However, even the powerful Tang Sect was unable to ascertain the situation in that small world. That was a change in space and time itself, and it was already quite extraordinary that they'd been able to make use of a small world like that one, but it was beyond their capabilities to try and recover it.

As such, they waited for another month in vain, and this was the day that they had to go back.

Gu Yue stood in silence at the bow of the ship, casting her gaze into the distance in a certain direction. Ever since Tang Wulin had parted with them, she'd become a lot less talkative, and following Tang Wulin's disappearance, she'd become even more withdrawn, to the point where she would often go an entire day without speaking.

Everyone else wished that they could do something, but it was certainly far beyond their capabilities to find a lost small world, so they had no idea what they could do.

"Nothing bad ever happens to good people; I'm sure our captain is fine," Yue Zhengyu sighed.

Xu Xiaoyan pouted, and said, "If we'd known that this trip would be so fraught with trouble, we should've never come in the first place."

Yuanen Yehui sighed, "What's the point of saying something like that now? What's happened has already happened. I just don't know why he decided to leave rather than stay with us."

Everyone reflexively turned to Gu Yue as this subject was brought up again.

No one knew exactly what had happened, but they could sense that Tang Wulin's departure most likely had something to do with Gu Yue. It was just that neither of them had said anything, so they could only continue to speculate.

Xie Xie couldn't help but ask, "Gu Yue, Wulin's been gone for such a long time; aren't you worried about him at all?"

Gu Yue turned to him and suddenly said, "He'll be fine."

Tears immediately welled up in Xie Xie's eyes upon hearing this. "What do you mean he'll be fine? He's been gone for so long, yet you've done nothing aside from shutting yourself off from everyone! We all tried our best to find him, but you haven't said a single word. You weren't like this back when we were at the academy; why have you become like this?"

"That's enough," Yuanen Yehui urged as she tugged on Xie Xie's sleeve.

Xie Xie's emotional outburst was slightly irrational, but his words really did echo the thoughts of his companions; Gu Yue really had changed ever since they'd come to the Star Luo Continent.

However, Gu Yue seemed to have been completely unaffected by Xie Xie's outburst, and she merely murmured to herself, "I'll wait for him until he returns to Shrek Academy."

……

"Huff, huff, huff, huff!" Tang Wulin was gasping for air, but his eyes were filled with excitement.

The entire dragon tomb had been emptied aside from one final skeleton, which was also the largest skeleton of all, the one that belonged to the Mountain Dragon King.

Not only was the Mountain Dragon King's skeleton downright colossal, each and every one of its bones was also immensely heavy. The extreme density of its bones resulted in an indescribable texture, and each bone was like a piece of the earth itself.

It took Tang Wulin over 10 times the amount of time to disassemble this colossal skeleton compared to normal true dragon skeletons, and a vast amount of time and effort were expended once again to arrange the bones in the hole he'd dug.

This was a hole that was over a kilometer deep! Just digging this hole had taken him what seemed like an eternity.

Ever since he'd begun burying these skeletons, he'd used his bloodline soul skills and the soul skills he'd invented tens of thousands of times, to the extent that using them had become second nature to him.

"Farewell! After burying you, I'm finally going to leave." Tang Wulin appraised the skeleton of the Mountain Dragon King with a smile on his face before pushing the surrounding soil into the massive hole. After burying the remains of the Mountain Dragon King, he had fulfilled his promise.

The bleak auras of grief and despair in the dragon tomb had already completely vanished, and Tang Wulin had planted many of the plants in the Dragon Valley small world next to the massive graves. All of these plants grew exceptionally well after being transferred to the dragon tomb, and they gave this entire place a sense of vitality.

"Whoosh!" A ball of yellow light materialized beside the Mountain Dragon King before forming a dragon soul that rushed directly toward Tang Wulin.

The dragon soul possessed less than one percent of the Mountain Dragon King's power, but it was still over 30 meters tall. However, it didn't have any wings, so it was looking quite clumsy and maladroit as it tried to climb out of the giant hole.

Tang Wulin burst into laughter upon seeing this. "I already told you yesterday that you don't have to do this. You can save your energy for yourself; I'll be leaving after I bury you."

The giant dragon soul made its way over to Tang Wulin, and it didn't open its mouth to say anything, but there was wisdom shimmering within its eyes. It bent its hind legs and knelt down before Tang Wulin, lowering its massive head before rubbing it against his body. Light then flashed, and streams of yellow light flowed into Tang Wulin's body.

The dragon souls manifested by the Mountain Dragon King were the most powerful among all of the dragon souls conjured up by the true dragon skeletons, and after absorbing one of them, Tang Wulin could go seven days and seven nights without experiencing any hunger or thirst.

Thus, his body was replenished, and the surrounding soil suddenly surged into the giant hole on its own, as if it were being drawn by some kind of invisible force.

Tang Wulin smiled upon seeing this. As expected of the Mountain Dragon King; even its remains still possessed such a high level of autonomy.

The giant hole was gradually filled, and the Mountain Dragon King's enormous body slowly disappeared. The final giant dragon had been buried.

Meanwhile, the dragon soul manifested by the Mountain Dragon King was also gradually becoming transparent as it injected its energy incessantly into Tang Wulin's body.

"Huh?" Tang Wulin suddenly discovered that at the center of the Mountain Dragon King's dragon soul, there was an entirely transparent bone. The bone was rather strange in appearance as it seemed to possess countless facets, and even the slightest trace of light shining on it made it extremely dazzling in appearance.

Is that... a soul bone? 

"Hey, stop burying yourself; you forgot one of your bones," Tang Wulin hurriedly said to the giant hole that was slowly being filled.

However, the dragon soul of the Mountain Dragon King, which had almost completely vanished at this point, shook its head at him in response. It raised a front claw before pointing it at him, then pointing it at itself, then pointed it at him again

 before it nodded its huge head.

A surprised look appeared on Tang Wulin's face as he asked, "You're giving this to me?"

The dragon soul nodded once again, and Tang Wulin could see strong affection and benevolence harbored within its eyes.

The translucent dazzling soul bone whizzed over to Tang Wulin in a flash, and before he had a chance to react, it entered his body along with what remained of the dragon soul's energy.

All of a sudden, Tang Wulin suddenly felt his body become significantly heavier, and he reflexively sat down onto the ground, following his entire being completely stiffened.

He felt as if he'd become a mountain that was directly connected with the earth, and boundless energy was surging toward him from all directions before fusing into his body.

In that instant, he felt as if he could hear all of the giant dragons beneath the earth roaring at him with elation, as if to express their gratitude for everything he'd done.

There was no longer any grief or despair; all of them had finally found the home that they belonged to. A joyful smile appeared on Tang Wulin's face. It was only proper to give deceased beings a final burial. Regardless of what had happened to them during their lives, at the very least, this vast expanse of land could act as their home following their demise.

Tang Wulin sincerely hoped that no one would ever disturb them in their resting place in the future.

He wore a gentle smile on his face as he said, "My friends, I'm not sure if I can call you that, but during this period of time, I've constantly been with all of you, and even though I'm doing the same thing every day, I didn't find it boring in the slightest. I could sense your emotions, and they urged me to persevere, so thank you for keeping me company. I don't know how long I've been here, but I don't regret anything as this is a memory that I will cherish for the rest of my life."

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