8 Ancient Hypnotic Toad

Sheng Feilong was stupefied. He kept mindlessly staring at the giant, brown toad in his hand. This was the super special artificial Spirit Soul hand-picked by his master specifically for him...? The toads loud growl echoed through the room, powerful and filled with energy, and pulled Sheng Feilong right out of his thoughts. He looked at Song Weihan with disbelieve in his eyes.

"Master, this... why is my first artificial Spirit Soul a toad..? Didn't you say it was a present for me? That it was super special? Were you playing a trick on me? Or maybe, this is just a joke and you still have the real thing? That's it, right?"

Song Weihan couldn't help but laugh, further amplifying Sheng Feilong's guess, however, he than spoke with certaincy and determination in his voice.

"What you hold in your hand isn't some normal toad from the pond, Feilong. It's an artificial Spirit Soul created with the genes of an 180.000-years-old Ancient Hypnotic Toad, a species that had been extinct on the Douluo Continent for more than 300.000 years. It is a Soul Beast vastly superior to the 10 Great Ferocious Beasts of today. The Spirit Soul you have in your hand is at the level of a 642-years-old Soul Beast, however, it's growth potential is absolutely limitless. I actually planned to further strengthen into an 100.000-year-old artificial Spirit Soul before absorbing it myself when I break through to the Titled Douluo boundary. However, after your tests, I decided to give it to you."

Song Weihan walked a few steps over, crouching down before Sheng Feilong and continued his explanation.

"The Ancient Hypnotic Toad got its name from its incredibly potent illusionary powers. According to our research, it trapped any enemy in an illusion filled with dangers. Most prey would lose their minds in the illusion, becoming completely helpless and being totally at the toads mercy. However, that's not the most terrifying part. Once they hit the level of 100.000-years-old Soul Beasts, their illusions would become reality. Imagine an illusion where any injury becomes real. Poking your finger at a thorny vine and now your real body is bleeding as well, despite standing right where you were, not moving an inch. That's the true power of the Ancient Hypnotic Toad. Of course, you can't use that power yet, as the artificial Spirit Soul will also only get that power at the 100.000-year-level."

'This ugly toad has such incredible powers?' Sheng Feilong was baffled by the explanation, still he quickly remembered something.

"Master, if you wanted to use it to break through to become a Titled Douluo, why did you give it to me? Didn't you say only I can use it now?"

Song Weihan smiled again, looking Sheng Feilong directly into the eyes.

"It's because of your eyes. The Ancient Hypnotic Toad's illusionary powers come from its eyes as well. Seeing your test results, especially your incredible Spirit Power, and taking into consideration your Spirit Eyes, you're the perfect match for its abilities. If you train diligently and really advance your Spirit Power to the peak of the Spiritual Abyss Realm, than further amplify that Spirit Power with your Spirit Eyes and than use the Ancient Hypnotic Toad's power, the result will be unimaginable. You will be able to draw out the maximum potential of the Toad, much, much more than I could ever hope to achieve. That is why I gave it to you."

"Master ...-"

Sheng Feilong was about to say something, when the powerful growl of the Ancient Hypnotic Toad disrupted him, causing Song Weihan to laugh before speaking up again.

"Alright, enough chit chat, you still have to absorb your first artificial Spirit Soul. And this little guy is already getting impatient. Let's continue talking later. Your father and I will keep watch, so concentrate on absorbing it well. And remember, use the technique I showed you earlier."

With that, Song Weihan stood up and ruffled Sheng Feilong's hair before taking a few steps back and casually leaning against the wall.

Sheng Feilong lightly shook his head go straighten his hair, than deeply looked at the Ancient Hypnotic Toad in his hand. Fixing his sitting position, he than held the toad in both hands before closing his eyes and starting to circulate his Soul Power the way Song Weihan taught him to. After a few circulations, the toad starting to radiate a slight heat that entered Sheng Feilong's body through his hands and began circulating together with his Soul Power. The warmth quickly melded together with his own Soul Power and Sheng Feilong felt his whole body slowly heating up, especially his head and eyes.

Unbeknownst to him, the Ancient Hypnotic Toad in his arms slowly became more and more transparent as the dim light it radiated was absorbed by Sheng Feilong. It soon closed its eyes as well, thoroughly fusing with Sheng Feilong as it completely dissipated into the dim light that entered Sheng Feilong's body. A thick yellow Soul Ring emerged from Sheng Feilong's body and quickly settled behind his back.

The warm feeling Sheng Feilong felt had disappeared. Instead, it felt like it had fused with his own Soul Power, becoming a part of him and strengthen his Soul Power and body. After trying to feel all the changes, he found something. A unknown energy that did not exist before, flowing together with his Soul Power. When he tried to inspect it, he could feel the energy concentrate on his back before leaving his body. At that moment, some kind of knowledge appearing in Sheng Feilong's mind. He instantly knew what kind of energy that was and what it does. It's his first Soul Ring.

Sheng Feilong opened his eyes, turning his head around and saw the yellow Soul Ring behind his back. He turned to look at his father and master, to see the former look at him in surprise and the latter smiling brightly. Both of which confused him.

"43 minutes. A mere 43 minutes was all it took you to fully absorb your first artificial Spirit Soul, extract your first Soul Ring from it and assimilate the knowledge on said Soul Ring. You're truly incredible, Feilong." Song Weihan spoke in a single breath, truly unable to hide his excitement.

"Come on, tell me, what's your first Soul Skill? It got to have to be related to an illusion, right?"

Sheng Feilong was surprised by the sudden request, however, when his master mentioned his first Soul Skill, he instinctively knew what it was and how to activate it. He activated his Soul Skill, the Soul Ring behind his back lighting up, while his Spirit Eyes activated, turning his eyes' colour into a vibrant light blue, which radiated a weak light, and turned to look his master into the eyes.

At first, nothing happened. But when Sheng Feilong looked into Song Weihan's eyes, the latter felt a ripple of Spirit Power. Knowing that that was his disciple's Soul Skill, he let the Spirit Power invade his mind. Then Sheng Feilong stretched out his hand, using the illusionscape his Soul Skill formed to have a cauliflower grow and blossom within his palm.

Song Weihans eyes lit up, clearly more excited than before.

"That's incredible! Your Soul Skill resonates with your Spirit Eyes, using your Spirit Power as the medium to trap the opponent in an illusionscape, than uses Soul Power to create illusions within the illusionscape's radius', than Spirit Power again to cover up the usage ofSoul Power. If your opponents Spirit Power isn't vastly supperior to yours than it's almost impossible to break out of the illusion. It can even mess with my senses when I don't oppose it. This ability is truly too convenient for a Control System Soul Master. In a fight you could use the illusions to fake your Soul Skills, Spirit Soul or even the number of your Spirit Rings. If not that, you can create copies of yourself or teammates to confuse the enemy and even make yourself invisible to have them chase after the clone. How truly terrifying! Feilong, can you trap more people into your illusionscape?"

Sheng Feilong looked at his father as well, pulling him into the illusion as well. However, he felt a wave of fatigue wash over him as soon as he pulled his father into the illusion. His Soul Power dropped significantly as well. This change went not unnotice by Sheng Lingtiang and Song Weihan. The latter quickly speaking up again.

"Pulling in more people into the illusionscape requires a large amount of Spirit Power as well as Soul Power. I assume pulling in even more people will increase the cost exponentially. Mister Sheng, you should be able to see the cauliflower Feilong created in his hand now, right? Ah, and Feilong, how much longer can you keep the illusion up before becoming too tired?"

Sheng Lingtian quickly nodded, than looked at the strange cauliflower growing from his son's hand and smiled. That son of his really came up with weird ideas. Whereas Sheng Feilong answered Song Weihan.

"I think I can manage about 2 more minutes, but I'll be really drained by than. It's really hard to have two people in the illusion. I can feel my own Soul Power running out, it's weird!"

Sheng Weihan laughed at that answer, first because his little disciple really knows how to make himself look pitiful and second, because this ability of his was really too powerful for a 6-year-old, freshly made Soul Master to have.

"Alright, you can stop your Soul Skill now, we don't want you to drop unconscious, do we? By the way, what's your Soul Skill called? You should have gotten that knowledge when you got to knew how to use it before."

Sheng Feilong didn't hesitate to say it's name and didn't really think about it, he really knew it from before and it felt natural to him.

"It's called Toad Prison!"