"What did she say? Hurry up and tell me!" Chen Xinjie grabbed Tang Wulin by the shoulders and shook him vigorously.

Tang Wulin replied, "Elder Long said that she won't see you unless Shrek Academy gets rebuilt."

"Shrek Academy?" As opposed to the enraged reaction Tang Wulin had expected, Chen Xinjie's eyes glazed over slightly, and he reflexively released Tang Wulin, following which a bitter look appeared on his face.

"Rebuilding Shrek Academy is going to be a monumental endeavor. I'm willing to help you, but why can't you be with me so we can work together? Yueyue, we have so little time left; are you really unwilling to give me another chance?"

In that instant, Tang Wulin clearly caught sight of a hint of grief flashing through Chen Xinjie's eyes.

Tang Wulin merely listened and didn't dare to say anything. However, his heart was filled with a peculiar feeling. Chen Xinjie had been so dogmatic and overbearing when dealing with him, yet even an almighty Limit Douluo was just as lost and inconsolable as he was when it came to love.

"Are you from Shrek Academy?" Chen Xinjie calmed himself down before turning to Tang Wulin. He could only show this side of himself to Long Yeyue.

Tang Wulin nodded in response. Elder Long had told him that he could make whatever request he wanted to Chen Xinjie, and from the looks of it, Chen Xinjie was going to be far more receptive than before.

Chen Xinjie's eyes narrowed slightly as he appraised Tang Wulin. "Your objective is to prevent this war from happening, right?"

Tang Wulin nodded again.

Chen Xinjie raised his head to the heavens, and sighed, "I understand. Perhaps you'll only forgive me if I show you how serious I am through my actions. Tell her that I still have 10 years left at most, and I'll spend every single day of the rest of my life working toward fulfilling her wish. You have my number; keep in touch. Even if she gives me only a single day before I pass away, I'll be satisfied. I don't know when or if Shrek Academy will be successfully rebuilt, but I want to implore her to allow me to love her with all my heart for a single day."

As soon as his voice trailed off, Chen Xinjie's body abruptly transformed into watery ripples before vanishing into thin air.

Tang Wulin had been stunned by his words. This was a relationship that had spanned over 100 years, yet Chen Xinjie's love for Elder Long was still so pure that he would be content with just spending a single day with her. Tang Wulin was suddenly struck by the feeling that Elder Long was being too cruel, but he quickly cast that thought aside. After all, he had no idea what had happened between the two of them.

"Everything seems to have worked out pretty well." Zang Xin had appeared behind Tang Wulin again without his notice.

Tang Wulin turned to look at him with a resigned look on his face. It certainly wasn't a good feeling to be caught in a figurative revolving door with three Limit Douluos!

"We won't need to do anything from now on, right, Your Majesty?" Tang Wulin asked.

"That's right, you and your friends can prepare to set off; don't worry about anything else."

......

One day later, the Holy Spirit Cult suddenly took over control of a soul television station in the federation and announced responsibility for the Skysea City military port bombing. The announcement created a massive stir in the media, and the Dove Faction took advantage of this opportunity to lash out at the Eagle Faction, accusing them of mindlessly plotting invasions when they hadn't yet addressed the internal issues within the federation.

The threat of the Holy Spirit Cult was far too massive to be ignored, and the federal parliament was forced to issue an order to hunt down the cult.

In reality, it would be virtually impossible to actually hunt down the core members of the Holy Spirit Cult, given how secretive the organization was, but at the very least, this could divert the attention of the public to a certain extent.

Thus, the general public's concern surrounding the Holy Spirit Cult began to outweigh their support for the war, and the military came under a cloud of controversy as a result. The Dove Faction continued to attack the Eagle Faction, asking them what they were going to do if the Holy Spirit Cult were to strike while the bulk of the military was away attacking other continents.

The Dove Faction was adopting an indirect strategy here. They didn't continue to directly oppose the prospect of war; they were simply alerting the general public of just how fearsome the threat of the Holy Spirit Cult was.

In doing so, the Dove Faction received a huge amount of public support, and they finally gained the upper hand, albeit only on a temporary basis.

The Sea God Legion Commander and Battle God Hall Master, Boundless Ocean Douluo Chen Xinjie, made a public announcement to declare war against the Holy Spirit Cult, and that they were going to launch widespread search and destroy operations against the Holy Spirit Cult with Skysea City as the starting point.

Thus, it became quite clear that no war was going to be taking place anytime soon.

It was also at this time that a massive whale-like submarine was silently traveling into the distance beneath the surface of the East Sea.

Tang Wulin was seated in a cross-legged manner, meditating in his cabin. He had been completely stunned when he had first caught sight of this submarine docked by the secret harbor.

He was already aware of just how much power the Tang Sect had, but never did he think that they would possess such a gargantuan instrument of war!

The federal government's research into submarines was only in its infancy stages, and there were only some experimental submarines in the federal military, as opposed to any official submarine fleets. Despite this, the Tang Sect possessed such a gigantic submarine, which was over 360 meters in length. At its widest point, it had a width of 78 meters, and at its tallest point, it measured 62 meters in height. Its shape resembled that of a massive whale, and it could house 5,000 people at once.

There were designated mecha and soul missile cabins, all of which were split up in a very clear manner. According to Zang Xin, this submarine had been named Thousand Spirit after the Thousand Hand Douluo and Spirit Ice Douluo, and it possessed the newest technology that wasn't even available to the federation. It was far larger than a federal submarine, and it was also over 30% faster.

It was propelled by the most advanced soul circuits, and in the ocean, it could absorb the surrounding water elements to fuel itself. Theoretically, as long as there was a Soul King or above present to operate the soul circuit and cleanse it of impurities, this submarine could keep traveling forever.

The submarine had 36 openings through which soul missiles could be launched, and all soul missiles below the ninth-grade could be launched through them. On top of that, it also had special marine soul missiles, and with the power of the federal military's current submarines, they would be no match for the Thousand Spirit. It was able to travel over long distances at a depth of three kilometers, and only after witnessing this submarine did Tang Wulin truly understand just what level of development the technology in the Tang Sect had reached.

This was the true trump card of the Tang Sect that gave them the confidence to travel to the other two continents without being discovered.

Tang Wulin and the others had entered the submarine through a secret passageway. The submarine itself was docked in the deep sea, and supplies were transported into it from the surface through a special passageway.

The federal navy's underwater detection devices were quite lackluster, so they were completely unable to detect the existence of the Thousand Spirit.

They had finally set off. The Thousand Spirit descended into the deep sea and gradually traveled further and further away from the Douluo Continent. This wasn't the first time that Tang Wulin had left the Douluo Continent, but this trip felt completely different.

During his last trip to the Star Luo Empire, he had only been a student with very little responsibilities on his shoulders, and was only participating in a competition. He had been stuck in the Dragon Valley for several years, but he still completely belonged to the Douluo Continent.

In contrast, from the perspective of the Douluo Federation, what he was doing now could easily be framed as treason. In a sense, he was already opposing the federation. He didn't feel any guilt toward this, but this was certainly a different feeling compared to last time.

All Tang Wulin could do now was to cultivate as conscientiously as possible. Ye Xinglan and Yuanen Yehui were still constructing everyone's suits of three-word battle armor as quickly as they could, trying to complete as many pieces of battle armor as possible before they arrived at the Dou Spirit Empire.

Tang Wulin's run-in with Na Nali had given him a very nasty awakening, alerting him to the fact that in the face of truly powerful beings, their powers were still quite insignificant.