Song Weihan sat inside his office in the third floor of the Spirit PaG.o.da . Although he looked calm on the outside while going through the doc.u.ments that lay before him, he had a deep frown on his face and gave off a cold feeling . The atmosphere around him become even colder when he read through a specific doc.u.ment that he now held in his hand; It was the newest report about the disappearance of his subordinates that were sent to the Sheng Clan .

Slightly over 10 months had pa.s.sed since he lost contact with them, but no matter who he send to investigate and even when he personally went there, he couldn't find even the slightest trace of them . By now, he had no other option but to a.s.sume them to be dead . He let out a long sigh before beckoning for one of the employees outside his office to enter . The young woman quickly saluted him and he gave her instructions with a stern face .

"Inform the families of Zhou Weiyun and Le Bijing that the two of them have gone missing on a mission and are a.s.sumed to be dead . All contact to them has been cut . "

Just as he finished his sentence, his Soul Communicator rang and he saw a familiar number . Dismissing the employee, he answered the call after the doors had closed again and spoke with an upbeat voice into the communicator .

"Feilong, it's been a few weeks since you last thought about this poor Master of yours . How have you been?"

On the other end of the call was Sheng Feilong! He was quietly sitting in his dorm room alone and smiled sheepishly when he heard Song Weihan . By now, Xu Lizhi had already left the dorm; He and Ye Xinglan had transferred to the Working Students dormitory when Tang Wulin and the other stayed, so Sheng Feilong was the sole owner of the place now .

"Master, this lowly disciple knows how busy you are with work! I didn't dare disturb you for my mundane matters! I have been well, though . Very well indeed!"

After the initial turmoil at Shrek Academy, especially the restructuration of the Inner Court and the Outer Court's compet.i.tion, died down, Sheng Feilong finally had the time to regularly contact his Master and father . Still, he hadn't called either of them for a long time now . Song Weihan couldn't help but laugh lightly when Sheng Feilong finished and slightly relaxed despite the trouble with his subordinates .

"That's good to hear . So? Has anything special happened for you to suddenly call?"

Sheng Feilong smiled brightly, taking a moment before he answered proudly .

"Nothing much, it's just that I managed to reach rank 40 this morning and thought that I'd boast to my Master first!" Song Weihan was surprised to hear that; A rank 40 Soul Master was already well respected in most places and Sheng Feilong hadn't even turned 14 years old yet!

"That's wonderful news! A 13 years old rank 40 Soul Master; You really don't hear that often . Still ,your cultivation really soared after being banned from training your Spirit Power . . . I a.s.sume it has something to do with the evolution of your Spirit Eyes . "

Giving a silent nod, Sheng Feilong replied with a thoughtful expression .

"I think so too . Though, Shrek Academy is partly responsible as well . I've made a few contribution points by working for people at the Maker's a.s.sociation as well as helping out Elder Feng at the Blacksmith's a.s.sociation, so I was able to rent a personalized cultivation dwelling . Strangely enough, the best suited dwelling for me was the forest . Probably because of the Three-Eyed Golden Lion?"

Song Weihan's lips lightly twitched when Sheng Feilong told him about the last part and he replied with a solemn voice .

"I a.s.sume you haven't told anyone else about your connection to the Three-Eyed Golden Lion?"

Sheng Feilong flinched as well before hurriedly replying in fear of angering Song Weihan again . When the latter was contacted by the Atlas Douluo of Shrek Academy about the Sheng Clan's bloodline, he nearly died from shock . He really had to praise the Atlas Douluo's ruthlessness, though; The man had extorted him of a contract to create 3 personalized Artificial Soul Bones for Shrek Academy's silence!

"Of course not, Master! Last time was just a mistake and I haven't told anyone else! My lips are tightly sealed!"

Song Weihan lightly sighed in relief before speaking up in his usual upbeat voice again .

"That good then . Since you're already at rank 40, do you want to return to Heaven Dou City for now?" Sheng Feilong acknowledged the statement with a grunt before replying .

"Yes . I plan to ask for a leave from my cla.s.s's teacher before returning to Heaven Dou City . I think I can get about a week's time of leave . "

Song Weihan asked him to inform him as soon as he had more concrete details and the two of them continued to talk for a while longer . After a few minutes, Song Weihan had to return to his work and ended the call . Sheng Feilong continued cultivating and later went over to the Maker's a.s.sociation . The next day, he went to speak to Shen Yi, who knew about his bloodline, in private and ask for a leave, telling her his Master wanted to check up on him before he obtained his fourth Soul Ring .

A few days later, Sheng Feilong took the train to head to Heaven Dou City where he met up with his father at the station . Sheng Lingtian had truly used the last few months to his advantage; He had actually broken through to level 60 and obtained his next Soul Rank, becoming a full fledged Soul Emperor! Due to his cultivation, he was even promoted and was now an executive of the Spirit PaG.o.da's guard, having more than 20 captains and their teams beneath him .

Since Song Weihan was still busy with his work, Sheng Feilong and Sheng Lingtian spend the day together before heading to the Spirit PaG.o.da in the early afternoon . By now, Song Weihan had once again made sure that no one else but them was involved in the tests and any and all recordings, statistics and the likes were instantly deleted afterwards . Maybe the disappearance of two of his most trusted aides had forced him to become a bit paranoid, but it was better to be safe than sorry .

They took nearly an hour before all tests were finished and they returned to Song Weihan's office with the results in hand . Song Weihan took a while to skim them through and a.n.a.lyse the results . After a while, he happily smiled and looked at Sheng Feilong .

"Congratulations, Feilong! You are pregnant- I mean, the results are more than promising . Your Spirit Power has completely stabilized and the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's bloodline has nourished your body even further . Even normal Power Attack Type Soul Ancestors would have trouble facing you with their bodies alone . With results like this, you could easily absorb a 10 . 000-years-old artificial Spirit Soul and obtain your next ring from it . This would bost your strength tremendously!"

Sheng Feilong was overjoyed, but couldn't help but roll his eyes at Song Weihan at the same time . Ever since he had entered p.u.b.erty, Song Weihan was making more and more tasteless jokes, like the one just now . Although it was funny at first – for them at least, while Sheng Feilong was often furiously blus.h.i.+ng – by now, they were just annoying . Still, after that, Sheng Feilong turned silent for a moment, thinking about his options . A 10 . 000-years-old artificial Spirit Soul was an incredible boon to achieve, but it somehow didn't feel right for him .

He looked at Song Weihan again before opening his mouth .

"Master, about the artificial Spirit Soul . . . Do I really need to get another one? The Ancient Hypnotic Toad is already at the 1 . 000 year level, so I can just consolidate another Spirit Soul from it, right? If anything, wouldn't it be better to evolve a Spirit Soul I'm so incredibly compatible with to the 10 . 000 year level instead of fusing with another one?"

Song Weihan smiled lightly, amused by Sheng Feilong's attachment to the little Toad Spirit .

"Well, in theory, yes . But aving just a single artificial Spirit Soul has considerable drawbacks . For example, if you were to obtain your fourth ring from it, you could only evolve it to the 10 . 000 years level once your body and Spirit Power are strong enough to support a full 4 10 . 000-years-old Soul Rings . With another Spirit Soul, you could take your time to get it to higher levels while still having a 10 . 000-years-old Soul Ring . Moreover, when you reach the Spirit King boundary, you'd only have 4 1 . 000-years-old Soul Rings if you're not yet able to withstand a full set of 10 . 000-years-old ones and then you'd have to get another artificial Spirit Soul anyways . "

After speaking up to here, he pulled out a doc.u.ment from his desk and handed it to Sheng Feilong . Taking a look at it, he saw that it was the characteristics of a Soul Beast with a picture or drawing on top; A small female, about the size of an 8 year old child, with a small, round face, curly hair and a cute face . She held a a staff that was seemingly made from a tree's root in her hand, but she clearly wasn't human; Her skin colour, clothes, eyes and everything – were light blue! Taking a look at the name, this Soul Beast was apparently called a 'Forest Witch' .

Sheng Feilong frowned lightly and Song Weihan seemingly understood his meaning instantly .

"Don't think too much about the name . This kind of Soul Beast lives deep inside the forest and always near lakes, hence their name . Despite their colouration suggesting otherwise, they're somewhat rare Soul Beasts that posses a strong affiliation to the life element; They are natural born healers and have a high status in the Soul Beast's world . " He then took out two other other doc.u.ments and handed them to Sheng Feilong .

Both of those doc.u.ments also contained characteristics of Soul Beasts . They were also humanoid with similar curly hair, round faces and small frames, but unlike the Forest Witch, those two were of different colours . The first one was deep red, her hair curly, but spa.r.s.e, and the tree root staff in her hand was withered; It was a mutation of the Forest Witch, the Red Forest Witch and unlike the former, it wasn't affiliated with the life element, but with death .

The other one was even weirder . It was also a Forest Witch, but completely purple . Unlike the former, it had short, straight hair, a thin face and a bewitching smile on its lips . Still, in its eyes lingered a deep sense of maliciousness, even causing Sheng Feilong to be uncomfortable with just seeing a picture . Seeing his expression, Song Weihan once again smiled and explained it to him .

"This third one is a Purple Forest Witch, also called a Poison Witch . It's a mutated Soul Beast that comes into being as the offspring of a normal and a red Forest Witch; it is exceedingly rare and just as powerful . It's not affiliated with neither life nor death, but, as the name suggests, poison . Though, not normal poison; A special kind of poison that doesn't afflict the physical body, but causes the mind and spirit of it's victim to slowly corrode . "

Song Weihan stopped shortly as Sheng Feilong and Sheng Lingtian breathed in sharply . To corrode the mind and spirit of a Soul Master was basically the same as a death sentence! A poisoned body but could healed, but a corroded spirit not be mended; This was the same as crippling a Soul Master for good! Song Weihan once gain smiled lightly and continued with an incredibly casual tone .

"And I just happen to possess a 12 . 700-years-old Purple Forest Witch's artificial Spirit Soul, stored in my personal collection . . . "