"Alright, I have to go and find that stupid baldie so he doesn't get too full of himself. You should take some time to relax as well, Master; you've packed your schedule way too tightly during the past few months."

"I will." 

Tang Wulin looked on as Sima Jinchi departed, and after everything that had just transpired, he was struck by the rare urge to take a day off from cultivation.

After exiting the drill ground, a thought suddenly occurred to him, and he dialed a number on his soul communicator. "Yuxue, can you accompany me to the Sea God's Lake?"

"Sure." Ever since Long Yuxue had become the vice-captain of his Blood Dragon Squad, she had developed a signature way of talking that was clipped and concise.

Long Yuxue drove her soul car to the entrance of the blacksmith association, where she picked up the disguised Tang Wulin, then drove out of Heaven Dou City. The car traveled onto the highway and set off for the original site of Shrek City.

Following Shrek City's destruction, the federation had constructed a few more highways around the current Sea God's Lake, which were also connected to some important places within the Spirit Pagoda headquarters.

The highway that they were currently traveling on was one that led straight toward the Spirit Pagoda.

……

"Father, this is really good! You should have some too."

"Hmm, it does taste really good." 

"Father, do I look good in this?"

……

Gu Yuena's voice echoed in Tang Wulin's mind, and from a distance, he could already see the majestic headquarters of the Spirit Pagoda. He was immediately struck by a strong impulsive urge to travel there and seek out Gu Yuena.

Following his conversation with Sima Jinchi, he had developed a clearer understanding of the Dragon God, as well as the subsequent Golden Dragon King and Silver Dragon King.

What did it entail that he and Gu Yuena were able to unleash the Dragon God Transformation together? 

He possessed the powers and physical abilities of the Golden Dragon King, while Gu Yue possessed the power to control all types of elements, an ability that she had retained even after she became Gu Yuena.

Furthermore, Na'er's weapon of choice was the Silver Dragon Spear; all of this clearly indicated that Gu Yuena was somehow related to the Silver Dragon King.

So why was it that she was trying to distance herself from him, even though they had clearly both inherited a part of the Dragon God's power? Was the Spirit Pagoda really that powerful? Alternatively, could it be that she was simply reluctant to give up her lofty status at the Spirit Pagoda?

No, Gu Yuena wasn't that type of person; she had to have her reasons, but why wasn't she willing to share those reasons with him? No matter what she was facing, they should be facing it together!

He was doing his best to become more powerful, so no matter what obstacles stood before her, they should be facing them together!

A pained look flashed past his face, but it was unable to escape Long Yuxue's detection. In reality, she could tell that something had been weighing on Tang Wulin ever since the battle in the abyssal passageway, so something had to have happened between him and her.

However, as a smart woman, she didn't ask any questions and merely stayed by his side.

She made no attempt to try and force her way into his heart during his lover's absence, but she firmly believed that time would do its due diligence.

All of a sudden, Tang Wulin's body shuddered, and he reflexively sat up straighter as his hands balled up into tight fists. A terrifying aura akin to that of a primordial beast erupted from his body, and Long Yuxue's face paled in the face of this fearsome aura. Was he already this powerful?

Tang Wulin was looking out the window intently at the boundless lake in the distance.

The water was extremely blue, and the lake looked like a gigantic boundless sapphire.

It was extremely large, just as Shrek City had once been, and it had curved edges. There was no one maintaining it, and there were no plants growing on the shore, but it was still so beautiful, yet also extremely hollow and empty.

What was the largest city on the entire continent had once stood here, and within that city was the number one academy on the continent. Those titles had not changed throughout the past 20,000 years, but now, all that was left was this enormous lake. 

This was known as the Sea God's Lake, but was it really still the Sea God's Lake without the Sea God's Island?

Without Shrek Academy's presence, it was nothing more than a lake, no matter how clear it was.

Long Yuxue adjusted her own aura and exited the highway before driving her soul car over to the shore of the lake.

There were no plants to be seen on the shore, and it presented a rather bleak sight to behold. The water of the lake was very, very beautiful, but it was sorely lacking in vitality.

Tang Wulin felt as if he could hear the sound of past Shrek Academy disciples sparring with one another, and see the antiquated buildings that comprised Shrek Academy once again.

Tears began to flow down his face in an untrollable manner.

It had been around a year since he was last here, and Shrek City was already completely unrecognizable. He didn't even dare to think back to the city during its heyday. All of its past beauty and grandeur had been reduced to this lifeless lake, and 20,000 years of heritage had vanished in a single night.

As a past student of Shrek Academy and the current leader of Shrek’s Seven Monsters, one could imagine the grief and pain in Tang Wulin's heart.

He abruptly stepped forward before leaping high up into the air directly toward the Sea God's Lake.

Long Yuxue was given a massive fright upon seeing this, and she hurriedly yelled, "No!"

However, it was already too late. Tang Wulin plunged into the icy cold water amid a loud splash, and as soon as he did so, he could immediately sense that the water elements here had become extremely rich. Aside from that, all elements of other attributes had become a lot more sparse.

Within his sensory scope, he could see that the Sea God's Lake was extremely vast, and that the water was absolutely pristine, but there were some strange energy fluctuations within the lake.

These energy fluctuations surged toward Tang Wulin's body, and even though they weren't powerful enough to threaten him, he could clearly sense that they were malicious.

Was this the radiation left behind by the Godslayer missile?

Tang Wulin didn't know how the Godslayer missiles had been constructed, but he knew that weapons of that caliber definitely had more fearsome destructive power than just the initial explosion. The federation had severely depleted its resources and only managed to construct three of these Godslayer missiles, so one could only imagine just how much resources had been expended to construct even a single one of these missiles.

Tang Wulin couldn't sense any signs of life within the entire Sea God's Lake, and only then did he realize that the bombing had left the Sea God's Lake with an inherent problem. The remnants of the radiation from the Godslayer missile had spread through the entire lake, making it impossible for any life forms to exist here.

Tang Wulin's body was naturally impervious to radiation of this level, but there was no end to this radiation, and it was constantly trying to invade his body, so he had no choice but to activate his own soul power to keep it at bay.

He continued to swim downward, and the deeper he went, the stronger the radiation became, to the extent that Tang Wulin was eventually forced to release a layer of faint golden light to ward off the radiation.

This was most likely one of the reasons why the federation was unwilling to rebuild Shrek City. Even though this place hadn't been cordoned off as a restricted area, no life forms could exist in the lake, so there was nothing anyone could do. Even just living by the shore of the Sea God's Lake would most likely result in one falling ill over time.

Tang Wulin had always known that he would face many obstacles in his quest to rebuild Shrek City, but he didn't anticipate something like this to be the most direct issue.

If he wanted to rebuild Shrek City on its original site, then the first thing that he had to address was this radiation!

Just as he was sensing the radiation and about to make a further investigation, panicked emotional fluctuations suddenly appeared in his spiritual world.

He twisted around in an agile manner before quickly swimming toward the surface of the lake, and he quickly discovered who the panicked individual was.

Long Yuxue was currently flailing violently in the Sea God's Lake, and even though she was quite powerful in her own right, she was in a blind panic after falling into the water.

Tang Wulin quickly swam over to behind her, then hoisted her out of the water with his hands under her armpits.

"What are you doing? Are you committing suicide?" Tang Wulin asked in a resigned manner.

"You bastard! You're the one who's committing suicide!" Long Yuxue gasped as she gulped down air. As someone who was drowning just a moment ago, her body was desperate to get more air into her lungs.

A peculiar look appeared on Tang Wulin's face. "Did you think that I was jumping into the lake to kill myself?"

Long Yuxue countered, "Weren't you? You suddenly started crying, then jumped into the lake; isn't that committing suicide?"

Tang Wulin was rather speechless to hear this. "What happened to your IQ? I'm a seven-ring Soul Sage; I can hardly drown myself even if I wanted to! What are you doing jumping down after me? And why were you flailing around like you were drowning? Were you trying to attract my attention?" 

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