Sheng Feilong stood alone amidst the darkness surrounding him . He could only vaguely make out the faint silhouettes of the ruined castle that always remained in his spiritual consciousness . He was unable to see anything outside of the outlines of the ruin's walls; No forms of the familiar wasteland with its deep ravines, nor any light from the border to the silvery white world on the other side .
The only thing that stood out from the darkness was the pitch black, grotesque throne on the pedestal in front of him, still with the Netherworld Putrefaction Demon bound to it by the strange black chains; The greenish flames from within the demon spirit's half-hollow skull staring down on him .
Sheng Feilong swallowed dryly . He didn't know how he ended up in front of it; The last thing he remembered was breaking down in his room, crying because of what his father told him about the Sheng Clan . And the all too familiar, otherworldly voice of the Netherworld Putrefaction Demon's spirit . . . "You brought me here . . ?"
He stared directly at it, still able to remain calm despite its presence as he could clearly see the black chains binding it to the throne, denying it of all freedom of movement . The ghastly flaes within its skull flicked slightly and the booming, otherworldly voice echoed out with in Sheng Feilong's head .
"What?" Sheng Feilong frowned, not understanding what it was talking about . Normally, he'd be incredibly vary of the demon's spirit, but something was different with it this time . It was nearly as if it . . . "You . . . you're capable of sane thoughts . . ?"
Usually, the Netherworld Putrefaction Demon was driven by its anger and hatred whenever the spirit showed itself, craving destruction and trying to take over his body, but this time, it seemed completely calm . The flames inside its skull flickered again shortly after .
" . . . What are you talking about?" Sheng Feilong stared at it, still not understanding what the spirit was talking about . The flames flickered again, more ominously this time, but the voice didn't resound in Sheng Feilong's head this time . Instead, the surroundings started to change .
The darkness surrounding him parted as if it was a lie to begin with, but what was revealed wasn't the desolate wasteland Sheng Feilong had expected; The dead, dusty ground beneath his feet had changed to show a fine, cobbled pavement while buildings stood erect around them . " . . . A town?"
Sheng Feilong looked around, confused for a while, but his eyes soon widened when he saw a few familiar buildings in the distance . "The Sheng Clan . . . ? What's going on?" Sheng Feilong finally recognized his whereabouts as the main street of the Sheng Clan's estate that lead directly towards the main halls and grand plaza .
No one was walking around the streets as the sun had already set and the streets were only lit by lanterns at the side of the road . Sheng Feilong turned around, facing the only oddity in the estate other than himself; The Netherworld Putrefaction Demon on its black throne . "What is this? What have you done?"
Just as the flickering of the flames stopped, dozens of hooded figures soundlessly appeared dozens of metres above the Sheng Clan estate . If it wasn't for Sheng Feilong's acute senses and high Spirit Power, he would've missed them completely .
Sheng Feilong frowned, unable to recognize the people who stood in the air, however he was able to hear them clearly despite the distance between them and the fact that these words definitely weren't meant for him . "Dispose of them . Mistakes will not be tolerated . "
The moment these words left the mouth of the hooded figure in the middle, nearly all of the others left, leaving only the figure in the middle and three other's standing in the air . Sheng Feilong frowned, understanding that those other hooded figures didn't vanish, but split up into different directions . "What's going on? What are they-"
Before he could finish his sentence, the sky above the Sheng Clan's estate lit up in different colours . The Soul Power in the whole area kicked up into violent winds and Sheng Feilong was able to see the other hooded figures again; Dispersed throughout the Sheng Clan estate, all of them had various Soul Rings behind them, their ranks ranging from yellow to black ones, with at least five to eight behind each person .
"They couldn't be- No!" Sheng Feilong roared out, his voice frantic from the anxiousness he felt . All of those Soul Masters were preparing various large area Soul Skills – and all of those Soul Skills were aimed at the Sheng Clan .
He was about to charge out to stop them, but before he could even take a single step, he froze in place and the Netherworld Putrefaction Demon's otherworldly voice boomed out in his head .
Sheng Feilong turned around to face the Netherworld Putrefaction Demon, his face contorted from anger . "Let me go, you-!" A terrifying explosion combined with a blinding flash of light cut his words off . He was forced to defend himself using his Soul Power while everything around him was destroyed in an instant .
One of the attacks landed on the building next to Sheng Feilong, resulting in debris and surging Soul Power impacting upon him, blasting him backwards and onto the floor . He did his best to protect himself, while the Netherworld Putrefaction Demon didn't react in the slightest; no bit of debris could touch its body and no wind could rattle its throne or even clothes .
For about a minute, deafening explosions and surging Soul Power were the things happening in the area . After that, everything turned eerily quiet . Sheng Feilong dug his way out from beneath the debris, looking at the carnage around him with a look of horror .
Everything was either in ruins or burned to the ground . In a few of the buildings, he could vaguely make out the remains of human bodies, burning and most of them already charred beyond recognition . He opened his mouth, but no words came out as he helplessly stretched his hand out towards the flames .
The Netherworld Putrefaction Demon's voice caused Sheng Feilong's whole body to shake . He was unable to say anything, nor could he control his own body as he mindlessly turned around to stare at it .
Sheng Feilong's head slowly turned upwards to where the hooded figures stood before . By now, every single one of them was back, standing in the air behind the four that hadn't taken part in the attack . Every one of them had mocking expressions on their faces and through their opened cloaks, Sheng Feilong was able to recognize their uniforms . "Shrek . . . Academy . . . ?"
His gaze wandered to the four figures at the front and he blankly stared at them . Illuminated by the flames below, he recognized every single one of their faces; The Scarlet Dragon Douluo Zhuo s.h.i.+, the Silver Moon Douluo Cai Yue'er, the eighth ranked Mecha Maker, Elder Li and lastly, at the very front, the Sea G.o.d's Pavilion's Master, Atlas Douluo Yun Ming .
Sheng Feilong's whole body began to shake as he stared at their expressionless faces . After a long silence, Yun Ming's voice echoed through the area . "Suppress the news of their bloodline . We can't have people knowing about the descendants of a 100 . 000-years-old Three-Eyed Golden Lion . "
Following behind Yun Ming, the hooded figures started to turn around one by one and prepared to leave . Sheng Feilong was still unable to say anything and only stared at their backs with an unknown amount of anger and hatred blazing in his gaze .
Slowly, while still staring at Yun Ming and the other Shrek Academy Elder's backs, Sheng Feilong's body started to transform into the Netherworld Putrefaction Demon . He grew taller while his skin turned ashen . Horns sprouted from the sides of his head, while his hands turned into armoured claws . His usually pale golden eyes slowly turned into a muddy green colour while his scelra turned ash grey .
Just a few moment later, his transformation finished and the Netherworld Putrefaction Demon sitting on the black throne vanished . Sheng Feilong's gaze still ingered on Yun Ming and the other members of Shrek before he released a deafening, unG.o.dly roar and charged at them like a maddened beast .
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Song Weihan and She Meixiao were frowned deeply, trying their best to hide their distress while observing Sheng Feilong's condition . They didn't know how long he had been laying on the floor like this, but the flare up of the Netherworld Putrefaction Demon's corrosive gas became more and more frquent, forcing them to create a barrier to stop Sheng Feilong from corroding the ground beneath him .
They couldn't do anything to help him as he wasn't reacting to anything they said while it was also impossible to touch him due to the malicious gas that could corrode even their Soul Power in but an instant if its concentration was high enough .
The two of them glanced at each other while thinking about what to do about this situation before Yuanen Yehui's voice sounded out . "Feilong! He's standing up . " Her words instantly caught their attention and, just as she said, Sheng Feilong was slowly standing up inside the barrier they created . However, the corrosive gas didn't vanish, instead it became more agitated .
Song Weihan frowned, but standing in front of Sheng Feilong, he was the first to speak to him . "Feilong? Are you alright . . ?" He looked Sheng Feilong into the eyes and his heart jumped fiercely, instinctively forcing him to take a step back; Sheng Feilong's eyes were not of their normal colour, but but ash grey with muddy green irises that seemed to flicker like a ghastly flame .