178 A Rough Awakening

Half a day had passed Since Song Weihan had brought Sheng Feilong to a hotel in the nearby Sterning City. He was smoothly recovering from his injuries as he luckily wasn't affected by the Netherworld Putrefaction Demon's corrosive abilities, however, Sheng Feilong had yet to wake up.

The night passed silently without anything happening, allowing Song Weihan to fully focus on his recovery other than keeping an eye on Sheng Feilong. By the time the next morning came, he had already recovered enough for his injuries to not affect his abilities any more.

Later that day, She Meixiao appeared with Sheng Lingtian and Yuanen Yehui in tow. Both of them had already been informed that Sheng Feilong was physically fine, so they were relatively calm, though Yuanen Yehui still seemed to feel uneasy seeing Sheng Feilong motionlessly sleeping on the bed.

She Meixiao and Song Weihan swapped places as the former still hadn't had the chance to recover from the fight the last day; She had been the least injured to begin with, so it wasn't much of a problem for her personally, but Song Weihan insisted that she had to rest.

With nearly half of its headquarters destroyed, Daedalus was currently in chaos. While their leader, She Tianhao, was still in seclusion and couldn't help sort things out, both of the Vice-Leaders, She Meixiao and Ye Wanxing, should take the lead. However, the latter was recuperating from heavy injuries while the former also wasn't fully recovered.

The loss of a Elder Li, a Hyper Douluo and one of the pillars of Daedalus, took a huge toll on the morale of the members, especially since the two remaining Elders were also more or less heavily injured. Moreover, not one of them had informed anyone what had happened; The only thing they knew was that an incredibly powerful enemy had seemingly appeared from the inside of their base.

By now, news of Daedalus' plight had spread to all major organisations and institutions of the Douluo Continent. All of them were keeping a close watch on Daedalus, but not one extended a helping hand to them, leaving them to deal with their troubles alone.

Two days later, She Meixiao and Sima Wugong announced that they had completely recovered, the former adding on that she would take the lead again, while the latter offered his assistance. For nearly everyone, this seemed natural, but the few who did know about the top echelon being split into She Meixiao's and Ye Wanxing's factions, this was a weird development.

Later, Sima Wugong addressed those confused, well informed people that this was only temporary; He would still be acting as Ye Wanxing's right hand man, but for Daedalus as a whole to recover from this incident was more important at the moment.

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In the evening of the same day, Sheng Feilong woke up in his room. Currently, Song Weihan was the only one watching over him in the room. Sheng Lingtian and Yuanen Yehui had left together with She Meixiao to help with the rebuilding of the headquarters, while Song Weihan was still recovering from the last bits of his injuries.

Sheng Feilong groggily opened his eyes and looked at the unfamiliar ceiling. He couldn't remember what had happened after he let the Netherworld Putrefaction Demon take control to attack Yun Ming and the other members of Shrek Academy that came to attack the Sheng Clan. However, he now understood that all of this was but a lie.

The Netherworld Putrefaction Demon had tricked him into believing what he saw was real. To begin with, he had been pulled into a warped form of his own spiritual consciousness in which only the Netherworld Putrefaction Demon existed. Still, once the members of Shrek Academy appeared, he was unable to discern reality from the illusion he was drawn into.

"What a... frightening ability..." Sheng Feilong muttered under his breath while sitting up in his bed. Song weihan looked at him with a calm and steady gaze. "What's frightening?" Sheng Feilong flinched and whipped his head around to look at Song Weihan. "Master!"

He tried to stand up, but was feeling dizzy when he tried and thus remained seated. "I didn't notice you being here, sorry, Master." Song Weihan nodded his head with a content expression. "No need for apologies. How are you feeling?"

"...Tired, and somewhat dizzy, but I'm fine otherwise." Sheng Feilong replied, then went silent for a moment. "...Master, how long was I out for? I don't remember anything after the Netherworld Putrefaction Demon took lead... what happened?"

Song Weihan seemed to have been waiting for that question. His expression became grave as he looked at Sheng Feilong, startling the latter. "Do you really not remember anything?" Sheng Feilong shook his head with a frown and concerned expression.

A light sigh escaped Song Weihan mouth. "What is the last thing you remember?" Faced with Song Weihan's serious attitude, Sheng Feilong began recounting what he remembered in great detail; What he had heard from Sheng Lingtian, that he broke down in his room and how the voice of the Netherworld Putrefaction Demon pulled him into the weird, warped form of his spiritual consciousness.

He paused for a moment, then also told Song Weihan had had transpired there; His talk with the demon's spirit, the illusions of the Sheng Clan he was shown as well as the advent of Shrek Academy and how he was unable to discern the illusions from reality, leading to the Netherworld Putrefaction Demon taking over his body.

After Sheng Feilong told him everything, Song weihan didn't react to it at first, but wordlesly pulled a small device out of his Spacial Ring. He noticed Sheng Feilong's confused look and began explaining it briefly. "This device is able to give a Soul Master's memories and imagination a form. It uses your Spirit power to create sort of a video of of them. The same technology is used for the Spirit Ascension Platform of the Spirit Pagoda."

He didn't bother to explain it any further as Sheng Feilong already nodded in understanding. Instead, Song Weihan closed his eyes and started fuelling his Spirit Power into the device in his hand. Sheng Feilong could feel a kind of ripple in the area around him before the room changed form.

As Song Weihan had said, the feeling was similar to entering the Spirit Ascension Platform, but Sheng Feilong wasn't focused on that; Inside the changed room, he saw himself laying on the ground, passed out, but with his eyes wide upon, though unfocused.

He looked around and saw She Meixiao, as well as Yuanen Yehui and Huang Jialong standing in the room, but Song Weihan was nowhere to be seen. A moment later, Song Weihan's voice sounded out, seemingly filling the whole space out. "What you'll see soon is what happened from my perspective. You'll see and feel what I saw and felt during that time. Don't resist it, just calm down and watch."

"Understood." Sheng Feilong took a deep breath and nodded his head. The feeling of all of those sensations entering his skin was foreign to him, yet it felt natural. As Song Weihan had said, he decided to cast his thoughts aside and just focus on what was happening.

At first, the 'Sheng Feilong' laying on the floor bothered him somewhat, but he soon understood that this was himself while his mind was trapped by the Netherworld Putrefaction Demon. Later, he saw She Meixiao and Song Weihan erect the barrier around him, but he was still calm as he understood why they did so.

He tensed up when the 'Sheng Feilong' in Song Weihan's memories suddenly stood up. The look in his – or its – eyes wasn't normal. So much so that Sheng Feilong himself swallowed dryly from just seeing it in Song Weihan's memories.

A few seconds later, the Netherworld Putrefaction Demon, that had taken over Sheng Feilong's body, started rampaging, breaking the barrier created by Song Weihan and She Meixiao at ease before destroying the whole area with a single attack. A cold shudder ran down Sheng Feilong's spine, but he was still more awed by it rather than fearful; Something natural every Soul Master felt when seeing overwhelming strength.

Soon after, the fight between Daedalus' five Titled Douluos, Song Weihan and the Netherworld Putrefaction Demon began. After the first few exchanges, Sheng Feilong already understood why Song Weihan was showing this to him; The rampaging Netherworld Putrefaction Demon' strength was simply too terrifying and without seeing it with his own eyes, Sheng Feilong wouldn't understand the gravity of the situation.

He stood frozen inside the room when the Netherworld Putrefaction Demon killed the Hyper Douluo from Daedalus and stared on in utter disbelief; A battle on this level wasn't something he could've ever imagined. She Meixiao fighting the Great Beast or even beating down Elder Cai came nowhere close to this gruesome display.

After Elder Li was killed, Sheng Feilong saw the Netherworld Putrefaction Demon devouring his headless corpse and his stomach churned. He was shaking with a pale face and a hand in front of his mouth. No matter if this was the Netherworld Putrefaction Demon or not; It was still possessing his body – He was the one that had devoured a human being.

The second grey Soul Ring behind the Netherworld Putrefaction Demon finally threw Sheng Feilong off balance. He used his own Spirit Power to resist the illusion, which prompted Song Weihan to stop it. Without saying a word, Sheng Feilong ran into the bathroom and threw upmultiple times.

He would have been able to deal with the grotesque pictures if that was all there was to it; The Netherworld Putrefaction Demon had done the same when it created the first Soul Ring for its Spirit Essence with the Doomstinger Dragonfly a few years ago, after all, but it wasn't the same.

This time, it wasn't a Soul Beast that had tried to kill Sheng Feilong and got what it deserved; It was a living and breathing human that had been killed viciously only to be devoured afterwards. And even worse; With the pictures serving as a medium, Sheng Feilong suddenly understood what that Soul Ring and it's Soul Skill were.

That meant, it wasn't just the Netherworld Putrefaction Demon gaining another power; It was Sheng Feilong's Netherworld Putrefaction Demon Spirit Essence creating a Soul Ring for his use from a human corpse.