Douluo Dalu - The Story of Sheng Feilong

After the headache from the memories swarming his head subsided, Sheng Feilong stood up and once again examined the demon in front of him. Now that the oppressive feeling and terrifying presence are gone, he became more and more startled by the familiar feeling he got when looking at it. It was like finding something that one had lost a long time ago, but still felt like it was around him for the whole time.

It took him a while to understand, but at some point, it suddenly hit Sheng Feilong. The feeling the demon gave off was the same as the silhouette of the Radiant Emperor's Phantasmagoric Eyes gave off! Well, not exactly the same feeling like, not its aura, but the comfortable and familiar feeling one gets from their own Spirit Essence!

Sheng Feilong was once again lost himself in his thoughts. If this was truly the same feeling as that of a Spirit Essence, did that mean the Netherworld Putrefaction Demon was his own Spirit Essence? Then, She Meixiao and the old doctor were right and he actually awakened a second Spirit Essence? But how could he suddenly awake it? Even if he was close to death, could something like that really trigger a Spirit Awakening?

Thinking back, Sheng Feilong tried to remember the details of his own Spirit Awakening. Back then, the greatest shock for him – and everyone else of the Sheng Clan – was that he, the son of an Clan Elder, didn't awaken a variation Clan's hereditary Spirit Essence, but instead the Spirit Eyes. As far as he could remember, his awakening was completely normal. If anything, there was only the light headache that came from his eyes' awakening.

Later, he found out that his Clan had actually descended from Sheng Wuyong, an 100.000-years-old Three-Eyed Golden Lion that had turned into human shape. For a Spirit Essence related to a Soul Beast like the Three-Eyed Golden Lion, it actually wasn't that unthinkable to awaken a Body Spirit like the Spirit Eyes. In fact, the most prominent holder of the Spirit Eyes, Spirit Ice Douluo Huo Yuhao, was known to be a descendant of the Dai Clan, the possessors of the White Tiger Spirit. He had actually failed to awaken his Clan's hereditary Spirit essence as well!

All of this could be explained by coincidence, or maybe just calling it chance would be more appropriate, but how could the demon spirit be explained? This had actually nothing to do with anything related to his Clan or bloodline, neither from his father's side, nor his mothers. This Spirit Essence seemed to just come from nothing, and the oppressive aura of that demon's voice was even more terrifying; Even if it was a Spirit Essence, it shouldn't be intelligent enough to communicate with him, much less have its own ego...

Thinking up to here, Sheng Feilong decided to leave it be and let out a long sigh. He stood up, once again looking at the Netherworld Putrefaction Demon before looking around this 'castle'. Strolling around, he noticed that the throne room where the demon sat was the best preserved room within the perimeter. Other than its walls, that were about a head taller than Sheng Feilong, none of the other room's walls came even close to his shoulder's height.

He didn't find anything other than more of the same dark and dusty wastelands and soon returned back to the throne room. This time, he didn't enter through the door, but chose to just jump in from the back to spare him from the trouble of walking around. With a single jump, he effortlessly left the wall behind him, landing a few steps to the left of the Netherworld Putrefaction Demon. But just before he landed, something lying behind the throne caught his eye.

He walked around the throne and found the thing he had seen before; A miniature of a withered and severed scorpion's tail. Sheng Feilong's heart shook when he saw this tail. "This- this is a Soul Bone?" Quickly crouching down next to it, he carefully lifted it up. Although it was barely recognizable, this tail undoubtedly had the same aura as the Doomstinger Dragonfly he had faced before; he certainly would never forget this aura in his entire life! Pitch black and intersected with a terrifying, dagger like stinger at the end, just like the real deal.

But one thing made Sheng Feilong frown. Although this tail had the same aura as the Doomstinger Dragonfly, it looked pitifully weak; It former glossy carapace was no more and it was much thinner, looking more like a fragile, dried up stick than a terrifying weapon. Sheng Feilong could also make out a few greyish green veins on the visible tissue, the places where the intersections were connected.

"Could this be the Doomstinger Dragonfly's Soul Bone? Has the Netherworld Putrefaction Demon absorbed this as well when it took over my body? Wasn't it said that the chances of obtaining a Soul Bone from a real, live Soul Beast were pitifully low? No wait, there was a method recorded in the Spirit Pagoda's library that said that if a Soul Beast died with lingering resentment or other powerful emotions, the chances of obtaining the Soul Bone would rise exceptionally.", Sheng Feilong mused, while looking at the Soul Bone.

Pausing for a moment, he began muttering again. "The way the 100.000-years-old Doomstinger Dragonfly died was... cruel, to say the least. It would be a wonder if it didn't harbour any strong resentment to the Netherworld Putrefaction Demon, or me. So that means that old theory was right?" Sheng Feilong stood up, still with the Soul Bone in hand, and looked at it a bit more closely. It really felt familiar and, just like the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's Artifcial Skull Bone, it felt like a part of his body. Though, it felt somewhat different. "Could this be... an External Soul Bone? … A 100.000-years-old External Soul Bone... This is incredible..."

An External Soul Bone was a special existence for every Soul Master. Normally, a Soul Master could only possess a total of 6 Soul Bones: One for each arm, one for each leg, one for the torso and a skull, but External Soul Bones didn't fall into any of those categories and, theoretically, a Soul Master could possess an unlimited number of them. However, External Soul Bones had a critical flaw: They were unfathonably rare. If a normal Soul Bone had a chance of one in a million to be obtained when killing a Soul Beast, an External Soul Bone had a one in a billion chance.

The kind of Soul Bone a Soul Beast produces is entirely up to the beast and it's impossible to say for sure what Soul Bone one might get from it. For example, a Three-Eyed Golden Lion would usually have a Skull Soul Bone to strengthen its third eye even further, but in thery, it could also possess a Leg Soul Bone to run faster, if it empathizes more on its speed than its spiritual abilities. Normally, only special Soul Beasts would have an External Soul Bone, one example being the Doomstinger Dragonfly; Its most prided strength came from its powerful tail, so it was understandable that it would want to strengthen that even more. On the other hand, it could have also focused on its speed, creating a pair of Soul Bone Wings, or just a Torso Bone to protect itself.

After finding out about this Soul Bone, Sheng Feilong decided not to reveal it to anyone for now. A Soul Bone alone was already enough to shock everyone, much less a real, 100.000-years-old External Soul Bone. No matter what time, such a Soul Bone would always be enough of a treasure to bring about the ruin of a nation!

For now, Sheng Feilong headed back towards the other side of hisspiritual consciousness, silvery white world where his other Spirit Essence, Spirit Souls and Soul Bone were, leaving the Doomstinger Dragonfly Soul Bone and Netherworld Putrefaction Demon Spirit Essence inside the castle ruins.

On the way back, when he came across the border that separated the two sides, Sheng Feilong noticed that the ongoing war had calmed down. The sky above was slowly blending into each other, creating a neutral grey area in the air, while the corrupted ground of the dark wasteland slowly grew black and weak grass with the silvery white side's grass darkening somewhat. It seemed as if the both sides had come to a balance, slowly fusing together.

Back in the silvery white world, Sheng Feilong quickly returned to where he parted with his Spirit Souls and the rest and found them without any trouble. They weren't cowering together anymore and had instead resumed their relatively relaxed positions apart from each other, enjoying the tranquillity of the silvery white world to their fullest. Noticing Sheng Feilong, the Purple Forest Witch and Ancient Hypnotic Toad charged at him again, expressing their great worry for him.

Smiling at their antics, Sheng Feilong stayed a while longer and happily communicated with the Spirit Souls as much as they liked. They had naturally noticed that the Netherworld Putrefaction Demon's presence had faded and were really interested in Sheng Feilong's story. He tried to make the tale as easy as possible, but they still struggled to understand it as their intelligence had yet to reach their peak. Compared to the two Spirit Souls, the Radiant Emperor's Phantasmagoric Eyes and the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's Soul Bone were much calmer and didn't ask any questions; They just enjoyed Sheng Feilong's company.

Some time later, Sheng Feilong exited his spiritual consciousness and slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was She Meixiao's shocked face. But Sheng Feilong just stared back at her with an even more shocked expression. He didn't even notice that all the machines in the room and the bed he sat on before had been destroyed, nor did he notice that he sat in a pit of corroded stone with a putrid smelling, greyish green vapour rising all around him. The only thing he saw were She Meixiao's Soul Rings.

Yellow, purple, purple, purple, black, black, black, red, red! A total of nine Soul Rings hovered behind her back, all of them giving off an incredible pressure! She Meixiao was a 9 ringed, rank 90+ Titled Douluo with an incredible two 100.000-years-old Soul Rings!