Who would benefit the most from the destruction of Shrek Academy and the Tang Sect? It definitely wouldn't be the general public, nor all of the Soul Masters.

As such, Tang Wulin didn't dare to trust the Spirit Pagoda, and he was even more reluctant to reveal his identity as it was simply far too sensitive.

He was the leader of the current generation of Shrek's Seven Monsters; if the Holy Spirit Cult were to be made aware of the fact that he was still alive, he'd definitely become one of the top targets on their hit list.

As such, if he wanted to survive, then he had to do everything in his power to protect himself.

However, the embankment was virtually completely impregnable; how were they supposed to escape from this place? This was undoubtedly going to be far more difficult than infiltrating the Northsea Legion base.

If they couldn't bypass the light barrier in the air, then perhaps they could go underground? The thought only occurred to Tang Wulin for a brief moment before he discarded it. There was no lack of soul beasts that were able to plow deep into the ground, so the Spirit Pagoda had to have defensive measures in place for that as well.

There really seemed to be no way to get out of this place.

Gu Yue was resting against Tang Wulin's body without a care in the world.

Tang Wulin asked, "Gu Yue, can you show me your storage bracelet for a moment?"

There was an intricate silver bracelet on her wrist, embedded upon which was a transparent gem. It was undoubtedly the case that a soul array of an extremely high caliber had to have been carved into the gem.

Gu Yue extended her wrist toward him as requested.

Tang Wulin's heart suddenly clenched up at the sight of her hand. Ever since they'd confirmed their relationship as lovers during the Sea God Fate Match-making Convention, he'd never even given her a present.

He pulled out a piece of metal from his own storage ring. This was a silver-white piece of metal that was gently pulsating in a rhythmic manner as if it were a living being.

Tang Wulin pinched the piece of metal with his right hand, and a startling scene unfolded; he managed to pluck off a portion of the piece as if it were soft clay.

His right golden dragon claws sprang forth, and after some careful carving, a silver ring soon appeared in his hand.

He placed the ring onto the middle finger of Gu Yue's left hand with a smile on his face. "The middle finger represents passion and love. This is the first piece of soul refined metal that I've forged, so it holds significant meaning to me. There are no arrays carved into it, but it represents my love for you. Do you like it, Gu Yue?"

There were no special patterns on the ring aside from a pair of interlocked hearts.

Tang Wulin was a brilliant blacksmith, but his carving skills were quite ordinary. The only thing of value he had in his possession was this piece of soul refined metal, but it didn't have any arrays carved into it, so it was only more resolute than normal metals and also had self-regenerative abilities.

However, Tang Wulin's eyes were filled with a gentle light as he appraised the ring.

Gu Yue had given him that silver dragon scale as a token of her love, and he was now giving her this ring in return.

"Thank you, Father. Oh, I meant Wulin." Gu Yue looked at the ring on her middle finger with a genuine smile on her face.

Tang Wulin latched onto her hand, and said, "You'll be the only person that I ever give rings to, and you'll be the only woman in my heart for the rest of my life."

"Yay!" Gu Yue clapped her hands together with elation.

Tang Wulin couldn't help but burst into laughter. The current Gu Yue was just like an innocent little girl.

Only now did he remove the storage bracelet from Gu Yue's wrist. There were many things in this bracelet, including some containers holding unknown substances, as well as some metals that already had arrays carved onto them. There were also some devices and apparatus in there, many of which Tang Wulin didn't even recognize.

After rummaging through the bracelet for a while, he finally found a few items that appeared to be identification cards or badges.

Tang Wulin wasn't very familiar with the internal structure of the Spirit Pagoda, but with Gu Yue's lofty status in the organization, she would most likely be permitted to enter and exit this place. Otherwise, how had they ended up here in the first place?

Tang Wulin returned the bracelet to Gu Yue before applying a disguise to himself.

They couldn't delay here for any longer. Gu Yue was suffering from amnesia, so they had to get out of here as quickly as possible in order to seek treatment for her.

However, in her current state, she would have to be taught a few things before he set his plan into motion.

Two days later, at the Spirit Pagoda's Star Dou Fortress.

The fortress had stood for 3,000 years thus far. Roughly 3,000 years ago, the Great Beasts in the core region of the Star Dou Forest suffered a heavy defeat in a battle, and the Spirit Pagoda took advantage of that opportunity to construct this fortress. At the same time, they made an agreement with the Great Beasts; humans would no longer continue to engage in deforestation, and the Great Beasts could continue to live in this area.

If they were to force their way through this fortress, then humans would have the right to kill them. Likewise, if humans were to enter this region, then the Great Beasts would also be able to kill them.

This appeared to be an equal agreement, but after the Star Dou Fortress was erected, the core region of the Star Dou Forest had become a true prison.

All of the soul beasts here had essentially been trapped in this enclosure, but the Spirit Pagoda could sell tickets to other people to enter this place at high prices. Those entrants had to accept the possibility that they could die here, but only the high-grade soul beasts in this place could grant Soul Masters with the best soul rings.

When the Great Beasts realized what was happening and tried to revoke the agreement, it was already too late; they were no longer a match for the human race.

With powerful soul missiles, mecha legions, and top-grade battle armor masters surrounding this place, the Great Beasts were unable to escape, and they could only resign themselves to being confined in this forest.

However, the Spirit Pagoda didn't go any further than that. After creating this artificial enclosure, they didn't disrupt the daily lives of the soul beasts in the forest. All they did was occasionally allow some people to enter this area. As for whether those people would be able to leave this place alive, that was quite hard to say. The Spirit Pagoda did offer a service where powerful beings could be deployed to accompany the entrants to this place, but that was obviously an extremely expensive service.

The Spirit Pagoda had received approval from the federation for everything that they were doing here, and the reason for this was very simple; through this arrangement, the soul beasts would no longer pose any threat to the human race, and they would be firmly controlled by humans.

In the main control tower of the Star Dou Fortress, a woman wearing a uniform was holding a communicator, and she asked, "How's everything going on your end, Monkey?"

"Everything's normal on my end, Sister Xing; all of the protective barrier's pressure valves are returning normal figures," a rather sharp and piercing male voice replied.

"Roger."

Sister Xing was one of the supervisors of the control tower, and she was responsible for ensuring that all of the equipment here was functioning as they should. She had to complete routine checks every day in order to ensure that everything was running smoothly.

During the past 3,000 years, the Star Dou Fortress's protective barrier was constantly being bolstered. Even if the legendary Beast God Di Tian wanted to force his way out, he'd have to attack the barrier with all his might for several hours straight. That was more than enough time for the Spirit Pagoda to deploy more powerful beings to the scene.

Sister Xing stretched lazily, and a relaxed look appeared on her face. Everything was running smoothly, and she could enjoy another leisurely workday.

The Star Dou Fortress was completely isolated, just like a military base, but there were all types of recreational facilities in here, so the employees were never bored. Last night, she had drunk a lot at a pub, but as a professional technical consultant, she made sure that nothing she did the day before affected her work the next day.

"Beep beep!" Right at this moment, her communicator suddenly began to beep.

"Hmm?" Sister Xing hurriedly turned her attention to the communicator's screen.

"What's going on?" she hurriedly asked.

"Reporting to the control tower; Reserve Spirit Envoy Gu Yuena is requesting to return from the forest, and Spirit Envoy Xu Shengqun is also accompanying her."

Sister Xing replied, "You may grant them access after verifying their identities."

"Yes!"

Sister Xing cut off the call and grumbled to herself, "These spirit envoys are always using their special rights to teleport into this place. They should really notify us beforehand."

"Beep beep!"

"What now?" Sister Xing accepted the call in a grumpy manner. All she wanted to do was to go back and take a nap.