A number of figures were located in a brightly lit conference room with a lot of tall windows. Outside of the room, clouds sometimes scratching the building and the conference rooms. Inside of the room, 11 figures were seated around a conference table, while a single person stood near the table with their hands behind their back. The standing figure seemed relaxed and at ease, while the seated people were frowning and clearly displeased.Among the seated people, an old man with a long grey beard and spa.r.s.e grey hair stared at the standing figure with a furious expression as a powerful aura radiated from him. He spoke in a slow and menacing voice, not stopping to stare at the standing figure.
"You want to involve another person outside of this room? And even give them that treasure?!"
The standing figure didn"t seem to mind the elder"s menacing tone nor his surging Soul Power and still looked as relaxed as before while answering with a casual expression.
"I"ve already made it clear at the beginning that I"ll decide who to give it myself. Now I"ve made that decision, and none of you have the right to question it. I"m merely informing you all about it."
The grey old man furiously hit the table and sprung to his feet as his Soul Power stormed through the whole conference room, throwing over a few potted plants and unused chairs as he bellowed in a loud voice.
"Song Weihan, you want to give the most precious Artificial Soul Bone that"s been created with the genetic material of a 100.000-years-old Three-Eyed Golden Lion to some brat that"s not even officially part of the Spirit PaG.o.da?! Have you gone insane or do you intend to betray the paG.o.da?!"
The man casually standing at the conference table, Sheng Feilong"s Master, Song Weihan, eyed the furious elder before him with indifference. Even though the latter Soul power was ravaging through the room, Song Weihan"s clothes didn"t even flutter as he shielded himself wth his own Soul Power.
"Elder Pai, I think you should calm down. It"s not good for your health to become that agitated. I"m neither insane nor do I intend to betray the Spirit PaG.o.da. That "brat", as you"ve referred to him, is my personal disciple and the greatest genius in terms of Spirit Power that I"ve ever seen. As I said before, this matter is non-negotiable and I"m merely informing you of my decision."
Before the raging Elder Pai could speak up, another one of the people sitting at the table spoke up; a small female figure that didn"t look older than 16 years with blonde hair and light green eyes.
"Elder Song, the value of that Artificial Soul Bone is incomparable to the others. You"ve used up the only genetic material of the Three-Eyed Golden Lion in the Spirit PaG.o.da"s possession. Even if the boy is your personal disciple, it"s a bit unreasonable to give him something like this, no?"
Song Weihan merely glanced at her as he dismissively answered her in a annoyed voice.
"I"ve paid for that genetic material with my own funds and contribution points. I"ve researched it and the methods of refining Artificial Soul Bones myself without the a.s.sistance of the Spirit PaG.o.da, build the research laboratory and the machinery involved and tutored the staff alone. While I"m indeed doing my research on the property of the Spirit PaG.o.da, you all of no say in the matters regarding my own possessions. Until now, all you"ve done is make a profit from my research."
Another elder, a bold middle aged man with long eyebrows looked at Song Weihan and spoke to him with a sly grin.
"Elder Song, if memory serves me right, you agreed to refine a personalized Soul Bone for everyone of us, so why not give the Three-Eyed Golden Lion Soul Bone to another of-"
Before he could finish his sentence, Song Weihan looked at him and rudely interrupted his speech.
"Elder Luo, you"ve already obtained your right leg Soul Bone and none of the other elders specializes in Spirit Power, so giving them the Golden Lion"s Skull Bone would simply be a waste of resources. And I don"t like wasting resources, so spare us your hypocritical care for your fellow elders. I will naturally create one for everyone, as I had promised, but the Three-Eyed Golden Lion"s Skull Bone is not included in that promise and I will proceed with it as I please."
Another old man with sail ears, that was currently stroking his beard looked at Song Weihan with a thoughtful expression.
"Elder Song, I won"t try to persuade you, but will the boy be able to take the Soul Bone? If I recall correctly, you said you took him in five years ago when he was six, so he"s barely 11 by now? A Artificial Soul Bone as powerful as the Thee-Eyed Golden Lion"s isn"t something a child could handle."
Song Weihan nodded at the old man as an appreciation of his concern before calmly speaking to everyone in the room.
"It is indeed too early for him to absorb the Soul Bone. Due to his artificial Spirit Soul evolving to the 1.000 year level about 8 months ago, his Spirit Power and body became disordered. I managed to balance it out for now, but I intend to have him train his body more for at least the next two years while making modifications to the Thee Eyed Golden Lion"s Soul Bone to suit him better."
Elder Pai, Elder Luo and the seemingly young girl were rendered unable to say anything after Song Weihan"s explanations and had grim countenances, while the other elders decided not to say anymore. Song Weihan glanced at them before letting a faint smile show itself.
"If there"s nothing else, I shall take my leave now. Elder Sun, your t.i.tan Giant Ape"s left arm bone will still take roughly about 3 to 4 months. I"ll be contacting you as soon as the refining and testing are finished."
After that, he exited the conference room, leaving the rest of the elders alone and headed for the elevator. As it turns out, the conference room was located at the Spirit PaG.o.da"s top-most floor where only the top echelon"s was allowed to step foot on. Song Weihan took a look at his watch before smiling to himself. It was nearly time for Sheng Feilong to come over after school.
---
After the farewell of the third years had ended and Sheng Feilong and the others had heard about Wong Wushuang"s plan to go to Shrek Academy, their cla.s.ses continued until school was over. Sheng Feilong couldn"t quite get Wong Wushuang"s decision out of his head, even after they met up with Sheng Lingtian and were on their way to the Spirit PaG.o.da.
As every Soul Master usually would, Sheng Feilong had also heard about the ill.u.s.trious Shrek Academy. As the academy with the longest history on the Douluo Continent, dating back to over 20.000 years ago, the time when the Tang Sect"s founder, Tang San, attended school, Shrek Academy was naturally well known.
With their principles of only accepting monsters and not ordinary people, coupled with their extremely strict entering criteria and dozens of famous alumni, among which were people like the aforementioned Tang San or even the Spirit PaG.o.da"s founder, Spirit Ice Douluo Huo Yuhao, they were known as the best academy one could possibly attend.
Sheng Feilong shook his head with a wry smile before closing his eyes and focusing on the upcoming training.
"I"ll just ask Master what he thinks about it later... But Shrek Academy, huh... I"d really like to see Senior Brother Wong again!"
While Sheng Feilong was thinking about Shrek Academy, Jian w.a.n.g and Jian Shiguan had their own thoughts about it, so no one paid Sheng Feilong"s behaviour any mind. Song Weihan was surprised by the newfound energy and determination of his disciple and the others. Even in their hand-to-hand combat training, they seemed oddly energetic and stood up again and again even though they were badly beaten every time.
Song Weihan continued their training about half an hour longer due to their dedication before calling it a day. After Jian w.a.n.g and Jian Shiguan left, Song Weihan and Sheng Feilong headed to Song Weihan"s office where they talked a while about the formers research and work. Song Weihan didn"t mention anything that about his confrontation with the Spirit PaG.o.da"s elders nor his intention to give Sheng Feilong the Three-Eyed Golden Lion"s Skull Bone.
After a while, Sheng Feilong asked about Shrek Academy and his Master"s thoughts about it. Song Weihan was surprised by the sudden and uncommon question, but still answered to the best of his abilities, even though he never attended Shrek Academy himself. The most important answer Sheng Feilong got from this was that, although Shrek Academy and the Spirit PaG.o.da aren"t on good terms with each other, attending Shrek Academy as an Spirit PaG.o.da a.s.sociate wasn"t a problem and they didn"t contradict each other.
Sheng Feilong always thought he wouldn"t go to Shrek as he knew about the Spirit PaG.o.da"s conflicts with the academy, but after having his questions answered, he was excited and finally made the decision to attend Shrek Academy after graduating from the Heaven Dou Intermediate Academy!
Song Weihan didn"t fail to notice this dedication and slyly smiled to himself before starting a speech about how Shrek Academy only took in the most monstrous Soul Masters and that Sheng Feilong, as his disciple had to pa.s.s their entrance exam with flying colours to bring honour to himself and his Master. This further riled up Sheng Feilong"s fighting spirit which Song Weihan used as an excuse to increase the former"s training load.
Like that, a h.e.l.lish 2 years began for Sheng Feilong while training at the Spirit PaG.o.da, as well as Jian w.a.n.g and Jian Shiguan, who got dragged into it by default.