Everything became blurry, and Tang Wulin tried to reach out to grab onto the scenes before his eyes, but there was nothing for him to latch onto.

"Argh!" A loud cry rang out as Tang Wulin sat bolt upright, giving Gu Yue a massive fright in the process.

"Father! Father!" Gu Yue hurriedly grabbed onto his hand.

Tang Wulin panted heavily as he quickly inspected his surroundings.

They were still in the same forest, but the Demonic Infernal Dragon Monarch had already disappeared.

After taking a few deep breaths to calm himself down, he gradually regained his composure, and he was able to immediately deduce that he and Gu Yue were most likely only still alive due to the rainbow light that his bracelet had released.

It seemed that the Demonic Infernal Dragon Monarch had been scared off by that rainbow light.

With that in mind, Tang Wulin hurriedly looked down at his wrist to find that the bracelet was still there, and it seemed to have completely returned to normal.

However, for some reason, Tang Wulin felt as if he had forged a special connection with it. He couldn't quite put his finger on what this connection was, but he was definitely getting a different feeling from it than he had in the past.

"Thank you, thank you for saving me and Gu Yue," Tang Wulin said in a heartfelt manner. He knew that this was the reciprocation from all of the dragon skeletons in the dragon tomb.

During his 1,000-day dragon burial endeavor, he never had the intention of receiving any type of reward, but the dragon clan had given him such a precious gift. Even now, he still didn't know what this gem represented.

Without the pressure from the Great Beast, the rest of their journey should be quite smooth. Tang Wulin turned to the concerned Gu Yue and squeezed her hand in reassurance. "I'm fine; don't worry about me. Let's keep going."

Gu Yue nodded in response. "I was so scared! A few more people just came, and they left after saying some strange things that I don't understand."

A few more people? Tang Wulin was the one to be given a huge fright this time. A few more people had appeared here? Were they all Great Beasts?

Those Great Beasts couldn't all be dragons, and his bracelet's intimidation most likely didn't have much of an effect on any beings other than dragons. As such it was nothing short of a miracle that they'd survived that ordeal.

"We have to get out of this forest as quickly as possible; it's too dangerous here." Tang Wulin allowed Gu Yue to climb onto his back as he spoke, and after ascertaining the correct direction they should be going in, he charged onward full speed ahead.

With the guidance of his Bluesilver Emperor vines, he was able to traverse through the complex terrain of the forest extremely quickly.

Much to his surprise, they didn't encounter any other soul beasts along the way. No soul beasts appeared to attack them during the span of two days, making it seem as if this were an ordinary forest that was completely devoid of soul beasts.

Tang Wulin was rather perplexed. Was this really the core region of the Star Dou Forest? But after taking a glance at the Demonic Greenbird on Gu Yue's shoulder, he could confirm that this wasn't a dream; they really were in the Star Dou Forest.

All of a sudden, a sense of foreboding welled up in his heart, and he gradually slowed down. Through the assistance of the surrounding plants, he could detect that the conclusion of the forest lay in the distance up ahead.

Tang Wulin was greeted by an extremely astonishing sight at the conclusion of the forest; it was a metal embankment.

There was a metal embankment that was over 300 meters tall surrounding the Star Dou Forest. The embankment was far taller than even the tallest trees here, and as his gaze traveled up the embankment, Tang Wulin discovered that there was a virtually transparent light barrier in the air around a kilometer above the forest.

The first thought that sprang to Tang Wulin's mind was that this was a cage.

The core region of the Star Dou Forest was the habitat for the most powerful soul beasts, yet it had now already become a gigantic cage.

No one knew the true situation here as this had already become a restricted zone that belonged to the Spirit Pagoda.

An indescribable sense of sorrow welled up in his heart. The final safe haven of the soul beasts had already been reduced to nothing more than a cage by the Spirit Pagoda.

He had taken history lessons, and the historical records stated that when Spirit Ice Douluo Huo Yuhao founded the Spirit Pagoda, his objective was for humans and soul beasts to coexist in peace and harmony!

However, the truth was far from the utopia he'd envisioned. Human soul technology had advanced far too quickly, and with the invention of battle armor, the most powerful beings of the human race could completely overpower even the most fearsome soul beasts. Even the human race itself had suffered from the fearsome destructive power of its own cutting-edge technology.

Soul Masters were once the most revered and regal beings on the entire continent.

Back in the wars of the distant past, the side that had the most powerful Soul Masters had virtually won half the battle.

As soul technology progressed, the individual powers of Soul Masters were beginning to become less and less significant. The tragic disaster that Shrek Academy had just been struck by was a perfect example of this.

The academy had so many Titled Douluos, Hyper Douluos, and even the most powerful Limit Douluo in the world. 10,000 years ago, the title of Infallible Shrek would've been an absolute truth; no one could bring about the downfall of Shrek Academy with such a fearsome array of powerful beings among its ranks! However, two 12-grade soul missiles had been enough to lay waste to the entire academy and most of the surrounding Shrek City.

Even after being enhanced by his suit of four-word battle armor and the power of the Golden Tree, Atlas Douluo Yun Ming had been unable to completely stop that devastating attack.

Humans had already become so fearsome; how could soul beasts not be forced to the brink of extinction.

Tang Wulin was feeling quite lost. He suddenly didn't know why he was working so hard to cultivate. Was he growing stronger so he could possess more destructive power? Of course not! He didn't want to destroy anything.

Back when he was a small child, he'd cultivated in order to better his family's living conditions, and to fulfill his dream of becoming a mecha pilot.

His parents disappeared, and he continued to cultivate so he could find his family one day.

But what were all of his efforts leading to now? Could he and his friends really bring about the resurgence of Shrek Academy? Even if they could, who was to say that it wouldn't be destroyed by modern technology again?

Tang Wulin was overcome by a myriad of complex emotions and was left questioning everything.

"What's wrong, Father?" Gu Yue asked in a concerned and confused manner.

Tang Wulin shook his head with a wry smile on his face. "It's nothing, I'm just suddenly feeling a bit lost. It's like I've lost my sense of purpose and don't know where to go from here."

Gu Yue blinked in a confused manner. "I don't understand. Wherever Father is is where I will be."

Tang Wulin's body shuddered upon hearing this. Those were such simple words, yet they evoked within him an indescribable epiphany.

She was right! Did the final outcome really matter? At the very least, he had to strive toward his goals and shoulder the responsibilities before him. Even if he couldn't achieve his final objective, what did that matter? At the very least, he still had her and everyone else by his side.

Tang Wulin lowered Gu Yue down from his back before turning around and encircling his arms around her in a tight embrace.

Gu Yue's delicate body was soft and supple, and he felt as if he were holding the entire world in his arms.

He inhaled her familiar scent, and all of his exhaustion, pain, loss, and grief were transformed into scorching battle intent.

Gu Yue lay in his arms in an obedient manner with a blissful look on her face. Her arms were also encircled around his waist, and she murmured, "Father..."

"Don't call me father; call me Wulin."

"Wulin..."

Night fell, and stars began to appear in the sky. These stars were only visible when looked at from certain angles due to the faint light barrier overhead.

Tang Wulin and Gu Yue sat deep within the forest, gazing up at the sky through the gaps in the tree branches up above. Tang Wulin wasn't contemplating escaping this place by breaking through the light barrier.

Even the Great Beasts here were clearly unable to accomplish that, so why would he be any different?

Thus, the question of how they were going to get out of here arose.

If they couldn't escape this place by force, then he'd have to devise a cunning strategy.

He wasn't in a rush to spring into action as it was undoubtedly the case that this embankment had to have extremely fearsome defensive properties. At the very least, it definitely wasn't something a puny five-ring Soul King like him could break through.

However, he firmly believed that there would be a way for them to make it out of here.

During the past few days, he had calmed down, and thinking back to the destruction of Shrek City, he had drawn to a few conclusions.

He couldn't reveal his identity and hope to be allowed to leave as he no longer trusted the Spirit Pagoda.

The Spirit Pagoda headquarters was so close to Shrek City, yet neither of the two Godslayer missiles struck them; both of them were directed toward Shrek City and the Tang Sect instead.

With the power and influence of Shrek Academy, it made sense that this was the first choice for the Holy Spirit Cult to attack. However, between the Tang Sect and the Spirit Pagoda, the latter was undoubtedly more powerful, at least on the Douluo Continent, so why had the Tang Sect headquarters been attacked instead?