Hey there, Yozuka here!Ugh. I"m not a 100% satisfied with this chapter. It feels a bit like a filler, even for me, but I really wanted to get a few points straight with this. Tomorrow and the weekend will have even better chapters, I promise!
We"ll also go to Shrek Academy soon and the second Spirit Soul that I promised you will follow soon after! It"ll be introduced by around chapter 50~55! Sorry for the long wait, but the event that awakens it existed before I even made the poll back then and I didn"t want to derive from it. ^^"
Anyways, I hope you"ll enjoy today"s chapter!
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Sheng Feilong was stunned when he saw his own reflection in the window. His originally piercing blue eyes had taken on a pale golden colour with no remnant of the prior blue left! He actually liked his blue eyes quite a lot; paired with his pitch black hair, they actually gave of a relaxed feeling, making him easy to approach. Now, however, his black hair and pale golden eyes had more of a majestic and intimidating vibe to them. The new colouration seemed more indifferent than innocent, but even Sheng Feilong had to admit that it made his face more handsome...
"No, no, no! I shouldn"t think like that! Why are they golden? Can"t I have my normal blue eyes back? This doesn"t look like me at all!", Sheng Feilong cursed in his mind. Song Weihan and Sheng Lingtian were looking at him frowning at his own reflection and weren"t sure what to say. They had already seen that Sheng Feilong"s eyes had changed colour before, but Sheng Lingtian didn"t say anything about it as he attributed it to the Skull Soul Bone, while Song Weihan pried deeper, suspecting the Three-Eyed Golden Lion Soul Bone to have influenced Sheng Feilong"s Spirit Eyes to some extent causing the abnormal golden colouration.
Soon after, they entered Song Weihan"s office and the latter sealed the room off from the outside so that only the three of them would know what was spoken inside. He sat down behind the desk while Sheng Feilong and Sheng Lingtian took a seat in front of the desk each. Song Weihan turned to Sheng Feilong and let out a loft sigh.
"Now then, Feilong. Can you tell us what happened when you were absorbing the Artificial Soul Bone? We know roughly what happened from observation, but I"d like to hear your take on it."
Sheng Feilong nodded before thinking about what happened for a moment. He then told Song Weihan and his father everything from the beginning; How he started absorbing the Soul Bone and the initial headache from the fusion, how the pain spread out to his whole body and the spiritual attacks, about him blocking the attacks and the counter he launched to beat the Soul Bone into submission. Up to hear, Song Weihan and Sheng Lingtian continuously nodded their head; everything was like what they observed from the control room.
Sheng Feilong was silent for a moment before speaking up again, telling them about the searing pain that went along his blood vessels, that felt like his body was being burned from the inside out and then the unexpected brutal spiritual attack when he let his guard down and how it pulled him into his inner consciousness. Song Weihan was still solemnly nodding his head as everything Sheng Feilong said was in accordance to his observations, but Sheng Feilong"s next words shocked him deeply.
"After that attack, I felt like loosing consciousness and when I opened my eyes again, I was inside a huge ancient forest. I looked around for a while before I saw a humongous golden lion with a long snout and a third eye on its forehead; A real Three-Eyed Golden Lion. And judging from its size and the pressure it gave off, it was at least a 100.000-years-old Soul Beast."
Song Weihan couldn"t help but widen his eyes and blurting out a question that burned on his tongue.
"You woke up in a forest? You didn"t fight the Soul Bone"s remnant spirit in your spiritual consciousness?" Sheng Feilong was startled by the sudden question, by still shook his head in denial.
"No, I really woke up in the forest and saw the Three-Eyed Golden Lion. But it didn"t seem to notice me even though I stood just a few meters away from it. It didn"t do anything and just strolled through the forest, but when I was thinking about how to hide from it, it suddenly stared directly at me before my vision blurred and I then stood on a mountain cliff, looking over a huge forest of red and orange leafed trees."
This time, Sheng Lingtian couldn"t help but be surprised.
"You changed places and saw another vision? What about the Three-Eyed Golden Lion?"
Sheng Feilong scratched his chin with a frown before replying.
"The Three-Eyed Golden Lion was gone, but... when I turned around to see where I was, I saw another golden lion, that looked exactly like the Three-Eyed Golden Lion and felt just as strong. However, this one didn"t have the third eye on its forehead; instead, it had a huge scar where the eye should be. Moreover, it had only three legs; one of its front legs was missing." Then, Sheng Feilong suddenly seemed to remember something and looked at Sheng Lingtian. "Right, father. Do you know what the Old Ancestor, Sheng Wuyong looked like? Like, his hair and eyes or if he was missing an arm?"
Sheng Lingtian was surprised by the unexpected question and hesitated a moment before answering.
"The Clan"s ancient books mentioned that Ancestor Sheng Wuyong had long golden hair and golden eyes, that radiated a powerful feeling and he was indeed missing an arm. It"s said he lost it when he was young and fought his own brother over the position of the family head. He apparently lost the duel and was badly injured, losing an arm, and then left his old clan before creating the Sheng Clan dozens of years later. Why are you suddenly asking about that?"
Sheng Feilong"s heart was furiously beating and he took a while to calm himself down. After taking another deep breath, he answered Sheng Lingtian"s question.
"When I looked at it, the golden lion with three legs suddenly began shining in a radiant golden light and transformed into a middle-aged human man. He had long, untamed golden hair, piercing golden eyes that radiated immense power and a horrendous scar on his forehead. His left arm was missing and he walked to the edge of the cliff before lamenting over his life. In the end... he said that he shall live as a human now, as he had failed to live as a Soul Beast, and that his name will be Sheng Wuyong..."
Sheng Lingtian took a moment to process the information before his eyes explosively widened to the limit and his breathing became haggard. His hands began shaking and he spoke in a disbelieving, shaking voice.
"This- This is impossible. You must have heard wrong. They can"t be the same person. Out Old Ancestor was a human, not a Soul beast in human form!" Sheng Lingtian shook his head before abruptly looking down, lost in thought, while he continued to mumble to himself.
"No, it"s definitely impossible. When a Soul Beast takes human form, the Spirit Soul they awaken will always be the same as their prior body. The Old Ancestor awakened the Sun Swallowing Mountain Lion, not a Three-Eyed Golden Lion!"
Song Weihan looked at Sheng Lingtian. He didn"t know about the Sheng Clan"s origins, but he made his own conclusions from what Sheng Feilong said.
"Mister Sheng, what does the Sun Swallowing Mountain Lion look like from the records of the Sheng Clan?" Sheng Lingtian looked at him before speaking of the Sun Swallowing Mountain Lion"s features near mechanically.
"The Sun Swallowing Mountain Lion is a tens of meters tall, golden lion with a darker golden coloured mane that sways in the wind like a flame. It"s said to be able to absorb the energy of the sun to strengthen itself and is said to have unparalleled control over the fire element, only second to the Fire Dragon King"s Absolute Fire. It has piercing golden eyes and..." He suddenly stopped before looking at Sheng Feilong with a shocked expression.
"And three legs; two hind legs and a single front leg..."
Sheng Feilong"s heart still beat as fast as before and he slowly spoke with a stoic expression.
"The man calling himself Sheng Wuyong said something about having absorbed the evergy of the sun for 30.000 years, and still being unable to reach his goal. I don"t know what happened to his arm – or his Beast Form"s leg for that matter – but whatever the cause was, his voices showed extreme regret. Moreover, he most likely remained on that mountain cliff for those 30.000 years..."
Sheng Lingtian gave up resisting and slumped back in his seat with a self-mocking smile.
"We"re... we"re descendants of a Soul Beast; A 100.000-years-old Three-Eyed Golden Lion that calls itself a Sun Swallowing Mountain Lion, and no one ever knew... No one in the Clan ever knew..."
Sheng Feilong looked at his father and ruefully smiled. He understood the shock his father felt. All his life, he grew up with the stories of the Old Ancestor, the hero and founder of the Clan, and now it turns out that Ancestor wasn"t a human. Suddenly, a thought crossed Sheng Feilong"s mind; something he had forgotten about until now. He turned towards Song Weihan with a curious and sly expression.
"Master, we now know about Ancestor Sheng Wuyong, the second Three-Eyed Golden lion I saw, but what about the first one? The one in the forest. They can"t be the same, right?"
Song Weihan was surprised by the question, but then smiled.
"You"re right. That"s the actual surprise I had planned for you. The Artificial Soul Bone you fused with was made with the genetic material of a 100.000-years-old Three-Eyed Golden Lion. Moreover, it wasn"t just made from some blood, but a fragment of an actual 100.000-years-old Three-Eyed Golden Lion"s Skull Type Soul Bone. It isn"t just a artificial Soul Bone; It"s a recreation of an actual Soul Bone."