Tong Yu was also silent for a long while before speaking again. "So be it, if I can't meet him, then meeting his son is the same thing. My life belongs to you. Perhaps my power won't be of any use to you, but I'll give it to you anyway, and you can do with it as you see fit."

Tong Yu raised a hand and prepared to strike at himself as he spoke.

"Wait!" Tang Wulin hurriedly yelled.

A wry smile appeared on Tong Yu's face. "There's no need to try and dissuade me; this is my final wish. I heard about what happened at the Star Luo Empire after your departure; you're a hero who's saved countless lives. If you think that my death will be a blemish on this academy, we can do this somewhere else."

Tang Wulin took a deep breath to calm himself down, then said, "Don't be in such a hurry to die. Your actions have shown me your repentance is genuine; I can't comment on something that happened decades ago, but if you were to die like this, I would feel very uncomfortable. I can't say that I forgive you, but redemption is possible for anyone. How about this? My parents were killed by Blood Demon; if you can kill him and avenge my parents, then the differences between us will be settled. If my grandmother were still alive, I'm sure she'd prefer this arrangement as well."

Tong Yu faltered slightly upon hearing this. "You want me to avenge your parents?"

Tang Wulin nodded in response. "That's right. Are you willing to do this?"

Tong Yu sighed, "You're her only living descendant; even my life belongs to you, so I'm certainly not going to refuse, but aren't you letting me off the hook too easily? I've constantly been living in pain and remorse for the past few decades; I..." 

Tang Wulin interjected, "That's exactly why forcing you to live is the cruelest punishment for you. It's decided; you'll stay at Shrek Academy and aid us in our plight to destroy the Holy Spirit Cult. There's no way you'll be able to track down Blood Demon on your own, but you'll get your chance when we clash with the Holy Spirit Cult."

Tong Yu was silent for a moment before replying, "Alright, my life belongs to you, so you can take it anytime you want. After traveling for so long, I've become quite weary, so I'll do as you say."

...... 

Thus, Tong Yu was recruited into Shrek Academy by Tang Wulin, and just as he had promised, he did whatever Tang Wulin told him to do, and this included his participation in the clash against the Spirit Pagoda.

Compared to when he had first arrived at Shrek Academy, the exhaustion on his face had already vanished. He was genuinely concerned for Tang Wulin as Tang Wulin was his psychological pillar.

Why was it that Tang Wulin had been able to recover from such grievous injuries so quickly? Why was it that he dared to take an attack from a quasigod head-on? This wasn't just a reckless act of idiocy. Instead, it was because he had the protection of an even more exceptional healer than Yali: the tree of life!

As the Son of Nature, he had delivered a sufficient amount of life energy to the tree of life for it to flourish again, and in reciprocation, the tree of life had planted some type of special energy within Tang Wulin's body, allowing it to teleport Tang Wulin to its side at any time.

The tree of life was the source of all life on the entire Douluo Continent, and with its protection, Tang Wulin would struggle to die even if he wanted to.

Unless the tree of life completely ran out of life energy again, it would be able to teleport Tang Wulin to its side and treat any injuries he had incurred as long as he was on the Douluo Continent.

As the Tang Sect Master and Sea God's Pavilion Master, he had massive responsibilities on his shoulders, so he certainly wasn't going to treat his own life lightly. That clash had been entirely under his control.

Facing the full-power strike of a quasigod was an extremely valuable experience for a Soul Master of his caliber, and this experience was going to greatly benefit his future cultivation.

The current Shrek Academy was changing for the better every single day. The constant replenishment of teaching staff and the precious alloys that Tang Wulin was forging on a daily basis were all elevating the new Shrek Academy bit by bit.

Almost all of Tang Wulin's current cultivation was spent completing heavenly refinement, and he was only able to withstand so many elemental tribulations due to his physical constitution and his identity as the Son of Nature. Even so, these past few months had been extremely draining for him.

Thankfully, he could heave a sigh of relief now that they had forced Spirit Academy into retreat. Of course, this still wasn't the end; Shrek Academy still hadn't secured the ultimate victory. Having said that, they had already stalled for this long, so the mission on the other end should've been close to completion.

Yi Zichen was currently 11 years old, and there was still more than a month until his 12th birthday. Yi Zichen had grown up in a small rural town in the south, and his entire family was comprised of normal people.

Before him, there had never been a single person in his family who had awakened a martial soul and soul power.

However, by some miracle, he had awakened soul power alongside his martial soul, and it was innate full soul power.

This event had shocked the entire town, and even the mayor had paid his family a visit, stating that the entire town would support him wholeheartedly in his future cultivation.

At the time, the six-year-old Yi Zichen had been rather confused, and he didn't even know what the point of cultivation was.

All he knew was that there would be a glorious future waiting for him if he could become a powerful Soul Master.

Thus, he was enrolled into an elementary Soul Master academy.

His martial soul was very special: it was dust, and it was an earth-attribute martial soul. In the beginning, even the teachers at the academy didn't know which direction he should strive toward with his cultivation.

Yi Zichen's family wasn't very wealthy, and the elementary academy he had attended was far from exceptional. It was under these circumstances that he began his own cultivation.

In the eyes of his family and everyone in the town, his innate full soul power would surely at least allow him to become a mecha pilot in the future.

As long as he was willing to work hard, he would definitely be the pride of the town.

However, Yi Zichen's aptitude had far exceeded their expectations.

His innate full soul power granted him the highest possible starting point among all Soul Masters of the same age. While everyone was still working hard to reach rank 10 in soul power, he had already obtained his first soul spirit.

The soul spirit had been sponsored by the town, and the entire town had run a massive fundraiser in order to purchase this hundred-year-old soul spirit from the Spirit Pagoda.

With this soul spirit, Yi Zichen experienced the wonders of the Soul Master world for the very first time, and he truly began his cultivation journey.

In the short span of just three years, he had progressed from rank 10 to rank 20 in soul power. This was an astonishing rate of progress that was very difficult to achieve even with innate full soul power. With his hundred-year-old soul spirit, he was able to immediately obtain a second soul ring and become a Soul Grandmaster.

His incredible rate of progress had stunned his academy, and even though the education standard there was quite average, they had the foresight to know that they couldn't weigh this child down no matter what. Thus, he was sent to another elementary academy in the largest city in the south, and with his brilliant aptitude, he received a full scholarship.

Everything had gone very smoothly for him up to this point, and he was currently on the cusp of turning 12. Coincidentally, Spirit Academy had recently begun advertising their enrollment day.

This was undoubtedly going to be one of the best academies on the continent, and what attracted Yi Zichen the most was the range of benefits that Spirit Pagoda was offering. Those benefits were simply far too alluring, particularly for those who hailed from humble backgrounds.

He was currently at rank 29 soul power, and he was one step away from rank 30. If he could study at Spirit Pagoda, he would be able to easily obtain a second soul spirit! Thus, following a discussion between his teachers and family, it was decided that he would enroll at Spirit Academy.

He was very confident in himself as he had always been the best in his age group back where he had come from.

On this fateful enrollment day, he was accompanied by his father and his teacher.

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