Xu Lizhi said, "I finally understand why all of our teachers from the academy and the upperclassman from the Battle God Hall were reacting so unnaturally at the mention of his military training; I never want to go back there ever again."

Indeed, back when they'd departed, all of them had rushed into the sea as quickly as they could so they could get away from the demonic island as soon as possible.

"When I think about it, I kind of feel sorry for the old demons," Xu Xiaoyan sighed.

A cold look appeared on Yue Zhengyu's face. "You feel sorry for them? Who's going to feel sorry for us? Have we not been tortured enough by them?"

"Calm down, Zhengyu," Tang Wulin urged, "We did indeed suffer horrendous torture at their hands, but we all have to admit that we've all improved significantly in many areas during these past few months. We've all grown up, and when we left the place, I suddenly felt like I was no longer a child, like I had truly become an adult."

"You're right! We've all grown up," Yuanen Yehui said with a faint smile.

Tang Wulin suddenly said, "By the way, during Old Demon Desire's trial, she showed me what happened to all of you. Do all of you want to know everyone's reactions?"

Everyone suddenly fell silent, and their eyes widened in unison.

Immediately thereafter, all of them exclaimed at once, "No!"

The soul train arrived, and its headlights finally brought some light to this secluded little train station. Tang Wulin took a deep breath as he thought back to the horrific experiences he'd encountered on soul trains before walking onto the train first.

They were finally about to go back. The horrendous military training was finally a thing of the past, and in the end, he refrained from telling everyone what Old Demon Desire had shown him. Some things were simply better left unsaid.

At the Northsea Legion base.

Shen Yue listened to the reports from her subordinates with a thunderous look on her face, and her mood was sour to the extreme.

Not only had a traitor appeared in their Northsea Legion, the traitor also held such an important position in the base. As the leader of the legion, she most definitely had to hold herself accountable for this. Most importantly, her own precious little sister had almost been abducted. She had to get to the bottom of this and weed out all of the traitors in the legion no matter what.

"Announce my orders to commence an exhaustive investigation right away! The legion base will be placed into complete lockdown during the duration of this investigation!"

"Yes!"

After Major Chen and his accomplices had been detained, a tally was completed, and it was discovered that over 200 soul bombs had gone missing from the warehouse. That many soul bombs were enough to raze a small city to the ground.

Shen Xing looked at her sister with a concerned expression, and even now, she still hadn't managed to completely calm her own emotions.

"Don't put too much pressure on yourself, Sister." Everyone had departed, so Shen Xing reverted back to referring to Shen Yue as "Sister" rather than "General".

Shen Yue's brows were tightly furrowed as she said, "It's no longer a matter of how much pressure I'm placing on myself; our Northsea Legion has been infiltrated by traitors, so what about all of the other legions? What about the entire Northeastern Military Region? This matter is far too serious to hide from our higher-ups; we have to report this right away. I'm most likely going to be handed a severe punishment, but I'll report you as the hero of this incident. After all, you were the one who noticed the missing soul bombs and detained Major Chen and the others in the end. No one saw Shrek's Seven Monsters in our base, so I can pretend as if they were never here and attribute everything to you."

"But what about you, Sister? What kind of punishment will you receive?" Shen Xing asked in an urgent manner.

Shen Yue shook her head with a wry smile. "Who knows? I'll just have to bite the bullet and let the chips fall where they may. This is an extremely severe issue, and I may even be stripped of my position as the leader of this legion in the aftermath. After you receive the accolades for the role you played in all of this, I'll get you deployed away from here as quickly as possible. It's about time you went off on your own."

Shen Xing nodded in a dejected manner. She knew that her sister was doing this to protect her. For some reason, after everything that had just transpired, she was able to have her first night of dreamless sleep in months.

Shen Yue didn't deploy anyone to go after Shrek’s Seven Monsters because there was simply no point. How would they stand to benefit from detaining Tang Wulin and the others? Doing so would only expose more security loopholes in the Northsea Legion base, and Shen Xing's accolades would also be stripped away. As such, it was better to just let them get away and pretend as if they were never here. After all, regardless of how much the Imperial Sun Moon Soul Engineer Academy despised Shrek Academy, that was more so of a competitive rivalry rather than actual enmity. As a high-ranking military official, she had to look at the bigger picture rather than making hot-headed spur-of-the-moment decisions.

After changing trains twice, Tang Wulin and his friends finally got onto a train that was heading toward Shrek City. Thankfully, they didn't encounter any terrorist attacks or any other incidents on this occasion.

When the soul train stopped at Shrek City, Tang Wulin was almost brought to tears. Having a safe and smooth train journey was such a wonderful feeling! He had been so tense and anxious the entire time, and he was thanking his lucky stars that no misfortune had befallen them.

After getting off the train, he stretched his body vigorously.

"We're finally back! Are you guys heading back to the academy right away or are you planning to do something else first?" Tang Wulin asked.

Xie Xie replied, "I don't want to head back to the academy so quickly; I need to take some time to relax. I almost went insane back there. I plan to take a trip back to visit my family; it's been a while since I last visited them. Yuanen, you should come with me. You know how the saying goes; even ugly wives have to meet their in-laws sooner or later." [This is a Chinese saying that's pretty self-explanatory; it basically means that no matter what flaws a woman has, she still has to meet her in-laws eventually. On a more general level, this basically means that one can't hide their flaws and must learn to directly face what needs to be faced.]

Yuanen Yehui's body was radiating killing intent as she pinched Xie Xie's ear. "Who did you just call ugly?"

"Me! Me! I was talking about myself! You're the most beautiful person in the world!" Xie Xie hurriedly said with a grimace on his face.

Yue Zhengyu chuckled in a goading manner. "That's what you get! Xiaoyan, aren't you going to invite me to visit your family as well? Surely you don't find me too ugly to show your parents."

Xie Xie grumbled, "Are you trying to pick a fight?!"

Xu Xiaoyan burst into laughter, and replied, "Sure! I come from the same place as Xie Xie, so you come with me back to Eastsea City as well. I'll introduce you to my parents."

Yue Zhengyu and Xie Xie exchanged a disdainful glance, but Yue Zhengyu didn't turn down Xu Xiaoyan's invitation, either.

Tang Wulin chuckled as he shook his head before turning to Ye Xinglan and Xu Lizhi. "What about you guys?"

Xu Lizhi turned to Ye Xinglan, and she said, "I think we'll go back to the academy. We've all learned many things in the past few months, and I plan on taking some time to consolidate everything. Lizhi has also reaped many rewards during this trip and needs to fortify his cultivation rank."

"Alright," Tang Wulin said, "Then let's meet again at the academy in a month from now. After that, I think we should focus on training more together; any objections?"

Xie Xie said, "I'm fine with that."

Yuanen Yehui nodded in response.

Yue Zhengyu chimed in, "I don't have any issues with that, either. I think you're making the right decision, Boss; after I graduate from the inner court, I plan to join the army with you."

Xie Xie turned to Yue Zhengyu with a surprised expression. "I didn't think you were so patriotic, Zhengyu!"

Xu Xiaoyan chuckled, "He just wants to join the army because he thinks military uniforms look really cool. After wearing that military uniform a few days ago, he's been talking to me about it non-stop."

Yue Zhengyu's expression instantly fell. "You can't just sweep the rug out from under your husband's feet like that!"

Xu Xiaoyan rolled her eyes at him. "Who says you're my husband?"

Yue Zhengyu chuckled, "We've already done the deed, so you're my wife now! I'm treating that illusion as reality, so as far as I'm concerned, we've already had physical relations. After all, Old Demon Desire's simulation was very convincing, hehehehe."

Xu Xiaoyan blushed at the sight of his sly grin, and she grumbled, "If you keep this up, I'm not taking you home with me!"

Yue Zhengyu hurriedly put on a serious expression.

Ye Xinglan smiled, and said, "I think that's a good idea as well. We are supposed to be part of one entity, so we really should work on our teamwork. Also, joining the army really doesn't sound like a bad idea. After witnessing the Northsea Legion, I finally understood that our individual powers are still far too insignificant in the face of the entire military. We might not stay in the military forever, but I think it's important to at least familiarize ourselves with modern military standards. Hence, I also want to join the army with Lizhi after we graduate."