Long Yuxue raised her head to look at Tang Wulin with a meaningful expression in her eyes, and she bit down on her lower lip at the sight of the positive smile on his face.

"I'm sorry."

Tang Wulin chuckled, "What are you apologizing for? This is a decision from our higher-ups."

Long Yuxue suddenly became quite vehement as she said, "But if I hadn't told my father about this, you'd at least be able to use these accolades for promotions before they found out; you'd at least be a major now!"

Tang Wulin made her way over to her, and said, "It's alright, Superior; I'm sure I'll be able to become a major quite quickly through battle anyway. If you want to help me, then take me to battle in the abyss as soon as you can."

Long Yuxue nodded, and said, "We should be getting into the practical battle stage of your special training anyway. Our special service department has a special right to enter the abyss, so I'll take you there tomorrow. You have quite a sizable number of accolades now, so we'll go and buy some equipment tomorrow as well."

"Alright."

The next morning, Tang Wulin hadn't even finished cultivating his Purple Demon Eyes before Long Yuxue came to his living quarters to find him. Beneath that cold exterior of hers was a really kind soul!

"Superior." Tang Wulin hurriedly made his way downstairs.

"Let's go, I'll take you to the commissariat." Long Yuxue seemed to have already mentally recovered, and she was looking completely reinvigorated after a good night's rest.

The commissariat was responsible for all of the equipment in the legion, and when Tang Wulin and Long Yuxue arrived, there were some employees there, but no other soldiers of the Blood God Legion.

"We're here to buy some equipment." Long Yuxue displayed her Blood God Bracelet.

"Please select what you'd like to purchase." An electronic touch screen appeared before both of them.

Long Yuxue explained, "Some pieces of equipment are mandatory, such as abyssal shielding barriers. Only with this device can you not be affected by the destructive aura of the abyssal plane, thereby allowing you to use your martial soul. Otherwise, your martial soul would be virtually inaccessible to you. This is a piece of standard equipment, so it's quite cheap; it'll only cost you 100 accolades, but in reality, the federation expended a vast amount of money to develop these things."

She chose a headband-like object for Tang Wulin as she spoke. That was most likely the abyssal shielding barrier that she'd been referring to.

"Next, you need to choose some protective equipment, such as a spatial rectifier. After being activated, that device will instantly warp the surrounding space. When you find yourself surrounded by abyssal beings, it'll play an important role in warping space in order to create an opportunity for you to escape. Oh, and you'll be needing this as well. It's a masking singlet, and after you put it on, it'll release fluctuations akin to abyssal aura fluctuations, which will make it impossible for abyssal creatures to sense you with their spiritual power or auras. It won't conceal you, but it's must-have for people in the special service department like us, so you should get one of these too."

Long Yuxue began to choose a series of equipment for Tang Wulin as she spoke. Almost all of the equipment here specifically targeted abyssal creatures, and in Tang Wulin's opinion, the most practical pieces of equipment were the masking singlet and the abyssal shielding barrier.

Those two items would allow him to unleash his full power in the abyssal plane.

"Do you require any long-range weapons?" Long Yuxue asked.

Tang Wulin shook his head in response. "Not at the moment. By the way, can we use mechas when fighting abyssal creatures?"

Long Yuxue nodded, and replied, "Of course you can. However, it takes a vast amount of energy to conceal the auras of mechas, so generally speaking, everyone will carry mechas with them, but they won't use their mechas unless it was absolutely required. Mechas would usually only be used in dangerous situations or to kill enemies quickly in order to make an escape."

Tang Wulin had mentioned mechas as he recalled the fighting style that his teacher, Mu Ye, had adopted. Mu Ye had told him that he had lost his opportunity to become a Hyper Douluo due to his obsession with mechas in his younger days, but he also told Tang Wulin that mechas were extremely important in modern battle. Many battle armor masters ignored this, thinking that battle armor was superior to mechas in every way, thereby making the latter redundant. However, Mu Ye's theory was that battle armor and mechas could be used together. If the two could be integrated well, then the combat prowess of the Soul Master would be significantly enhanced.

Tang Wulin was very much in approval of this idea. If the Atlas Douluo had possessed a red mecha to complement his four-word battle armor, perhaps he would’ve survived the disaster that had befallen Shrek Academy.

As such, Tang Wulin had always been searching for an opportunity to craft a powerful mecha for himself.

The yellow mecha he had was most definitely no longer suitable for him. Both the offensive and defensive abilities of yellow mechas were simply far too lackluster, and with his Golden Dragon Body, as well as his suit of battle armor, his defensive prowess already exceeded that of the vast majority of black mechas. Under these circumstances, he had to think about which direction he wanted to go in if he were to craft a mecha for himself in the future.

In terms of equipment, Tang Wulin only took the mandatory pieces along with some disposable soul tools such as soul bombs. It was always advisable to have a good supply of such things.

He didn't have too much of a concept of the power of soul tools in the past, but after Shrek Academy was destroyed by that Godslayer missile, he finally understood why soul beasts had been forced to the verge of extinction. Human soul weapons had truly been developed to a considerably terrifying degree. There were limits to human powers, but weapon technology would continue to develop, and there would most likely come a day when human weaponry would even become powerful enough to destroy the entire planet.

With enough Godslayer missiles, Tang Wulin had no doubt that it would be possible to shatter the entire planet. The federation had decided to only create three of those missiles, partially due to a lack of resources, but a fear of oneself most likely played a role in that decision as well. The two Godslayer missiles had completely laid waste to Shrek City, and that incident would most likely spark even greater fear toward soul weapons.

According to Tang Wulin's knowledge, more of the federation's technological power was currently focused on research toward aircrafts. As for to what extent that research had developed, that was not something that he was aware of.

"Is that all you're going to buy? Those miniature mechas are actually quite good as well; they possess the combat prowess of purple mechas and also have many assistance abilities such as radars and things like that. I think it'd be a good idea to consider them," Long Yuexue suggested.

Even though Tang Wulin had bought a lot of disposable equipment, he'd only spent several thousand accolades in total. He currently had tens of thousands of accolades under his belt, so this sum wasn't all that significant to him.

Long Yuxue had accepted half of Tang Wulin's earnings, but she refused the repayment of her initial investment that he offered to her, nor did she oppose his decision to exclusively take on soul refinement jobs.

"This is all I'll get for now. I'll adjust my inventory according to what's required in battle," Tang Wulin replied.

"Alright," Long Yuxue nodded, and said, "Truth be told, it's already quite rare for a newbie like you to have so much equipment. Also, you'll have me by your side to protect you."

"You're going to protect me?" Tang Wulin turned to her with a surprised expression.

Long Yuxue gave him a faint smile, but offered no explanation. "Let's go. From today onward, I'll be taking you to experience real battles in the abyss. However, you have to remember that after entering the abyssal passageway, you have to follow all of my orders. Otherwise, you'll be punished according to the rules of our legion!"

Her expression was completely serious as she delivered this warning.

Tang Wulin immediately nodded in response. "Yes, Superior."

He knew nothing about the abyssal passageway at the moment, so following Long Yuxue's instructions was undoubtedly the best way for him to proceed. At the very least, he could accrue experience by following her. His top priority now was to familiarize himself with the abyssal plane as quickly as possible.

After exiting the commissariat, Long Yuxue led Tang Wulin directly toward the rear of the Blood God Legion base. After exiting through the rear gate of the base, she tossed a pair of skis at Tang Wulin. "Do you know how to use these?"

Tang Wulin replied with a wry smile, "Not really."

Long Yuxue smiled, and reassured, "With your bodily control, it won't take you long to get used to these. Come with me; spread your feet open and use the skis to decelerate."

She had already put on her skis as she spoke, then slid down the snowy mountain first. There were thick layers of snow everywhere on this entire mountain, so these skis were definitely the best transportation instruments in such an environment.

Tang Wulin was rather unaccustomed to them, and the skis immediately carried him quickly down the slope. Long Yuxue was using her skis to control her speed and direction in an expert manner, but Tang Wulin looked as if he were almost diving down the slope.

However, he wasn't fearful in the slightest. With his suit of two-word battle armor, he could always bail and fly up into the air if the situation demanded it.

This stretch of snowy land was quite smooth, and even though he was constantly accelerating, the good thing was that there were no obstacles that appeared in his way. Tang Wulin was watching what Long Yuxue was doing, and trying to implement her movements himself. His body was swaying incessantly, and he almost fell over on many occasions, but he was able to stabilize himself through his own immense muscular strength.