Douluo Dalu - The Story of Sheng Feilong

After filling out the paperwork and giving it to one of the Shrek Academy's staff, Sheng Feilong and Jian Wang waited for their approval and further instructions. The staff member glanced through the papers before giving Jian Wang a nod and then went on to Sheng Feilong's. He seemed surprised for a moment after reading about Sheng Feilong's Soul Rank and looked at the matter, but quickly forgot about it again, as cultivation level alone didn't mean anything at Shrek. When he saw the entry for Sheng Feilong's Spirit Soul, however, he frowned and seemed lost in thought for a while. Sheng Feilong was sure that this was because the staff member had never heard about the Radiant Emperor's Phantasmagoric Eyes, which was only natural since Song Weihan and Sheng Feilong named it since no one had a Spirit Soul like it before.

After a moment, the staff member ignored it, just taking it as a lack of knowledge that he'd never heard of this particular Spirit Soul; He wouldn't be a mere staff at Shrek Academy if he knew every single Spirit in existence, anyway! After approving of Sheng Feilong's and Jian Wang's paperwork, he directed the both of them to enter through the Academy gates and gather together with the other children at another plaza ahead and wait for further instructions.

Sheng Feilong and Jian Wang followed the instructions and soon found themselves in a much less chaotic plaza. While it was still filled with children who wanted to take the Examination, there were way less people then before and most of the children present were silently waiting or conversing among themselves. A while later, a middle aged man led a group of over 30 Shrek staff members over and waited for the children to calm down.

When everyone focused on him, the middle-aged man flew to the sky, standing there for everyone to clearly see him and spoke in a loud voice, infused by his Soul Power.

"Welcome to Shrek Academy, everyone. Today, all of you will take the Entrance Examination to become students of Shrek Academy. Be aware that, while there is no quota, only a small part of you will be able to succeed. Shrek Academy is the best Advanced Academy on the continent, and our standards are naturally just as high. Since its founding 20.000 years ago, the Academy always had the same philosophy: 'We only accept monsters, not ordinary people'! Prepare yourselves to show the best of your abilities at every given moment; it will make the difference between success and failure!"

After his speech, he gently flew back down and another man took his place in the air, announcing the rules of the Examination. Soon, they would form groups of 10 people each and each group is to follow one of the staff members to take the examination. In order to pass the examination, one had to accumulate 60 points over the course of all the tests, while one had to accumulate 85 points to directly enter Shrek Academy's Inner Court. One of the children asked how many tests there were, but instead of the expected answer, the announcer in the air coldly told him, that it didn't matter, since he is to give it his all in every test. If then, he can't accumulate 60 points, his explanation would be wasted on an 'ordinary person'.

A few moments later, the announcer flew down to the ground as well, and the Shrek staff members began spreading out to accept the groups of ten. Many people were just surprised since they came in group, mostly consisting of 3-6 people, but the few that came in large groups had ugly expression since they'd have to split up. Sheng Feilong and Jian Wang formed a group with 2 separate groups, consisting of 3 and 5 people respectively. In total, their group had 4 female and 6 male examinees.

They quickly found a staff member and were lead into the so-called 'Shrek House'. It was a rounded walkway inside a massively large hall and had depictions of the 20.000 years of Shrek's history. Sheng Feilong was awed, his determination to enter Shrek growing even more than before. After thequasi history lesson, the came across as room filled with the statues of Shrek Academy's greatest Masters. The ones that stood out the most were the ones of Thousand Hands Douluo, Tang San, and the Spirit Ice Douluo, Huo Yuhao; their lifelike and detailed depictions awing the children even more.

After exiting the hall, they came across another room with a massive, lifelike mural on the wall in front of them. Dispite standing over 20 meters away from it, the mural radiated an incredible pressure on the children, causing all of them to pale considerably. Sheng Feilong was not affected as much as the others thanks to his incredible Spirit Power, and managed to clearly lay his eyes on the mural.

It was a mural of a enormous black dragon. Its eyes glowed golden, even more striking in contrast to its pitch black face, and its wings were spread across the whole wall. Violet light exploded from its body; It was obviously a painting, but it was vivid to the point of blurring the lines between fiction and reality. Each dragon scale could be counted with no difficulty, without missing a single one.

Sheng Feilong looked the dragon directly into the eyes and his heart dropped. The golden eyes were like a bottomless abyss, sucking him into it while the violent dragon might made his blood freeze. Sheng Feilong grit his teeth, refusing to back down from a mere painting and activated his Spirit Soul! His pale golden eyes deepened in colour, while his pupils turned slightly red, before the red, diamond shaped and winged marking appeared on his forehead; the spiritual pressure radiating from him spiked instantly, repelling the dragon might and allowing him to stand tall again.

As if feeling insulted by the puny child resisting it, the dragon's might spiked again and a powerful dragon's roar echoed through the hall, directly forcing everyone standing in the room, including Jian Wang, to their knees. Sheng Feilong grit hit teeth again. He could clearly feel the brunt of the dragon's might being focused on him and his blood began to surge. The awakened Three-Eyed Golden Lion's bloodline in his body was acting up to resist the dragon's might!

Sheng Feilong's aura increased even further and the spiritual pressure enveloped him whole, forcing the dragon's might to back away once again. Another, even more powerful dragon's roar echoed through the hall, forcing all those on their knees to grit their teeth even more while cold sweat ran over their bodies; Two of them even passed out under the pressure, while Sheng Feilong still stubbornly refused to kneel down!

Having to rely on his last resort, Sheng Feilong willed the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's Artificial Soul Bone to take action again! A profound golden aura radiated from his body, starting from his forehead, taking the shape of a tall, golden lion! The lion's head and eyes superimposed with Sheng Feilong's, creating a never before seen spiritual pressure, forcing the dragon to roar in rage again, as the golden lion did the same! Just from that third roar alone, another 4 people passed out, leaving only Sheng Feilong, Jian Wang and two others conscious.

The ground beneath Sheng Feilong's feet began cracking under the pressure as his blood began to boil, stubbornly forcing his body to remain standing, while his bones gave off creaking noises and blood began slowly flowing out of his lips! The dragon's and lion's roars created a brutal friction in the air, creating massive massive domains filled with the lions and Sheng Feilong's golden aura while the other side was filled with the dragon's might and terrifying violet aura; neither intending to back down in the slightest!

---

Within a secret room inside the hall, the staff member that previously led Sheng Feilong's group into the hall stood with his mouth and eyes wide open while disbelief, completely being unable to make even the slightest noise. Sitting in front of him was an old man with the same disbelieving expression, though he remained his composure, not showing his shock as obviously as the staff member. The old man opened his mouth with a slightly shaking voice.

"Resisting the... the Gold-Eyed Black Dragon King's pressure with just his own aura as a Soul Elder alone... This- this kid truly fits our Shrek Academy's philosophy of being a monster among men!"

As he was speaking, he saw Sheng Feilong's aura weaken more and more while he gnashed his teeth with blood flowing out of his mouth and dripping to the now badly cracked ground. The old man quickly snapped out of his daze and shouted at another man in the room.

"Quickly end the test, the boy's already injuring himself!"

The man flinched before quickly having a wall obstructing the Gold-Eyed Black Dragon King's mural. The pressure in the room vanished instantly and not even a second later, Sheng Feilong's aura vanished as well as his knees heavily crashed on the ground. He coughed violently for a few times, spitting out a mouthful of blood each time, but the fierce and stubborn expression in his eyes still remained; He may have injured himself to the point of coughing blood and overdraft his Spirit Power, but hell, he didn't back off!

The staff member that brought them to the test had snapped out of his daze as well and looked at theold man with a complicated expression.

"Elder Li, what should we do about the examination and their score for this trial..?"

The old man, Elder Li, looked at Sheng Feilong, then at Jian Wang and the two others who were still conscious before glancing over the ones that had passed out and replied to the staff member.

"Give that lion-boy full marks. The three that are still conscious pass and get 6 points each. As for the 6 that passed out, they've failed!"