"Wait, Senior, I still have other friends outside; can I bring them in here as well?" Tang Wulin asked.

The old man stopped and turned around. "CAN you bring them in here?"

A wry smile appeared on Tang Wulin's face. "Well, I have to get out of here first, but I don't know how."

The old man chuckled, "So it's best for you to come with me first. There's no way to get out of this place."

Tang Wulin didn't say anything else and hurried over to help the old man as he walked.

The man appeared to be hobbling in an extremely laborious manner, and Tang Wulin gently supported him to alleviate some of his body weight.

"How about I carry you on my back, Senior?" Tang Wulin asked.

"Sure!" The old man didn't turn down his offer, so Tang Wulin squatted down and allowed the old man to clamber onto his back.

The old man was very light, with Tang Wulin's strength, the man's body weight almost posed no burden to him at all.

"Alright, keep walking ahead. You're a kind-hearted kid, but I have to warn you that having a kind heart won't do you any good here on the demonic island. In fact, it's quite possible that your kind nature could work to your detriment." Tang Wulin merely smiled in response to the old man's words, and quickly continued onward according to the directions being given to him.

The valley was very large, and the terrain here was quite uneven. However, all of the plants here were thriving, and many of them were plants that Tang Wulin had never even heard of. Furthermore, he was elated to discover that due to how abundant the life force energy was in this place, he didn't even have to meditate to replenish his energy. He only had to breathe and activate his Mysterious Heaven Method to slowly replenish his soul power, as well as his blood essence power.

As expected, the academy wouldn't make them go to an uninhabitable place to undergo their military training.

Tang Wulin was walking very quickly as he was in a hurry to find a way to get his friends into this place as well. If he were away for too long, everyone would definitely become concerned for him.

After passing through a forest, Tang Wulin could sense that his soul power had virtually been fully replenished. At this moment, the terrain suddenly lowered, and the ground also turned into a purplish-red color. What was even more astonishing was that Tang Wulin was able to directly see the place where the massive purple pillar of light was coming from.

It was stemming from a huge piece of ore that was extremely irregular in shape. Part of the gigantic chunk of ore was embedded within the valley, so only a section of it was revealed. Tang Wulin was immediately struck by a sense of excruciating pain that surged through his entire body at the sight of the massive chunk of ore, and he felt as if his body and soul were about to be torn apart. A muffled groan escaped his mouth as he half-knelt onto the ground.

Golden dragon scales quickly spread all over his entire body as an emergency response, and he also released his suit of battle armor at the same time. Only then did Tang Wulin feel a little better.

"Hmm?" A faint cry of bewilderment rang out from the old man on Tang Wulin's back, and in the next instant, Tang Wulin rose to his feet again.

"Are you alright, Senior?" Due to the fact that the old man was behind him, he was oblivious to the peculiar look on the man's face.

"Oh, don't worry about me; I'm already used to this place," the old man said, "But you're very impressive; not many people can handle seeing the Stone of Destruction for the first time. Most people would faint on the spot, and I thought you would as well."

Tang Wulin faltered slightly upon hearing this.

If he knew I could faint, why didn't he warn...

His train of thought was abruptly cut off as he blacked out on the spot.

Only after Tang Wulin had slumped to the ground did the old man withdraw his hand, which had just chopped against Tang Wulin's neck. "What a stupid boy! He's not going to survive for long here if he continues like this! I can't believe how complacent he is in the presence of a complete stranger! Come on out, Nightmare; toss this kid out of here. I want to see how he'll get his friends into this place."

A figure emerged out of thin air before arriving in front of the old man.

This was also an old man, but he appeared to be a lot younger and also far burlier than the old man that was just being carried by Tang Wulin.

"Is he one of the kids sent over by the academy? Did he get in here all on his own?" Nightmare asked as he pointed at the unconscious Tang Wulin.

"He sure did! I was very impressed that he managed to get in here through his own power. Toss him out of here; I want to see if he can get all of his friends in here as well," the old man said as he waved a hand.

"Why do I have to do the dirty work, Scourge? Why can't you do it?" Nightmare was very displeased.

Scourge chuckled, "Why? Simple; because you can't beat me in a fight!"

Nightmare's eyes widened as black energy began to surge around him. However, he quickly returned to normal before picking up Tang Wulin from the ground. "I've got no time to bicker with an old fart like you; we've finally got some new little toys to play with!"

His body swayed as he spoke, and in the next instant, he vanished into thin air.

Scourge rubbed his hands together with excitement shimmering in his eyes. "Indeed! It's been a long time since we last had some toys to play with; we can't let them go so easily this time. How do we constantly keep them on the verge of a mental breakdown but don't actually break them? Hmm, this is a very intriguing topic to consider. I've become rusty and out of practice."

When Tang Wulin woke up again, he found himself surrounded by his friends, all of whom were looking down at him with concerned expressions.

"You're awake, Boss!" Xie Xie's eyes lit up as he awakened.

Tang Wulin quickly sat up and rubbed his own neck. He wasn't in any physical discomfort.

"How did I get back here?"

Yue Zhengyu shrugged and replied, "You flew back. You literally flew back like a cannonball, and Yuanen had to catch you.

What happened?

"Did you find out anything?"

Tang Wulin paused momentarily before giving everyone a recount of what had just happened.

"Could it be that it was just an illusion?" Ye Xinglan asked.

Tang Wulin shook his head. "No, it was definitely not just an illusion. My soul power and blood essence power have definitely recovered, and there's no mistaking the rich life force energy in that place. That should be the true venue where we have to undertake our military training, so we have to get in there."

Everyone else was still unable to recover their soul power in this place, but Tang Wulin had already recovered to peak condition.

Tang Wulin turned to Xu Lizhi, and instructed, "Make two Recovery Pork Buns for everyone, so we can all fully recover our energy, then make a Bloodthirsty Red Bean Bun for each of us to be kept in reserve. Also, make everyone a steamed crystal bun each. Will you still have enough soul power to support your battle armor's defensive abilities after making all those steamed buns?"

Xu Lizhi replied, "Definitely. I've barely expended any soul power thus far, so I won't have any issues in that department."

Sturdy Crystal Bun was Xu Lizhi's fifth soul skill, and it could grant the consumer a protective crystal layer over their bodies for a minute, which can increase one's defensive prowess by twofold.

However, the downside of this Sturdy Crystal Bun was that it took a long time to produce, so they were very difficult to make during battle. As such, it was most often the case that they had to be prepared in advance.

This was why Xu Lizhi hadn't made them for everyone when they were facing the evil Soul Masters a few days ago.

Each Sturdy Crystal Bun required around 10 minutes to produce, and they were also very taxing on his own soul power. However, one of the additional benefits of this Sturdy Crystal Bun was that he could also benefit from consuming it.

Xu Lizhi produced two Recovery Pork Buns for everyone each so they could recover their energy. Meanwhile, Tang Wulin began to plan the charge that they were going to make.

After some careful consideration, he devised a strategy.

He and all of his friends were five-ring Soul Kings, but in terms of soul power rank, Yuanen Yehui was already at rank 58, and she was the closest one among them to rank 60. Ye Xinglan was rank 56, and everyone else was around rank 55, with only Tang Wulin still at rank 51.

As such, they had more than enough soul power to last them through the upcoming ordeal, which made their capacity for physical stress the main limiting factor.