Tang Wulin was speechless when he looked at her. Gu Yue's power was never inferior to his, and he felt that she was even more formidable than he. Yet now, she had turned into a child that needed constant care from others.

"It's okay. I'll protect you."

Tang Wulin caressed her long hair while Gu Yue slid into his arms and spoke with a satisfied look on her face, "Father is the best."

Tang Wulin's palm stiffened. How was he going to face her when she awakened in the future?!

He sighed deeply while focusing his attention on assessing their situation.

The Demon Island's torment taught to stay as relaxed as possible no matter how tough the situation was. He would try to calm himself in the shortest time possible even if he was emotionally unstable. Only by staying level-headed would he be able to face any hardship.

Tang Wulin calmed himself down and took a long, hard look at their surroundings.

There was no doubt that this was a stretch of primeval forest. With his earlier speculation that this was the spirit ascension platform, he felt more and more that this was the spirit ascension platform's simulated Great Star Dou Forest. The only difference was that the plants here were more exuberant and lusher than the one he had encountered in the platform. It appeared to be even more ancient as well.

He assumed if this was inside the spirit ascension platform, then it was definitely not the intermediate spirit ascension platform. He had been to the intermediate platform before, and its vegetation was not as lush as this. Moreover, he would not have so easily bumped into such a powerful soul beast with strength equal to his.

Given the abilities that the Scarlet Fire Monkey King had displayed earlier, Tang Wulin was afraid that he would need to don his battle armor to best it.

Even though his soul power cultivation base was only rank-50, an ordinary six-ringed master was definitely not a match for him anymore. Tang Wulin could be considered a young master in the soul masters' world right now given the additions of his battle armor and Golden Dragon Spear.

If that was the case, the Scarlet Fire Monkey King must have been at the soul beast rank of a twenty-thousand-year cultivation base to match him.

Was this the advanced spirit ascension platform? He never really understood the place actually, but he had heard from Gu Yue that the advanced platform was the primary resource of the spirit ascension platform.

However, he still had some basic judgment. For example, the gathering site for more powerful soul beasts would have a smaller number of soul beasts. This was because every powerful soul beast had its own territory that could not be breached by others. It was quite obvious that the place where they were at now should be the Scarlet Fire Monkey King's territory.

On the other hand, it was possible that they would encounter other soul beasts once they entered the next territory.

However, the most crucial issue at the moment was how they were going to leave this place!

The spirit ascension platform was equipped with a special exit, so one would only need to press a button to leave the place. One could also leave the spirit ascension platform by fighting to the death in it, the penalty being some spiritual damage.

The problem that he was facing right now was that there was no such exit button on their bodies so they could not exit by ordinary means. However, could they leave by fighting to the death?

Tang Wulin did not know the answer and there was no way he could try out this method. What if he truly died?

Moreover, Tang Wulin once heard that the highest level of existence in the spirit ascension platform was a real world. If Gu Yue and him were at that place now, then they would truly die if they were killed.

Thus, he would need to be most cautious no matter what.

He was not in a rush to advance upon considering this. The stretch of territory belonged to the Scarlet Fire Monkey King, and at least he was still capable of fighting it for the time being. This place was still relatively safe. Moreover, he used his ability that was similar to God's Eye to observe his surroundings at any time, so he could discover any dangers sooner. He would rest and reorganize over here first and ponder out their next move for a moment before he made any further decisions.

If this was truly the legendary highest level of the spirit ascension platform, then the Great Star Dou Forest's core area could possibly exist here, but it was also very ominous. This could possibly be a place where he could find a one-hundred-thousand-year soul beast!

If he were to recklessly go deeper, both he and Gu Yue were done for if they encountered a one-hundred-thousand-year soul beast.

On the other hand, he would only need to choose the correct direction and gradually move away from the core if this was truly the place. He should be able to walk out of this place if he were to go all the way.

Of course, Tang Wulin could not possibly rely on his eyes to see where he should go to. The newfound ability of his Bluesilver Emperor martial soul gave him a new source of information. It was the plants. The surrounding vegetation understood this world more than he ever could.

At this point, Tang Wulin spoke to Gu Yue by his side, "Gu Yue, I'm going to meditate for a moment. I'm going to look for the way out of this place. Stay by my side and don't walk too far away."

"Oh," Gu Yue answered obediently.

Tang Wulin could not help feeling distraught as he looked at Gu Yue behaving like this. Gu Yue was an independent woman always preoccupied with thoughts in her mind. There was a special intimacy between the both of them. Their relationship was formed silently over many years.

This Gu Yue was not the Gu Yue in his heart anymore. However, he was slightly hopeful that if Gu Yue had always been so innocent and pure then he could be less worried about her. He placed himself in Gu Yue's position and considered her departure back then. Even though he was heartbroken, if she was truly in love with him, then her heartbreak would be worse than his.

The only difference was that she knew how to look for him, while he had no way to locate her all along.

She was back this time, so he would never allow her to leave no matter what. Of course, he would first need to confirm his speculation that the person with Na'er's appearance before him was truly Gu Yue. Otherwise, he dared not have an intimate moment with her even if he wanted to.

Tang Wulin crossed his legs and concentrated. He unleashed his mind through the Bluesilver Emperor and gradually fused with the surrounding plants as he linked up with them in succession.

Before a plant's spiritual intelligence was awakened, it was a living form that could not be any simpler. The plants were akin to metals before spirit forging was completed. They had vitality but not intelligence.

On the other hand, the plants could become plant-type soul beasts once their spiritual intelligence was initiated. It was highly possible that the plants could become even more powerful than ordinary soul beasts, but that plant-type soul beasts were few and far between.

In any case, Tang Wulin's method did not require that he linked up to plants with spiritual intelligence. He would only need them to inform him of the dangerous and safe pathways.

Soon, he found the answer!

The ordinary plants on the ground provided him with little feedback and felt blank, but those massively, tall trees passed him accurate information and guidance. These plants provided him with the images of two directions. The first direction was like an abyss while the other direction was bright and sunny. There was no doubt that Tang Wulin had found the answer.

Tang Wulin was immediately overjoyed with such a discovery. He opened up his eyes and leaped up from the ground.

However, he was shocked to find that Gu Yue was not by his side.

He hastily unleashed his spiritual power and searched for her with God's Perspective. Fortunately, she did not walk far, just about three hundred meters away from him. She lowered her head as she happily looked for something in the bushes. There was already a handful of colorful wildflowers in her left hand, and she appeared to be in good spirits.

The smile on her face was bittersweet for Tang Wulin as they no longer had the companionship of their friends from Shrek Academy. Yes! Which maiden did not fancy fresh blossoms?

Meanwhile, two figures suddenly appeared in his God's Perspective. One was pouncing toward his direction while the other was headed straight for Gu Yue.

They both appeared out of nowhere and were moving at incredible speed. Their movements were unrelenting.

This was not good!