Tang Wulin's eyes narrowed slightly. "I've only been here for six months, but prior to coming here, the academy told us that this military training was going to last two years; you expect me to believe I've passed already? You should think of a more convincing lie before you try to trick me."

The rotund old man made his way over to him. "Why would I lie to you? The two-year period only applies to normal people. Do you really think everyone can cross the ocean and steal an aircraft in just three months like you did? Truth be told, none of your friends managed to complete that mission; you're the only one who succeeded. Even if one trial is failed, they won't be given a pass. I'm sure you've already figured some things out for yourself; how could Shrek Academy possibly send you here to your deaths? This has all been arranged by the academy in advance," the rotund old man said with a smile.

Tang Wulin's eyes narrowed in a completely unconvinced manner.

The old man chuckled, "I can see that you don't believe me, but I'm sure you'll be convinced after hearing what I have to say. To start off, let me tell you how this demonic island came to be."

He sat down in front of Tang Wulin as he spoke, and even then, he was still slightly taller than Tang Wulin in a standing position.

He waved his right hand through the air, and a table suddenly appeared before him. He then pulled out a bunch of food and placed them all over the table.

Tang Wulin took two steps backward, even though the alluring aroma wafting from the food was making his stomach growl. With the traumatic experience he'd suffered at the hands of Old Demon Gluttony, he naturally didn't dare to get complacent here.

The rotund old man waved a hand. "Come on out, Desire."

All of a sudden, a young Old Demon Desire appeared before taking a seat at the table.

The old man said, "You can begin teaching him after I tell him everything."

Old Demon Desire nodded in response. "Alright. With his aptitude, one month should be enough."

Despite how convincing everything was looking, Tang Wulin still didn't dare to believe them.

The old man smiled, and said, "Alright, let's start off from the very beginning. This cluster of demonic islands suddenly appeared over 1,000 years ago, and even to this day, we don't know how these islands came into existence. Of course, we're not truly demons; we used to be humans as well. The demonic islands were formed by countless fragments that fell from the sky into this region of the ocean. Within these islands, two polar opposite types of energy appeared, both of which you've come into contact with already. One of them is extremely rich life force energy, while the other is destructive energy that could annihilate all things. The latter comes from the fragment of destruction that you've seen before. Old Demon Scourge was telling the truth when he told you that each island has a fragment of destruction, but they're all of different sizes.

"Beside every fragment of destruction, rich life force energy must exist. It's exactly due to the balance between these two types of energy that has prevented the destructive energy from seeping into the outside world and bringing disaster to the Douluo Continent. From all of the observations that we've made during the past centuries, we were able to deduce that these powerful energies of life and destruction didn't come from our continent itself. In fact, it most likely didn't even come from this planet."

Tang Wulin finally couldn't help but interject here. "They're not from this planet? Could it be that they're from another world?" With the advancements in technology, humans had discovered long ago that the Douluo Continent, Star Luo Continent, and Heaven Dou Continent were all situated on a massive sphere known as a planet.

The planet was named the Douluo Star, and through later observations, it was discovered that there were countless stars and planets in the boundless space. There were countless things that were still undetectable to the human race due to the limitations of technology, but as the most technologically advanced of the three continents, the Douluo Continent was already beginning to delve into space exploration.

The rotund old man said, "That's right, the fragments most likely came from another world, and according to our deductions, they could quite possibly be related to us. I'm sure you're aware of the fact that it's been many many years since a human has ascended to the Divine Realm like the founder of the Tang Sect, Tang San, and the founder of the Spirit Pagoda, Spirit Ice Douluo Huo Yuhao."

Tang Wulin asked, "Do gods truly exist?"

The old man replied without any hesitation, "Yes. There are many extremely specific records of Tang San's ascension to the Divine Realm. At the time, not only did he become a god, all of the other members of that generation of Shrek’s Seven Monsters also became gods. They inherited different godly berths and ascended to the Divine Realm one after another. Tang San has even transmitted some information about the Divine Realm back to our human world in the past. Through this information, we've learned that laws and rules exist even in the Divine Realm. In reality, the Divine Realm is a world inhabited by powerful beings who have reached a higher plane of existence. That world governs over worlds of a lower level like ours, and there is also a hierarchy in the Divine Realm.

"The highest levels of gods there were known as godkings, and the Divine Realm is controlled by the Divine Realm Committee, which is comprised of five godkings. This committee decides the fates of small worlds like ours. However, they seem to be restricted by the rules there and can't intervene too much with the things that take place in lower worlds."

This was the first time Tang Wulin had heard of something like this, and even though he was still feeling quite wary, he couldn't help but be drawn in by the old man's story.

The old man continued, "After Tang San became a god, he caught the eye of one of the former godkings and became the heir to that godking. Aside from inheriting the berth of the Sea God, he also became the Asura God, one of the five godkings. The other four godkings consist of the Gods of Kindness, Evil, Life, and Destruction. They control the Divine Realm and naturally dictate the rules of our Douluo Star. However, ever since Spirit Ice Douluo Huo Yuhao ascended thousands of years ago, no one has been able to sense the existence of the Divine Realm. With the invention of battle armor, humans have become far more powerful than in the past, and Limit Douluos with suits of four-word battle armor should be more than powerful enough to inherit godly berths and ascend to the Divine Realm.

"However, no one has been able to sense the Divine Realm for thousands of years, and we can't help but wonder whether something has happened to the Divine Realm. The conclusion is that this was most likely the case. All of the most powerful beings from Shrek Academy, the Tang Sect, and the Spirit Pagoda have tried to sense the existence of the Divine Realm after reaching the height of their powers, all to no avail. This information has been directly confirmed by all three of those organizations, and we can't think of any reason for this other than the notion that something must've happened to the Divine Realm."

Tang Wulin took a deep breath. "Does that mean the Divine Realm doesn't exist anymore?"

The old man shook his head. "No one knows exactly what's happened to the Divine Realm, but we believe there must be something wrong there."

Tang Wulin asked, "What does that have to do with the demonic islands?"

The old man replied, "I've just told you that among the five godkings of the Divine Realm are the Gods of Life and Destruction. Doesn't that make you think of anything?"

Tang Wulin's heart jolted upon hearing this. "You're saying those two godkings are related to the creation of these islands?"

The old man smiled, and Old Demon Desire suddenly interjected, "That's exactly the conclusion that we arrived at. Around 2,000 years ago, life and destructive energies suddenly fell from the sky. The destructive energy descended as fragments and formed these demonic islands, but they also descended alongside life energy, which has continued to restrict it. The antonym of destruction is creation, and the ultimate goal of creation is to create life. The two are polar opposites, but they exist alongside and assist one another. After those two types of energy appears, this region of the sea was severely impacted. All of the sea soul beasts in this area suddenly became a lot more powerful, to the extent that they were beginning to pose a major threat to Northsea City, which was why the Northsea Legion was erected here. Only after that did we come to explore this place."

The old man smiled, and continued, "Nightmare was only bluffing this entire time; we wouldn't ever do anything to truly harm you. We are indeed very lonely here, but we come from the same origins."

"The same origins?" Tang Wulin's heart stirred upon hearing this.

The old man explained, "We were once also Shrek’s Seven Monsters, and it naturally became our duty to explore the secrets of these energies of life and destruction. Hence, we came here, and that was the beginning of the tragedy that befell us."