41 Artificial Soul Bone Research Center

Sheng Feilong and Sheng Lingtian had taken off all communication or storage devices they had on themselves as Song Weihan had ordered and the latter stored them in a basket behind the metal door. Walking through the metal door, they entered another, much narrowed hallway. It was as sparsely decorated as the hallway before it, but there were a few lenses on the walls, scanning the three of them as they walked past. As Song Weihan didn't seem to mind those scans, Sheng Feilong ignored them as well, while Sheng Lingtian looked around warily.

The hallway was only a few meters long and ended in another metal door, that Song Weihan opened using the same method as before; he scanned an ID-card before typing in a long code on a number pad. The door behind their group had already closed as the door in front of them opened. Behind it was another, much longer hallway with many doors and, surprisingly, an equal amount of windows while it was free of other decoration.

They walked past a few of those doors and windows and, soon enough, curiosity got the better of Sheng Feilong. He sneakily looked through one of the windows and saw a few people in with laboratory coats inside a spacious room and the door left of the window seems to be connected to the it. Inside the room stood a huge machine that had a computer screen attached to it while the people in laboratory coats sat in front of computers that were attached to the machine with a bunch of cables.

Sheng Feilong stopped and tried to see what the people were doing, but he could quite see the computer screens from his position, much less tell what the people were doing in particular. Sheng Lingtian and Song Weihan had noticed that Sheng Feilong stopped and looked through the window and waited for him. They stood just a few step away from Sheng Feilong and Song Weihan smiled wryly and finally decided to explain what was going on.

"The 84th floor is my personal laboratory. Unlike the one on the 3rd floor where artificial Spirit Souls are created, this one is a restricted area that belongs solely to me and only I have the authorization to decide who gets to enter. The people working here are my most trusted employees."

Sheng Feilong snapped his head around and looked at Song Weihan as soon as the former started talking. He was a bit embarrassed that his master saw him look through te windows while he was supposed to just follow behind the former, but what Song Weihan said quickly caught his interest.

"What's the use of this personal laboratory, Master? Ah-" Before he finished his sentence, a thought flashed through his mind and he rushed in front of Song Weihan with an excited expression.

"Is this were you're refining the Artificial Soul Bones?! So those people research them with you? What's the use of the machines then? Are they , like, refining stations or something?!"

Sheng Lingtian chuckled with a small smile while Song Weihan patiently answered his questions.

"Indeed, the Artificial Soul Bones are created here, but not in those smaller laboratories directly. They're mainly for theoretical research, calculations and the sorts. The real 'refining station' is in a bigger laboratory further back. I was going to take you there, but if you'd rather take a look at the other laboratories, I won't stop you."

Sheng Feilong flinched and silently grumbled with a slight blush.

"I wouldn't be this curious if you'd explained from the beginning..."

Song Weihan, or course, heard him and lightly chuckled before turning around and heading to the aforementioned main laboratory. Sheng Feilong and Sheng Lingtian followed behind him, while the former still looked through every window he passed, hoping to find something exciting, but didn't stop to take a closer look anymore. The more he saw, the more exited he got for the main laboratory. Through the windows, Sheng Feilong could see that a few of the smaller laboratories had people working with various plants and fruits, most probably Soul Treasures, he had never seen before, while others housed test tubes of various sizes with strange looking liquids in them, some boiling and others even frozen in freezers.

They soon reached the end of the hallway and, through an automatic door, they entered another room, that was bustling with computers and easily over 20 people in laboratory coats. At the end of the room was a huge machine that was blinking with a few different lights. Through a small window in the middle of the machine, Sheng Feilong was able to see inside a chamber where a few robotic arms coursed around a strangely glowing ball suspended on a rack. They were pricking the ball every now and then, causing sparks to fly through the champer.

A woman in her early thirties noticed them and approached Song Weihan before bowing lightly in his direction.

"Faculty Head Song, you have returned already." She then glanced at Sheng Feilong and Sheng Lingtian with an uncertain expression before looking at Song weihan for confirmation. "Those two are..?"

Song Weihan dryly replied with a calm expression.

"My disciple, Sheng Feilong and his father, Sheng Lingtian. I mentioned bringing them over them yesterday." The woman nodded and Song Weihan turned to face Sheng Feilong and Sheng Lingtian before speaking up again.

"This is Ruo Lan, my assistant and a researcher here as well. She's responsible for the laboratory in my absence."

Sheng Feilong and Sheng Lingtian slightly bowed to her and introduced themselves. After that, Song Weihan looked at Ruo Lan and spoke in a commanding tone.

"Bring me the modified S-01 commodity and prepare the A-Class Amalgamation Chamber. Get Yelu Hanbing and his team to immediately make all the preparations for the procedure and have him set the energy saturation to the C-3 level."

Ruo Lan was shocked by the sudden command and stared at Song Weihan for a moment and unconsciously muttered a few words while turning her head to Sheng Feilong.

"The S-01...? The best Artificial Soul Bone created to this date... for a child...?" Song Weihan frowned when she spoke and quickly spoke to her again. "Ruo Lan. Get moving." Ruo Lan flinched, bowed to Song Weihan and quickly run off to speak to an old researcher some distance away.

Sheng Lingtian looked shocked after Ruo Lan spoke her last words and looked at Song Weihan, while Sheng Feilong stared at his Master with wide eyes and unconcealable excitement.

"Artificial Soul Bone..? Master, you want to give me an Artificial Soul Bone?!" Song Weihan sighed and smiled wryly before answering Sheng Feilong in a calm tone.

"I wanted to keep it a secret for a little longer, but I guess I'll have to tell you since Ruo Lan already spilled the beans. Yes, I've prepared an Artificial Soul Bone for you. The 'modified' part I mentioned to her earlier means this Soul Bone was prepared for you and only you. Remember the periodically tests I've had you take? They were to measure you physical prowess and the growth of your Spirit Power as well as to make modifications to the Artificial Soul Bone to make it more compatible with you."

While talking, Song Weihan lead the other two to a resting area where they wouldn't disturb any of the researchers and Song Weihan proceeded to tell them a bit about the Artificial Soul Bone's history. He told them that it was a Skull Type Soul Bone and the first Skull Type they had successfully created. Sheng Feilong was surprised hearing this as the general knowledge about it was that the Artificial Skull Bone from nearly 3 years ago wasn't suitable to be fused with by humans, but Song Weihan explained that its properties and stability made a full 180 degree turn once it was nurtured into a 1.000-years-old Soul Bone. It had become the most stable and potent Artificial Soul Bone created to this date.

While talking about the Soul Bone, Song Weihan didn't mention his dispute with the Spirit pagoda's Elders from 2 years ago, nor that the Artificial Skull Bone was made with the genetic material of a Three-Eyed Golden Lion. A while later, Ruo Lan returned and informed Song Weihan that all preparations were completed. She then led the three of them to a separate room where a team of 7 researchers were already waiting. The room was filled with monitors and computers and had a big window on one side through which one could see another room. The leader of the 7 researchers, Yelu Hanbing, led Sheng Feilong to the second room behind the window, where Sheng Feilong sat down and had a few things attached to his body: a bracelet like light grey machine, a half-moon shaped machine, that was attached to his neck and a few electrodes that were attached to his by now bare upper body and head.

After that, Yelu Hanbing returned to Song Weihan's side and the other researchers started their tests and monitoring. Sheng Lingtian saw that the many monitors in the room observed Sheng Feilongs physical and mental status. They displayed his heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, the nervous system's functionality and much more. There was one screen that showed information Sheng Lingtian couldn't quite get, but his thoughts were interrupted by Song Weihan's voice.

"Stabilize the energy saturation to the C-3 level. Give me a full report about Sheng Feilong's status afterwards."

One of the researchers began slowly pushing a lever higher and higher as he gave a status every few seconds.

"Energy saturation increased to D-2... D-1....Energy saturation has reached level C-3." The other researcher then began to give reports on Sheng Feilong heart rate, blood pressure and the like. Meanwhile, inside the other room, Sheng Feilong felt the Soul Power density drastically increase. After about 30 seconds, it had reached the pressure one would normally feel from a early Soul Emperor level Soul Master! As the energy wasn't hostile towards him, Sheng Feilong simply sat down cross-legged and tried to get used to the increasing pressure.

After a while, Song weihan grabbed a microphone that stood on the desk near the window and spoke into it, so that Sheng Feilong could hear him.

"Feilong, don't get surprised. The ground in front of you will open up and a glowing ball, akin to artificial Spirit Souls, will come out of it. This is the Artificial Soul Bone. Grab it, sit down cross-legged and begin to absorb it whenever you're ready. Keep at your own pace, that's the most important thing." He then deactivated the microphone and looked at one of the researchers. "Bring in the S-01 commodity."

Sheng Feilong grabbed the Artificial Soul Bone, sat down again and inspected it for a while. It was as Song Weihan had said, it looked exactly like a artificial Spirit Soul in it's container. But it felt different. It really felt like a bone, or a ball of bone... After a while, he inserted his Soul Power and the glow around the ball slowly began to encase Sheng Feilong as well. Sheng Feilong closed his eyes and began to cultivate like he normally would. He felt the strange, glowing energy slowly condense in his head and the ball of bone in his hand becoming softer; the Artificial Soul Bone had began fusing with him.

Song Weihan, Sheng Lingtian and the researchers observed the changes in Sheng Feilong with calm and focused expressions. So far, everything was going smoothly and Song Weihan started to smile. After a while, they suddenly heard Sheng Feilong painfully groan. And everyone became more serious again. Song Weihan spoke with a cold tone.

"Status."

The researcher instantly replied orderly.

"Spirit Power fluctuations and brain activity increasing."

"Blood pressure slowly increasing. Everything within normal parameters."

"Energy saturation slowly decreasing. Energy is being absorbed steadily. Everything within normal parameters."

Song Weihan nodded; everything was proceeding normally. Fusing with a Soul Bone had always been a painful process and Sheng Feilong seemed to take it quite well so far. With the high Soul Power level in the room, he wouldn't have any problem as he could permanently regenerate easily.

A beeping sound suddenly pulled him out of his thoughts and one of the researchers frantically type something on their keyboard. Song Weihan frowned and looked at him.

"What's the matter?"

The researcher didn't even look at him and hastily gave his report. "Blood pressure fluctuating heavily. Spiking above critical limits and falling below average in rapid intervals. Vital signs destabilizing."

Song Weihan frowned even deeper, but before he could answer, another two researcher chimed in.

"Spirit Power fluctuating increasing rapidly, brain activity increasing rapidly as well."

"Energy saturation quickly dropping. No leakage found. Energy is being absorbed at heavily abnormal speeds."

Suddenly Sheng Feilong was heard once again painfully groaning before coughing out blood and wobbling from one side to the other. His face was pale and his body shaking while sweat run down all over his body. Sheng Lingtian became anxious and his expression vicious and cold as he stared at Song Weihan with clenched fists.

"Song Weihan, what is happening to my son?!"