Even though a very long time had already passed, Tang Wulin was still struck by a sense of dejection whenever this incident was mentioned.

A wry smile appeared on his face. "The academy was destroyed, yet we don't even know where our enemies are, and we have no idea how many people were involved. However, we'll definitely rebuild Shrek Academy no matter what. The glory of Shrek Academy definitely won't die in our generation!"

"I believe in you! As a Blood God, I can only offer you moral support. After all, we all have a duty here, so we can't go anywhere." Blood Nine patted Tang Wulin's shoulder in an encouraging manner. From his outward appearance alone, he appeared to be around the same age as Tang Wulin.

Right at this moment, the elevator door was opened, and Blood One strode into the room.

Tang Wulin couldn't help but falter slightly at the sight of him. In contrast with Blood One's demeanor during their last meeting, he clearly had a sense of killing intent radiating from his body today.

Due to his immensely powerful bloodline, Tang Wulin was particularly sensitive to the auras of others, and he could sense that Blood One's aura fluctuations were making his bloodline fluctuate violently as well.

Blood Nine raised an eyebrow and smiled as he asked, "Did you go to the abyssal passageway again, Boss?"

Blood One nodded in response. "They retreated very quickly this time, so I had to go and have a look in case they're plotting something else. They backed off really early on this occasion, and neither side suffered many losses. It looks like they were scared off rather than plotting anything sinister."

Blood Nine faltered slightly upon hearing this. "Scared off? By who?"

A faint smile appeared on Blood One's face, and he pointed at Tang Wulin.

Blood Nine turned to Tang Wulin with a surprised look on his face. "By him? How?"

Blood One smiled, and said, "I'll tell you about that later. Wulin, I've organized something for you to do; I'm going to be assigning a mission to you today."

"I'm ready to hear it!" Tang Wulin's heart stirred slightly, but he was also quite eager to hear this task.

Blood One continued, "You have to prepare for battle and prime yourself to your peak condition for the task I'm about to assign you."

"Yes!"

Blood Nine asked in a puzzled manner, "The abyssal tide is already over; what mission could you possibly have for him?"

Blood One smiled, and said, "Have you forgotten about the latest technology released by the federation?"

Blood Nine was immediately enlightened. "You want him to participate in THAT?"

"That's right. The event will be quite safe for him to participate in, and he won't have to worry about giving anything away. You can go back for now, Wulin, I'm going to contact you via Blood God Bracelet later. I have to do some preparatory work for your mission, and the mission will commence in three days."

"Yes," Tang Wulin replied again, but he didn't immediately depart. Instead, he was looking at Blood One with a hopeful expression as he continued, "Superior, I just went to the battle department to receive my accolades for the recently concluded battle, and they told me that I have to come to the Blood God Battalion for a promotion, so..."

Blood One was Heartless Douluo Cao Dezhi, who was most definitely someone that he could trust. As such, Tang Wulin had no qualms in confiding in him.

Blood One smiled, and asked, "How many accolades have you saved up?"

Tang Wulin replied, "Over 20,000."

Blood One faltered slightly before bursting into laughter. "You earned over 20,000 accolades after participating in only one battle? Looks like you really did devour a lot of abyssal energy; no wonder two of those old bastards were provoked into directly attacking you. I'm guessing that they most likely retreated to discuss measures against you, and that's why this abyssal tide concluded so quickly. 20,000 accolades is enough to promote you to the captain rank. However, don't be in a hurry to redeem your accolades yet; if you can successfully complete this mission, I'll make an executive decision to promote you straight to major, so you can just wait until then for your promotion."

Tang Wulin's eyes immediately widened upon hearing this.

You can do that?

He was already very elated to hear that he'd earned a promotion to the captain rank, but if he could become a major, then didn't that mean he could visit Gu Yuena every week? That would be fantastic!

"Thank you for this opportunity, Superior; I'll go back to prepare right away."

Tang Wulin departed, and Blood Nine turned to Blood One, only to find that a grim expression had appeared on his face.

"You don't look all that pleased, Boss," Blood Nine said with a perplexed look on his face.

Blood One explained in a grave voice, "Wulin's emergence is a brilliant opportunity for us, but it could also be the catalyst for a catastrophic disaster. It's hard to say how the situation will play out, but he was revealed to the abyssal plane far too early. I've already told the corps commander to further bolster our defensive lines; this abyssal tide may have concluded quite quickly, but I'm very concerned that the next one will strike us soon. "

……

At the Spirit Pagoda headquarters.

Qiangu Dongfeng sat in the main seat, and said in a serious voice, "The newest technology released by the federation is about to be officially activated soon. Not only do we need to participate in this event, we have to do extremely well."

The person sitting beside him was the Heavenly Phoenix Douluo, while another middle-aged man was sitting on his other side. All of the people present seemed to be high-ranking figures in the Spirit Pagoda.

"This newest technology released by the federation is quite monumental. In reality, it was invented quite a while ago, but it's been constantly undergoing testing. The destruction of Shrek Academy and the Tang Sect headquarters has plunged the entire continent into chaos, and the federation has chosen to release this piece of technology at a time like this partially as a means to divert the attention of the public. Yaozhu, how are things going on your end? Have you still not found your disciple?"

Heavenly Phoenix Leng Yaozhu replied in an indifferent voice, "I've already gotten into contact with my disciple; she's currently very well and will be participating in the event."

Qiangu Dongfeng nodded in a pleased manner. "We can't afford to fail here as the expansion of our scope of influence will hinge on our ability to secure a good result. We've already secured a quarter of the total number of seats in the new parliament; if we can attain an even greater level of influence through this competition, that would be greatly beneficial to implementing the next step of our plan."

Leng Yaozhu glanced at him and didn't say anything. As the vice-chairman of the Spirit Pagoda, she had known Qiangu Dongfeng for far too long to not be aware of what his ultimate objective was. He was an extremely ambitious man, and his goal was to mold the Spirit Pagoda into an organization like the Spirit Hall that existed over 20,000 years ago. He was trying to make the Spirit Pagoda an organization that transcended beyond and controlled the entire federation.

She had no concrete evidence of this, but she firmly believed that he had played a role behind the disaster that had befallen Shrek Academy.

……

"The latest technology from the federation? That sounds really interesting! There are designated participation sites in every major city, and all of the Spirit Pagoda branches in all of the major cities can also participate. It's said that the competition will be held in a setting that resembles the Spirit Pagoda's Spirit Ascension Plane, but it'll be a little different. This latest technology is going to encompass the entire continent, and they want as many Soul Masters as possible to participate in the event. Every Soul Master's abilities and bodily conditions will be perfectly scanned and simulated to ensure absolute fairness. This piece of technology will be immensely beneficial to improving a Soul Master's practical combat skills, and it'll be especially helpful to mecha pilots."

"I've heard that as well! In the past, only major organizations have had access to similar pieces of technology, but they've all been incomplete and can't be interconnected. This time, everything's different as the federation is releasing this technology, so all of the systems will be unified. The federation is hosting this competition and offering such valuable prizes in order to attract as many Soul Master participants as possible, thereby allowing them to promote this new technology. It's said that this system has already been tested in the military to great effect."

"It'd be awesome if all of this were true. What are we waiting for then? Let's go and sign up as well. It's all free anyway, so we can just participate to accrue experience, if nothing else."

"Are there any restrictions?"

"I've heard that everyone can participate as long as they're not Titled Douluos or three-word battle armor masters. Apparently, the system is still unable to handle battles between three-word battle armor masters as the external firmware isn't strong enough. Even after being scanned into the system, the energy radiating from the bodies of three-word battle armor masters during battle could still easily damage the system. In short, you can't be a Titled Douluo, and if you're a three-word battle armor master, you're prohibited from using your battle armor. Aside from that, anyone is allowed to participate."