Xu Lizhi rolled his eyes in response. "I've got my eyes set on both Yuanen Yehui and Xu Xiaoyan, and I'm currently thinking about which one I should confess to."

"Do you want to die?" Yue Zhengyu and Xie Xie both exclaimed in unison.

Xu Lizhi burst into laughter at the sight of their menacing expressions. "You two are looking more and more like a couple."

After that, he squeezed out the door and sped away as quickly as he could.

Xie Xie and Yue Zhengyu glanced at one another before the latter abruptly sprang backward, and warned, "You better keep your distance from me!"

"Piss off! This is my room!"

News of Dai Yun'er and Long Yue's arrival quickly spread through the entire inner court, and they were also made aware of the fact that these two were going to be studying alongside them during the upcoming period of time.

Others didn't know much about him, but this generation of Shrek’s Seven Monsters were very familiar with him.

Long Yue was like an insurmountable figure in their hearts that had left an extremely profound impression on them. If it weren't for Tang Wulin's bloodline intimidation, Gu Yue's earth element seal, and the final Divine Dragon Transformation, they wouldn't have been able to defeat such a fearsome opponent.

Following the competition, even Wu Zhangkong had admitted that he couldn't ensure victory against Long Yue in a one-on-one battle. Such glowing praise naturally only further accentuated just how powerful this freakish prodigy of the Star Luo Empire was.

"What did you say?!" Xu Xiaoyan's scream was audible even from several hundred meters away.

Not only her, but all of Shrek’s Seven Monsters were also staring at the two people before them with dumbstruck expressions on their faces.

They had finally met Dai Yun'er and Long Yue, who had come all the way here from afar, and the two of them revealed a piece of astonishing news to everyone.

"It's true," Dai Yun'er had an earnest look in her eyes as she said, "Not long ago, we'd received news that Tang Wulin is returning to the Douluo Continent from the Tang Sect headquarters in Star Luo City on a long-distance ferry supplied by the Tang Sect. Traveling by sea is quite unpredictable, but the Tang Sect's long-distance ferries have always been quite reliable. The two of us hurried over as we heard this news; has he still not come back yet?"

All of the members of Shrek’s Seven Monsters, with the exception of Gu Yue, were completely shocked to hear this news.

"He's not dead? Captain's still alive? He survived even after the small world collapsed?" Xie Xie exclaimed as he suddenly leaped into the air with unbridled excitement.

Yue Zhengyu also swung an arm through the air in an elated manner.

Dai Yun'er's eyes were shimmering with a peculiar light. "I was also really shocked to hear this. I always thought that he'd already... Thank heavens he's still alive. I'm sure the information from the Tang Sect is reliable, so we'll wait here for him."

Ye Xinglan was one of the calmer people present, and she looked at Dai Yun'er as she asked, "Why do you want to meet Wulin?"

Dai Yun'er smiled, and replied, "He's my man, so of course I have to come and find him after finding out he's still alive!"

"What did you say?" Everyone stared at Dai Yun'er with flabbergasted expressions, and they seemed even more shocked by this revelation than they were by the news that Tang Wulin was still alive.

A faint blush appeared on Dai Yun'er's face as she explained in a shy manner, "Over three years ago, we entered the small world together as we were both agents of the Tang Sect's Battle Hall. He was White Three while I was White Seven, and we were placed into the same group by chance. After staying with each other for so long, a relationship naturally blossomed, and one thing led to another. After that, we encountered an extremely perilous situation, and he teleported me out of the small world first to protect me, but I lost contact with him immediately thereafter. I've been searching for him for all these years; I'm sure he'll be fine. Not long ago, I finally received some news about him, and he's my fiance, so I naturally had to come and find him. All of you are his best friends, so if he comes back, make sure to tell him that I came. If he's willing to go back to the Star Luo Continent with me, then he'll be my fiance. If he really doesn't want to come with me, then I'll stay here for him, even if it means that I won't be a royal anymore."

Everyone's eyes widened even further at the sight of Dai Yun'er's shy display. All of them reflexively turned toward Gu Yue to gauge her reaction, but strangely enough, her expression remained completely calm and unchanged.

"Thank you for bringing news about Wulin back to us, but he still hasn't returned yet. We've also all been waiting for him this entire time. If there's nothing else you'd like to speak about, then we'll be taking our leave now," Gu Yue said in an indifferent voice before immediately turning around to depart.

A smug look appeared in Dai Yun'er's eyes, and she smiled as she said, "I'll be waiting for him here. I'm sure he'll return to the academy as soon as he comes back."

None of the other members of Shrek’s Seven Monsters said anything in response, and they all departed behind Gu Yue.

"Don't listen to her spout nonsense, Gu Yue; I can tell from the unsteady tone of her voice that she's lying. On top of that, Captain was only 15 years old three years ago; how could something have happened between them just because they were together for a few months?" Ye Xinglan consoled in a level-headed manner.

Xie Xie said, "But they've already come to our academy; if nothing happened between them, why is she in such a hurry to see him? In any case, it's fantastic news that Captain is still alive! We'll let him take care of these matters on his own when he gets back."

Everyone nodded in response. These types of matters could only be addressed by the people directly involved.

"What he did has nothing to do with me." Gu Yue suddenly sped up and quickly detached herself from the rest of the group.

Why did you have to come back at a time like this? I had just made up my mind to leave a few months from now, so why did you have to come back now? It took me so much effort to finally rid myself of these chaotic emotions, but news of your return has completely undone all of these efforts. Why are you coming back? Why now of all times?

"What do we do?" Everyone glanced at one another.

"We'll just have to wait until Captain comes back. These are his personal matters, so we can't really do anything," Yue Zhengyu said with a resigned shrug.

Indeed, this wasn't something that they could interfere with. In any case, all of them were in extremely high spirits. Tang Wulin was alive and well, and he was about to come back; could there be any better news than this?

Several days later, at the main gate of Shrek Academy.

After getting off the soul taxi, Tang Wulin was greeted by the sight of the massive familiar gate, and he felt as if the past three years were memories from a past life.

Only after leaving the Dragon Valley was he made aware of just how long he'd stayed in there. It was a total of three years and four months!

During those 40 long months, he'd completed the monumental feat of burying all of the dragon skeletons in the dragon tomb. He was now 18 years old and close to turning 19.

Everyone must be all grown up now. I wonder if the academy has changed much during the time I've been away. My friends, I'm back! Are you all still at the academy? I'm back, Na'er, sorry for making you worry.

With these complex emotions in his heart, Tang Wulin quickly rushed over to the gate of Shrek City before planting an enthusiastic kiss onto the wall. The feeling of returning home filled his entire body with a scorching giddy energy.

After making his way into Shrek City, he looked around to discover that everything was extremely familiar. He rushed over to the familiar noodle shop that Xu Lizhi had once taken him to, and he ordered 10 bowls of noodles to feast on at once.

Back when he'd used his dragon ball to depart from the Dragon Valley, he'd discovered that there wasn't even a single person to be seen on the mountain summit. As such, he had no choice but to traverse through the forest, and it took him a long time to find a car before returning to Star Luo City.

After arriving back at the city, he could only request assistance from the Tang Sect. Thankfully, the Tang Sect owned cargo ferries that shipped products between the two continents, and he'd received news from the Tang Sect that the delegation had already returned to the Douluo Continent over two years ago.