Yuanen Yehui shook her head with a smile in answer to his question. "Don't worry. We've been in contact with Senior Song and Master; They both know that we've met the pride of Golden Lions and that you've been cultivating with the old lion king."

"I see. Thank, you two." Sheng Feilong heaved a sigh of relief; He didn't even want to imagine how mad Song Weihan would have gotten if they had never contacted him for all this time. Huang Jialong looked at him and rose his eyebrows slightly with a mischievous smile on his face. "We didn't tell them about your progress, though, nor about you taking the lion king as your Spirit Soul."

Sheng Feilong's brows rose as well and a similar smile showed on his face. "Then..." Huang Jialong only shrugged and answered without a care in the world. "You can shock them yourself; We didn't take that privilege from you, yet..."

With a slight nod, Sheng Feilong thanked Huang Jialong for that, the mischievous smile not leaving his face. He turned around, looking towards the exit of the cave and started walking. "Let's leave the cave for now. I'll tell Master that we're coming back later."

Outside of the cave, they quickly found the crimson-maned lion; This new king of lions took the old kings place on the elevated platform, laying in the sun while overlooking the pride. It noticed Sheng Feilong and the others and looked at them.

Sheng Feilong bowed slightly again. "Thank you for taking care of us for so long, Senior." The new lion king didn't show much of a reaction, but looked back and forth between the three of them. "You wish to leave our pride now?"

"Yes. It has been half a year already." Sheng Feilong's voice was calm and the crimson-maned lion only nodded its head. After a short moment, Sheng Feilong spoke up again. "Senior, the body of the previous lion king still lays within the depths of the cave. With his permission, I took the king's Soul Bone, but its body still remains there."

The crimson-maned lion's flickered with an appreciative light, and it slowly nodded its head. Sheng Feilong bowed once more, thanking it again. "Senior, if the pride ever faces a problem, I'll be sure to rush here as fast as I can.... I won't forget the promise I made to the old king."

Yuanen Yehui and Huang Jialong also didn't stand on ceremony with the lion king; They thanked it earnestly before leaving with Sheng Feilong. None of them made a big deal out of leaving the pride and the other lions only saw them in pa.s.sing.

On the foot of the mountain, they met with the hunting party that was coincidentally returning as well. The leader, the strongest of the 1.000-years-old Golden Lions with the scar-like formation on its forehead looked at them in confusion.

Sheng Feilong smiled and spoke a few words of goodbye to it; Although it the 1.000-years-old Golden Lion wasn't yet capable of speaking human tongue, it was intelligent enough to easily understand what Sheng Feilong was saying and his meaning, in the end, it nodded its head in a very humanly fas.h.i.+on and left the carca.s.s of a 1.000-years-old Soul Beast at Sheng Feilong's feet before leaving with the rest of the hunting party.

Without much thought, Sheng Feilong simply stored the carca.s.s in his s.p.a.cial Ring, leaving the mountain with Huang Jialong and Yuanen Yehui in tow.

The three of them travelled through the forest for a few days, crossing the territories of many different, powerful Soul Beasts. The avoided the territory of the 100.000-years-old Bull-Horned Green Bear out of fear that they were still being remembered and instead took a slight detour around another, more pa.s.sive Soul Beast's territory.

In the evening of the first day, Sheng Feilong sent a message to Song Weihan and She Meixiao, informing them that they were doing well and were on their way to return to the Daedalus headquarters. He also told them that they didn't need to send anyone to fetch them, as they would return using a Soul Train from the closest town.

Song Weihan's reply was a short acknowledgement of the situation; Song Weihan trusted Sheng Feilong and the others enough, especially after Sheng Feilong trained with the pride of Golden Lions for half a year. He also knew that Yuanen Yehui and Huang Jialong made great improvements thanks to the pride's help; Their group didn't even have to fear a random Soul Douluo attacking them by this point.

As Song Weihan had predicted, Sheng Feilong and the others safely returned to the Daedalus headquarters a few days later. She Meixiao and Song Weihan were the first to receive the news of them returning and instructed the guards to send them to Song Weihan's laboratory.

Sheng Feilong looked around, but couldn't see Song Weihan. Asking one of the researchers, he was told that Song Weihan and She Meixiao were in Song Weihan's office. Knocking on the door, he entered the office with Huang Jialong and Yuanen Yehui in tow.

They lined up next to each other in front of Song Weihan's desk; Song Weihan sitting behind it, while She Meixiao was sitting at its side, drinking tea. Song Weihan eyed them up and down, while nodding repeatedly with a wide smile. "All of you have become stronger... very good!"

Sheng Feilong stepped forward and bowed to Song Weihan. "Maser, we've returned." Song Weihan only nodded again, then spoke with a curious expression. "I've already heard from Jialong and Yehui that you've found a pride of Golden Lions. How was it?"

"We indeed found them. And it was the place that I saw when my bloodline first awakened. The Golden Lion's had migrated there under the orders of Ancestor Wuyong." A simple explanation was all Sheng Feilong gave them for the time being, causing Song Weihan to show a surprised smile. "So, Sheng Wuyong was the leader of the pride of Golden Lions?"

Sheng Feilong shook his head and started explaining how everything came together; that Sheng Wuyong was the brother of the lion king, how the Artificial Soul Bone was connected to their sister and how he came to only possess three limbs instead of four. He also told them about the highly concentrated fire attributed origin energy inside the forest and how the Golden Lions used it to strengthen themselves.

Later, he told them about the inheritance that Sheng Wuyong left behind, shocking all four of them when he explained the blood magic Sheng Wuyong used. Song Weihan's expression was especially solemn and he immediately ordered for his team to prepare a full check up on Sheng Feilong.

However, all of these tests only shocked Song Weihan even more; So much so that he could only stare at the results with his mouth wide open, unable to come up with anything to say. Sheng Feilong's physical body was already superior to Power Attack type Soul Douluo's, bordering on the level of t.i.tled Douluos, while the energy in his blood was even more potent than anything Song Weihan had seen thus far.

With a rough guess, Song Weihan estimated that Sheng Feilong could possibly suppress most 10.000-years-old Soul Beasts with his bloodline alone, not to mention his actual abilities, which were already a threat to most Soul Beasts of that level to begin with.

Sheng Feilong made sure to keep a few secrets for now, such as the lion king becoming his Spirit Soul and calmly accepted the tests that were made; So far the latter hadn't figured out Sheng Feilong's actual Soul Rank, nor the fact that he had a new Spirit Soul.

To make matter worse, Sheng Feilong suggested to take a few more tests, including a test of his Spirit Power, which, in the end, thoroughly dumbfounded not only Song Weihan but She Meixiao and the others, too. "18.951..." Song Weihan stared at Sheng Feilong, unable to stop his hands holding the doc.u.ment with the results from shaking.

The others stared at him like he was some kind of monster as well, though Yuanen Yehui and Huang Jialong were somewhat better off as they knew that this was also because of Sheng Feilong's increased Soul Rank and the help of the old lion king. However, She Meixiao wasn't as well off as those two. "A... 17 years old Soul Emperor with a Spirit Power of nearly 19.000...?"

Seeing his chance finally come up, Sheng Feilong sweetly smiled at Song Weihan and She Meixiao before releasing his Soul Power. "Actually, Masters, I'm already a Soul Saint..." Together with the pressure of his Soul Power, his Soul Rings appeared from beneath his feet, swirling around his body.

One black Soul Ring, then the second, the third, all the way up to the sixth, before a ma.s.sive, 100.000-years-old, red Soul Ring appeared as well, bringing an immense pressure with it, that even caused She Meixiao and Song Weihan to s.h.i.+ver for a moment as they weren't prepared for such a display. Song Weihan's body shook even more and he helpless sat down in his chair, staring at the Soul Ring with an aghast expression. "A... 100.000-years-old, red Soul Ring...? No, this power... it's at least 140.000-years-old..."

The sickly sweet smile on Sheng Feilong's face widened and he put his hands behind his back. "Actually, Master, it's a 177.000-years-old Soul Ring I got after the Three-Eyed Golden Lion King became my Spirit Soul..." Just like Song Weihan before, She Meixiao froze for a moment, then slumped back into her seat, tilting her head and staring at Sheng Feilong. "Sp-Spirit... Soul...?"

Sheng Feilong eagerly nodded his head, speaker out loud while also mentally opening up his spiritual consciousness for the lion king to hear him. "That's right. Senior, I'd like to introduce my Master to you! Would it be possible for you to come out?"

A low growl could be heard from Sheng Feilong, much like a grunt of acknowledgement, as an incredible pressure befell the room, forcing both Huang Jialong and Yuanen Yehui, to take a few steps away from Sheng Feilong, while Song Weihan's and She Meixiao's eyes fiercely contracted.

A miniature form of the lion king appeared next to Sheng Feilong, towering over him, with a shoulder height of about 4 metres. While its body was much, much smaller than its actual form, the pressure originating from it was the the aura of a legitimate 177.000-years-old Soul Beast. The old lion king lazily looked over the people in the room ,recognizing Huang Jialong and Yuanen Yehui, before looking at She Meixiao, before focussing on Song Weihan. "So, this is Sheng Feilong's Master... the human that... turned my dear sister's Soul Bone into such a strange one..."