluo Dalu - The Story of Sheng Feilong

While She Meixiao was still shocked about Huang Jialong's Spirit Essence, Sheng Feilong made sure to observe the latter carefully. The only time he had ever seen such a Spirit Essence was when She Meixiao fought against the Great Beast on the ship towards the Star Luo Continent.

However, She Meixiao had used her Spirit Essence's True Avatar to fight and only two of her Soul Skills, which were also ones Huang Jialong couldn't possibly have, yet. Still, from the way Huang Jialong was currently standing in front of him and how his Spirit Essence behaved until now, Sheng Feilong guessed that each of his limbs represents one of the Hydra's heads.

Huang Jialong smiled lightly at Sheng Feilong and casually hung his arms at his side, before once again speaking to Sheng Feilong in a formal and respectful tone. "Brother Feilong, it's your turn now."

Sheng Feilong nodded and his Soul Power started to surge. According to their agreement, both, he and Huang Jialong, would release their Spirit Essences before they start the fight. As Huang Jialong already did so, Sheng Feilong would naturally not shy away from doing it either.

His Soul Power rose sharply and his skin turned into an unhealthy shade of grey as muddy green veins spread out all over his body, starting from his chest. He grew taller, his hands transformed into claws and he grew horns on the side of his head.

Huang Jialong took a deep breath seeing this. His Spirit Essence was only loosely connected to the dark and evil attributes, but even so, he could feel the suppressive force weighing down on him; So much so that his soul and Spirit Essence shook.

On the sidelines, She Meixiao's shock had somewhat died down, while Branchmaster Lu and Senior Lao looked at Sheng Feilong with complicated expressions. Branchmaster Lu frowned and stared at Sheng Feilong with a grave expression. "I didn't expect his Spirit Essence to be this overbearing..."

Next to him, Senior Lao's expression seemed more pleasantly surprised than grave, but he also agreed with Branchmaster Lu. "This suppressive feeling... This isn't Spirit Essence suppression. It feels different... Like my Spirit Essence actively fears Sheng Feilong's. How peculiar. Vice-Leader She, could you enlighten this old man on your disciple's Spirit Essence?"

She Meixiao smiled lightly and shook her head with an apologetic expression. "It's called the Netherworld Putrefaction Demon. I'm sorry, Senior Lao, but I'd like to keep the clear information about it secret for now. Currently, Sheng Feilong is a candidate for that title, so the less people know about it's specifics the better."

Branchmaster Lu frowned. "You want your disciple to inherit that title?" She Meixiao nodded, causing Branchmaster Lu to huff once more, but he didn't say much. "...He's way too weak for that."

"That's true, but he is still young. Just his talent, Spirit Essence and tenacity make him more than qualified." She Meixiao replied plainly as if stating a fact. Branchmaster Lu frowned once more, but looked at the arena nonetheless.

On there, Sheng Feilong had finished his transformation and was looking at Huang Jialong before introducing himself again. "Sheng Feilong, 15 years of age, Soul King of rank 54. Spirit Essences: Radiant Emperor's Phantasmagoric Eyes and Netherworld Putrefaction Demon."

Huang Jialong reacted quickly and looked at Sheng Feilong's eyes. If the latter had an eye Spirit Essence, this fight would become much more complicated. However, his eyes still looked normal, causing Huang Jialong to frown. Sheng Feilong noticed this and spoke calmly. "I'm only using my second Spirit Essence. Activating both at the same time still puts too much stress on my body."

This wasn't exactly the truth as Sheng Feilong never tried using both of his Spirit Essences at the same time, but with the way he put his words, he was able to lead Huang Jialong to believe that he could always use it, if necessary.

Huang Jialong nodded and both of them got ready to fight. She Meixiao glanced at Senior Lao and the latter to a few steps forward, raised his hand and signalled for the fight to begin. As Sheng Feilong and Huang Jialong had already released their Spirit Essences, the fight instantly picked up on pace and both of them clashed fiercely.

The first collision already resulted in Huang Jialong being pushed back; Something that was somewhat expected as Sheng Feilong was physically even stronger than Long Yue, a Soul Emperor who can contend against Soul Saints without much trouble. Still, Huang Jialong didn't expect the difference to be this big; He felt as if he had ran head first into a steel wall!

The fight continued and both of them ceaselessly fought in close combat for some time. Taking the knowledge from the first collision as a reminder, Huang Jialong refrained from clashing head on with Sheng Feilong.

Instead, he made use of one of the peculiarities of the Hydra Spirit Essence and displayed incredible finesse and dexterity in the fight; He would parry Sheng Feilong's attacks or dodge by a hair's width at times. She Meixiao gave a satisfied smile at Huang Jialong's display.

"The Hydra's speciality lies in it's ability to coordinate your own limbs as if they were separate entities. With Huang Jialong's Five-Headed Black Hydra Spirit Essence, he can perfectly control each of his limbs separately, while all of them retain the full strength of the Hydra's powerful physique." Branchmaster Lu added with a proud smile after seeing She Meixiao expression.

The latter smiled back and nodded her head again. "Indeed. He perfectly displays why the Hydra is considered a dual Power Attack and Agility type Spirit Essence; It's explosive power and continuous display of strength are leagues above normal Assault Type Spirit Essences."

Branchmaster Lu's smile grew even wider. He took Huang Jialong as his disciple for exactly this reason; He wanted to best She Meixiao and what better way was there then to use someone who had a similar Spirit Essence, that was leagues above hers at the same time?

However, Senior Lao's words forced his smile to turn solemn. "Still, it seems that Little Jia is at a disadvantage. Or to be more precise, he seems to be barely able to keep up despite his splendid display."

Ender Lao was spot on; Huang Jialong's heart sunk with every exchange he and Sheng Feilong had. The latter's attacks got fiercer and more precise with every passing second as if all that came before was just some lax warm-up. Huang Jialong's once unpredictable attacks and clever parries were now barely able to keep Sheng Feilong at bay and Huang Jianlong was pushed back again and again.

After another few rounds, Huang Jialong backed off out of close quarters and one of the purple Soul Rings behind his back lit up. His whole body started to radiate a blackish aura and the expression in his eyes grew fiercer. His strength and Soul Power spiked and Sheng Feilong instenatly understood that this Soul Skill increased all of Huang Jialong's abilities.

She Meixiao had a surprised expression on her face as she understood what ability Huang Jialong was using. "Monstrous Shroud? He already possesses this ability at his cultivation level?" She looked at Branchmaster Lu, who answered proudly. "It's his second Soul Skill. It's a special Soul Skil that most Hydra Spirit Soul Masters possess, but to obtain it this early is unheard of. It currently boosts all of his powers by about 25-30 percent."

She Meixiao remained silent and looked back at the arena. Monstorus Shroud was a Soul Skill that she herself also possessed; A powerful ability that increased the Soul Masters over all abilities with next to no drawbacks other than rather quick Soul Power expenditure. However, just as Branchmaster Lu had said, it's an ability that is usually only obtained quite late and luck decided whether one obtains it or not.

She Meixiao herself only obtained it when she became a Soul Douluo, but it still allowed her to instantly shoot to the top of her peers; Allowing a high ranking Soul Master to become superior to top ranking Soul Masters – That's how powerful of an ability Monstrous Shroud is.

"Still, to already be at 25 to 30 percent increase..?" She Meixiao muttered with a light frown. The strength of Monstrous Shroud was usually due to two different factors, one being the quality of the Soul Ring it comes from and the other being the number of life and death battles the Soul Master has been through.

Branchmaster Lu heard her muttering and answered rather plainly. "The Star Luo Continent isn't as peaceful as the Douluo Continent. Especially at the coastline, people still have to fight against aquatic Soul Beasts from time to time. Many young Soul Master will go out with fishers to protect them as a tempering experience. I've had Jialong go a few times already."

She Meixiao didn't think too much about it either. Since it was real battles against Soul Beasts it was naturally to be assumed that he had killed most, if not all, of them. Instead, she focused back on the arena where Sheng Feilong and Huang Jialong were fighting in a melee again.

In addition to Monstrous Shroud, Huang Jialong had activated a second Soul Skill which caused the black scales on his arms and chest to become clearer, further increasing his strength. Still, he was being pushed back by Sheng Feilong, who's attacks, strength and fighting style in general became fiercer and fiercer the longer the fight lasted. To the dismay of Branchmaster Lu, as well as Huang Jialong, Sheng Feilong wasn't forced to use a single Soul Skill despite being a Soul King as well!