"You're still young. I know that you must be anxious to restore the Tang Sect and Shrek Academy, but this is not the time to rush things. What you need is more building-up and settling down. You need strength that's powerful enough. You should rest well. Although Shrek Academy is no more, Shrek's hidden secrets can't be wiped away that easily. You have ample time to improve and build yourself up. Zang Xin sent you here for that exact purpose. Now that it's chaotic outside, we must get a hold of the situation. At the same time, we must wait for a suitable opportunity. Every single bit of power that you're gathering now is to prepare for your explosion of strength in the future."

"Understood." Tang Wulin nodded respectfully.

When he left the Blood God Battalion, Tang Wulin's Blood God Bracelet had been switched. Unlike the old one, the new Blood God Bracelet was marked with an insignia of a circle of bright red roses. Every rose stalk was full of thorns. This was the Blood God Battalion's emblem. From this moment on, he was already a supernumerary member of the Blood God Battalion.

However, he was told not to join the battles within the abyssal passage without Blood One's approval from now on.

Perhaps Tang Wulin's arrival had flustered the abyssal plane, because though the amount of abyssal energy that was sucked away was not much, it did not return to the abyssal plane. The duration which the abyssal tide lasted this time was much shorter than normal circumstances. It had only held for seven days before it subsided completely. There was no appearance of more powerful abyssal creatures.

Tang Wulin did not venture onto the battlefield anymore. While the abyssal tide continued, he took the opportunity to go into short, secluded cultivation. His main objective was to reap the rewards of his dragon core and solidify it.

From its initial size of a fingernail, his dragon core had grown to the size of a longan fruit and glowed with a brilliant golden halo. Tang Wulin's bloodline flowed naturally with every breath he took. In other words, even if he was not actively cultivating, the blood essence within him would still nourish his body as if he was.

During his seclusion, Tang Wulin also noticed that after the dragon core formed, his body had also undergone some intriguing transformations. It was as if his body had been enlightened. It would naturally absorb the energy from the world around him as he breathed. He was like a vessel which continuously spewed out the old and absorbed the new. He absorbed all the energy from the world around him, extracted their essences, rejected their impurities, and harmonized it with his body.

Just like when a soul master possessed a soul core, Tang Wulin his physique had entered a whole new realm after he gained the dragon core. The most obvious change his body had undergone was a great decrease in his appetite. He no longer needed to consume a large amount of food to replenish his own energy. It seemed that he could sustain his body's daily requirements just by breathing.

The next thing was that he felt his tenth Golden Dragon King Seal wearing thinner. This was only a feeling, as the seal would not weaken on its own. He understood that this must have been because he already had enough strength to break through the seal.

However, he was in no hurry. The Golden Dragon King Seals were sure to be more and more dangerous as he progressed. He decided that it was better for him to build himself up as much as possible. Even if he was able to break through the tenth seal, what would he do about the eleventh seal? What about the twelfth seal? Nobody could be sure how things would turn out toward the end.

Hence, when Tang Wulin was secluding himself, he gained greater control over his own blood essence power. He would never approach the seal casually. He would not even attempt to break through it unless he had no other options.

His secluded cultivation had brought about an improvement in his cultivation base again. His soul power was raised to rank-59. He was only a single rank away from becoming a rank-60 Soul Emperor.

Ever since his Bluesilver Grass martial soul had awakened into the Bluesilver Emperor, and with the few years of experience in the Dragon Valley, the rate at which his cultivation base improved clearly accelerated. Tang Wulin was very satisfied with the fact that he had not reached a bottleneck. As long as he accumulated enough energy, he could keep improving just like this. He was extremely confident that he could cultivate to the ranks of a Title Douluo before he turned thirty.

"Bam! Bam! Bam!" came the knocks on the door.

Tang Wulin, who had been meditating in the room, stood up. He walked to the door and opened it, revealing Long Yuxue standing outside.

"Senior officer." Tang Wulin hastily invited her in.

Long Yuxue looked to be in high spirits. She clearly had joined a battle. The abyssal tide was dangerous, but it also meant opportunities. It was the best chance to improve one's own rank and accumulate merits. Long Yuxue would certainly not let such an opportunity slide.

"You've never returned ever since the Blood Eight brought you away the other day. What happened? Why aren't you joining the battles anymore? I only heard about it afterward that apparently there was an order from above forbidding you from taking part in the fighting?" Long Yuxue's questions were straight to the point.

Tang Wulin replied, "Maybe it's because of my Golden Dragon Spear. The Blood God Battalion has its own worries. That's why they wouldn't allow me to fight."

Long Yuxue had a puzzled expression as she said, "Come, I'll take you to the combat unit. It's time to be rewarded for our merits."

"Huh?" Tang Wulin looked at her with astonishment. "What do you mean rewarded for our merits?"

Long Yuxue said with a smile, "Of course, it's something good. You already know that the Blood God Bracelet will automatically record our merits as we kill abyssal creatures. However, we'll receive some compensation after large-scale battles such as the previous one. To put it simply, it's because the frontline soldiers were bearing the brunt of it that the long-range attackers could fire away without a care. That's why, after a large battle, the long-range soldiers will compensate the melee soldiers with a certain number of merits. The army naturally had the formula to calculate that. Since you were fighting in the front lines and put on such an outstanding display in the first battle, I'm sure that you'll receive extra merits. Besides, the way I see it, with the merits you've accumulated up to now, it's already enough for you to raise your rank to the first lieutenant. You're a lucky one. You practically just came here! Already you've experienced an abyssal tide. Also, this tide was quite easy to deal with. It subsided within a mere seven days."

Merits? Tang Wulin had genuinely forgotten about this, but this was definitely a boon.

He followed Long Yuxue to the combat unit. The soldiers were redeeming their merits with their own Blood God Bracelets, and the commissioning ceremony was underway. Those whose merits had reached a certain threshold could be promoted. After every abyssal tide battle, there would be a huge batch of soldiers moving up the ranks.

Tang Wulin followed behind Long Yuxue and they queued up.

The ceremony progressed quite quickly in the beginning. There were a dozen senior officers in charge of commissioning the soldiers. Many soldiers had the additions of golden stars on their shoulders. Tang Wulin could not help but feel envious and look forward to his turn.

According to Long Yuxue, he should be able to be promoted to a first lieutenant. That would be one bar and two stars. He would be a step closer to becoming a major.

These days, he would free up his time to give Gu Yuena a call and ask about her condition. Other than saying that she missed him, Gu Yuena was very reliant on him. If it were not for him enlisting in the army, Tang Wulin would want to meet her as soon as possible. That made it that much important for him to be promoted.

Finally, it was Long Yuxue's turn.

Long Yuxue handed over her Blood God Bracelet. After it was being scanned by the instrument, the senior colonel before her smiled and said, "Yuxue, quite a performance this time. You truly do your father proud. In this battle, you've earned nine thousand seven hundred and ten merits. According to the rules, the long-range attackers must compensate the melee soldiers some merits. Three thousand and a hundred merits will be deducted from you. That leaves you with six thousand four hundred and ten merits. With the inclusion of the merits you accumulated before this, congratulations, you can be promoted to lieutenant colonel."

Although Long Yuxue had already made her own judgments about her condition, she still could not help but grin broadly. Being promoted to a lieutenant colonel before one turned thirty was no easy feat.

She stood at attention, saluted the senior colonel, and walked forward to receive her promotion.

After her, it was Tang Wulin's turn. Tang Wulin handed over his own Blood God Bracelet as well.