Douluo Dalu - The Story of Sheng Feilong

Sheng Feilong and the others stood around a map in Song Weihan's office, going over the details of the Great Star Dou Forest again. Yuanen Yehui once again showed them where she remembered the red leafed trees to be, while Song Weihan and the others tried to pinpoint a mountain in the area, using Sheng Feilong's descriptions.

They didn't have much to work with, especially since the only information Sheng Feilong could really remember was the vast forest of red leafed trees beneath them. Still, judging from Sheng Feilong's Spirit Power and his perception from back then, Song Weihan managed to scale down the possible area.

Even with his perception from back then, Sheng Feilong should have been able to see at least a few dozen kilometres into the distance, especially from the elevated position on the mountain. That meant that the mountain has to be far away from the border Yuanen Yehui remembered.

They spent quite some time going over the plans before everyone was sure that they had taken any information they had into consideration. Afterwards, She Meixiao and Song Weihan began to explain the layout of the Great Star Dou Forest to them, including all known territories of powerful Soul Beasts and what to look out for.

"...That's all I know." Song Weihan said after a long while of explaining. She Meixiao also nodded. By now, the map was split up into more than two dozen territories with the names of powerful Soul Beasts, their known routines and supposed cultivation level added to them.

Sheng Feilong, Huang Jialong and Yuanen Yehui had been attentively listening to them, making sure they remembered every piece of information as their lives could very possibly depend on it. Song Weihan waited for a moment, then spoke up again. "That should be all for now. During the next few days, prepare everything you need. We'll bring you to the border of the forest in one weeks time."

The next few days passed quickly. Sheng Feilong and the others simply followed Song Weihan's instructions, preparing themselves as well as possible and storing everything in their Spacial Treasures.

The next day, She Meixiao and Song Weihan organized for a means of transportation towards the Great Star Dou Forest on the other side of the continent. It took them nearly a whole day to travel there, as Sheng Feilong and the others still couldn't fly at high speeds for such long distances.

They arrived at a nearby town, then travelled another few tens of kilometres into the wilderness of the Great Star Dou Forest's perimeter. Song Weihan and She Meixiao were still by their side as the perimeter could be travelled freely by them, but soon stopped once they reached a peculiar clearing inside the forest. "Beyond this point is where the territories of known Soul Beasts start."

Song Weihan's tone was serious as he looked at Sheng Feilong and the others in front of him. "We can't follow you any further without arousing the suspicion of powerful Soul Beasts; From here on, the three of you are on your own."

Sheng Feilong, Huang Jialong and Yuanen Yehui looked at each other, serious, but still calm and collected. With a light smile, She Meixiao approved of their bearing, then spoke up with a serious tone, similar to Song Weihan. "Your Soul Communicators will still work inside the forest. I want you to report back to us daily, so we know that you're still fine."

"Master, there's no need to worry. We've remembered every detail of the Star Dou Forest and we'll make sure to be extra careful." Sheng Feilong spoke in a calm tone, reassuring She Meixiao and Song Weihan, then tried to see if his Soul Communicator was still functional before putting it back into his Spacial Ring.

A few moments later, Sheng Feilong and the others headed out, deeper into the forest. Once they were out of sight, She Meixiao sighed lightly, to which Song Weihan responded with a calm tone. "Don't worry. As long as they don't go off killing every Soul Beast in sight, the more powerful ones will just ignore them. While humans and Soul Beasts don't cooperate, they at least tolerate each other."

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Half an hour later, Sheng Feilong and the others had already progressed a few tens of kilometres into the forest, however, there were still no red leafed trees in sight. Under Yuanen Yehui's lead, they made their way through the forest, still quite relaxed, though observant of their surroundings.

"By the way, Yehui." Sheng Feilong spoke up to get their attention. "You said you've been here with people from their Clan before, right? Do you think we might meet some of them?" Yuanen Yehui once said that her Clan is located somewhere around here, but never went into much detail.

Unsurprisingly, she shook her head with certainty. "No, we probably won't. The Clan is located somewhere else. Us Clansmen only came to the forest a few times to explore." Again, she didn't give much detail, but Sheng Feilong didn't bother with questioning her about it.

The three of them made their way through the ancient forest. Trees, tens, if not hundreds, of metres tall towering above them all around. They kept their direction, heading to where Yuanen Yehui remembered the red leafed trees to be at a fast pace.

Another hour later, they took a short rest to take a look at the map again before Sheng Feilong spoke up. "We've entered one of the 100.000-years-old Soul Beast's territories by now. Be extra careful from now on." Huang Jialong and Yuanen Yehui nodded their head, the latter speaking up after looking at the map for a moment, as well. "We should find the red leafed trees in another two hours or so at this pace."

"Let's go." Sheng Feilong said, the others nodding their head before they continued deeper into the forest. Just as Yuanen Yehui had said, they found red leafed trees about two hours later. But their appearance caused Sheng Feilong to frown. "Why are they so... small?"

The red leafed trees were barely 20 metres tall, much smaller than the towering giants around them, but their leaves were definitely of the same red-orange colour Sheng Feilong remembered. However, there smaller size was what made their red leaves so easy to spot.

Still, it was hard to guess if there were the same trees Sheng Feilong had seen when his bloodline awakened; He had only seen the trees from above, making it hard to tell just how tall they truly were. "For now, let's head in. We still need to travel quite far."

According to the map they made, they would have to travel at least another few tens of kilometres into the forest to reach the point where the mountain could possibly be. With their speed, this would still take a while, especially since they had to be so careful in the forest.

A few minutes later, Sheng Feilong started frowning, while Huang Jialong seemed to have noticed something as well. The former spoke up, mainly speaking to Yuanen Yehui, who didn't seem to have noticed anything. "Something's strange. Be careful." Yuanen Yehui glanced at him before nodding slightly and keeping an eye on her surroundings.

Huang Jialong continued to frown for a while longer, then turned to Sheng Feilong. "It's the air." He said, earning him a confused look from Sheng Feilong, then continued. "The origin energy in the air; It's different from the earlier parts of the forest. It's more dense here."

Sheng Feilong closed his eyes for a moment, still moving through the forest while sensing the origin energy around them. He opened his eyes a few moment later, nodding his head. "You're right. But it's not only more dense, there's something else different about it as well. It feels... like hot origin energy? A higher concentration of fire elemental origin energy, if you will?"

"I know what you mean. It's hard to explain, but it feels like someone with a fire attributed Spirit Essence would love this place." Huang Jialong said, also confused by the situation; Neither of them had ever come across such a place.

It was common knowledge that Soul Masters would be able to cultivate more efficiently in a habitat that was similar in nature to their Spirit Essence; Like a plant-system Soul Master cultivating in a forest rather than a city, or an earth attributed Soul Master cultivating in the mountains or underground.

The three of them had also done so before, but they never felt a direct difference in the surrounding origin energy they absorbed. It always felt like they it was just natural to absorb the energy better in a more suitable area.

Sheng Feilong remained silent for a while, thinking about this change, as well as the Sheng Clan's old records he heard about from Sheng Lingtian. "...This could be good." He mumbled silently, though loud enough for Huang Jialong and Yuanen Yehui to hear. "What are you talking about?"

"The Sheng Clan's Ancestor, Sheng Wuyong, was known to have the Sun Swallowing Mountain Lion Spirit Essence, but my bloodline seems to be that of the Three-Eyed Mountain Lion. What if this fire origin energy in the air here changed him? Like, a mutation of a Three-Eyed Mountain Lion that lead to him manifesting a different Spirit Essence once he turned human." Sheng Feilong said, semi-certain of his own idea.

Yuanen Yehui frowned. She was unable to feel this 'fire origin energy' Sheng Feilong and Huang Jialong were talking about, probably due to her slightly inferior Spirit Power and cultivation, but she knew a lot about Soul Beasts. "It's unknown why Soul Beasts mutate, but if this fire origin energy is real, it might be a reason. Your Ancestor spent, what, 30.000 years on that mountain? That might be enough to bring such a change."