A faint smile appeared on Yun Ming's face. "I'm not worried about that; not only is he one of Shrek’s Seven Monsters, he's also an agent of the Tang Sect. I've already broken the rules of the academy to give him some extra trials. Notify everyone that Tang Wulin has been selected as a backup elder of the Sea God's Pavilion, but keep this information confidential to everyone outside of the Sea God's Pavilion, including Tang Wulin himself."

"Yes!"

Yun Ming stood up and latched onto his wife's hand. "Truth be told, I also really look forward to seeing what kind of miracles he'll create in the future, but all of the past masters of the Sea God's Pavilion had to endure countless trials and tribulations before they were given that position."

Yali smiled, and said, "I really like him, and I have great confidence in him. According to the rules of the academy, the fact that he's completed all of the demonic island trials makes him eligible to become an elder of the Sea God's Pavilion, and the fact that he's done so while breaking so many records makes him eligible to become the successor of the master of the Sea God's Pavilion. His results are undeniable."

Yun Ming smiled, and said, "Don't worry, I'm well aware of that."

After exiting the Sea God's Pavilion, Tang Wulin was feeling rather perplexed. Yun Ming had been personally waiting for him by the shore of the Sea God's Lake just so he could provide some brief instructions in his cultivation? He could sense that Yun Ming seemed to be rather indecisive about something, and he couldn't think of what kind of internal conflict Yun Ming could currently be grappling with. 

In any case, Yun Ming seemed to have accepted him to a certain extent, and that had to be a good thing.

Tang Wulin returned to his living quarters first and collected all of his belongings before visiting the wooden cabin that Scarlet Dragon Douluo Zhuo Shi was living in.

"Grandteacher."

Zhuo Shi was currently sunbathing in his yard. At this cultivation rank, constant cultivation wasn't required. Instead, the key to making breakthroughs for him lay in immersing himself in heaven and earth in search of an instant of enlightenment.

Zhuo Shi wasn't surprised at all to see his arrival. A faint smile appeared on his face, and he asked, "Did the pavilion master go to find you?"

Tang Wulin asked in a curious manner, "You know about that?"

Zhuo Shi smiled in response. "It's only normal that he would go to find you. Come here and sit beside me." He pointed at a spot beside himself as he spoke.

Tang Wulin made his way over to Zhuo Shi before taking a seat, and Zhuo Shi said, "Tell me about your trip."

After that, he closed his eyes as if he were dozing off.

Tang Wulin naturally had nothing to hide from his grandteacher, so he gave him a detailed recount of everything he and his friends had endured during this trip. The story began with their run-in with that powerful

E

vil Soul Master on the high-speed soul train, and it concluded with their return to Shrek City. He only neglected to mention the Tang Sect mission that he'd undertaken following his return.

Zhuo Shi's eyes were closed the entire time, and only after hearing the entire story did he open his eyes again.

He sighed, "The peaceful times on this continent are about to come to an end. My generation is already too old; it's up to you guys to change and protect the continent in the future."

Tang Wulin looked up at him with a surprised expression. "Grandteacher, are things really that serious already?"

Zhuo Shi replied in a grim voice, "It'll only be more serious than what you can imagine. The higher-ups of the federation are clearly extremely corrupt, and a blatant internal conflict has commenced. From the outside, the federation looks quite calm and placid, but the internal political battles must be very fierce already. This recent terrorist attack is a direct result of this conflict. Mo Wu was a parliamentary member of the federation and was being groomed as an important successor to a faction, yet he has perished during the recent attack. That's only going to further exacerbate the internal conflict within the federation. It's hard to say which political faction has ties with the Holy Spirit Cult, but it's undoubtedly the case that the cult must have powerful backers in the federal government. Otherwise, there's no way that they could wreak such havoc yet still hide themselves so well.

"A period of unrest is about to dawn upon this world. Not only are cracks appearing in the federal government, I've heard that the Spirit Pagoda is also experiencing internal issues. Over at the Star Luo Empire, the Green Skull Renegades seem to have received some kind of support, and their battle against the imperial government is constantly escalating. It seems that the entire planet is going through tumultuous times."

Tang Wulin's brain was working rapidly as he tried to make sense of the situation, but he still found himself completely befuddled by this situation. After all, he had always been a student at Shrek Academy, and was constantly focusing on cultivation, thereby leading him to neglect other areas of knowledge.

Zhuo Shi continued, "There's no need for you to think too much about this for now; you'll only truly be swept up into all of this after you graduate from the inner court. However, remember that as the leader of Shrek's Seven Monsters, you must shoulder an extremely heavy burden. Shrek Academy has always been a neutral entity, but that only applies during peaceful times. If a threat that's strong enough to impact the entire continent arises, the academy will spring into action without any hesitation. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Tang Wulin nodded in response. Shrek Academy had been around for tens of thousands of years, and held an extremely important position on the Douluo Continent. Almost all of the major organizations on the continent had Shrek Academy alumni among their ranks, and if the academy were to get involved in all of this, they would definitely be able to summon a terrifying amount of power.

Zhuo Shi laid a hand on Tang Wulin's shoulder. "From now, the pressure on your shoulders will continue to mount. The benefits you received from your demonic island military training stint will only begin to manifest themselves in the future. I hope that you can emulate a spring that gathers more rebound force the more pressure is placed upon you. Do you have any cultivation questions including questions regarding your Nine Arts of the Golden Dragon? Go ahead and raise them."

Tang Wulin stayed at Zhuo Shi's wooden cabin until night had almost fallen, and after receiving Zhuo Shi's guidance, the problems he'd encountered during this past year were all resolved.

That night, he stayed on the Sea God's Island.

He stayed in the wooden cabin that Gu Yue had once lived in. He sat on the bed and looked out at the bright pristine moon through the window. Her gorgeous features appeared in his mind, and he felt as if she were somewhere nearby.

The silver dragon scale hanging in front of his chest reflected the gentle moonlight, and he didn't sleep the entire night.

The next morning, Tang Wulin left the academy. He had already told Zhuo Shi that he was going to be spending a month in

Heaven 

Dou City to continue his

forging

studies under Divine Blacksmith Zhen Hua's guidance.

He had currently reached an extremely important bottleneck in his

forging

. If he could make a breakthrough, then he would ascend to a whole new level. As the youngest sixth-rank blacksmith in the world, making a breakthrough now would open up infinite possibilities to him.

After leaving the academy, Tang Wulin didn't go to the train station. He truly had a phobia of soul trains now, especially when it came to train journeys to and from

Heaven 

Dou City. Countless misfortunes had befallen him during his past train journeys, so it was in the best interests of both himself and the other passengers that he refrained from taking the train.

He arrived at the Battle Hall of the Tang Sect and exchanged some points for a Tang Sect battle vehicle.

After riding on a battle vehicle during that mission, he had become very partial to these cars. Not only were they very fast, they were also extremely smooth. The only downside was that he didn't have any special privileges on the road, but in any case, this car was a far better car than any normal vehicle he could buy.

As for his mecha, he'd already recovered it, and all that was left for him to do was to upgrade it. However, mechas were different from cars, after all. The federation had very strict regulations against mechas, and this was a very sensitive time.

Tang Wulin had a considerable amount of agent points, and he still had a lot left to spare even after securing a Tang Sect battle vehicle. The battle vehicle was placed into his storage ring and it could only be released after he exited the building.

In contrast with the Tang Sect battle vehicle he'd traveled on during that mission, this one had three rows of seats with a maximum capacity of eight passengers. It wasn't as fast as the one he'd ridden on before, but it was far better for cross-country travel.

There were seven seats for Shrek’s Seven Monsters, and the final seat was naturally reserved for her...

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