However, the situation would be completely different when it came to a mecha crafted by himself. If he could possess a black mecha that was perfectly suited to him, then his battle stamina and combat prowess would definitely both reach a whole new level.

He had already set a goal for himself; he was going to progress steadily in his soul power, striving to reach the Soul Sage level as soon as possible. At the same time, he was going to prepare the materials required for his suit of three-word battle armor as quickly as he could, then dedicate all of his efforts to crafting a mecha for himself.

After doing all that, he would finally have developed a certain foundation and could begin to prepare for the rebuild of Shrek Academy. After that, he had to visit his friends to give them their 100,000-year-old soul spirits to elevate the overall powers of Shrek's Seven Monster so that everyone would have more influence in the military.

Of course, that was still far from enough. All seven of them had to become Titled Douluos, and only then would they truly have some speaking rights in the Soul Master world, as well as in the military and the federal parliament.

They were going to face stern opposition in their endeavor to rebuild Shrek Academy, and the most powerful of those opponents were most likely going to be the federal parliament and the Spirit Pagoda!

Never had Tang Wulin been under the impression that he would be able to do everything on his own. He had to recruit more help; if he wanted to stand at the pinnacle of the entire continent, he had to develop his own forces, and that would require time to accumulate.

Following the time he'd spent at the Blood God Legion thus far, the lust for vengeance in his heart had condensed. He was less fixated on doing things quickly and had learned to see the bigger picture.

He wasn't alone, after all; he still had his friends and the support of the Tang Sect, and what he had to do was use all of the resources at his disposal to make himself more powerful.

Soon, a rhythmic tapping akin to that of rain falling on a banana leaf rang out from within his forging room, and the sound was very pleasant to the ears.

By immersing himself in his forging, Tang Wulin's heart entered a completely calm and placid state.

……

"He made it into the grand final of both disciplines? That truly is an incredible feat!" Zhang Huanyun wore a rather peculiar look on his face, and he felt as if his heart were dripping blood! Why hadn't he insisted on taking Tang Wulin under his wing earlier? Perhaps he could've had a chance!

At the time, Tang Wulin had technically "attacked" him, and if he refused to drop those charges, even Cao Dezhi wouldn't have been able to protect him. He could only blame himself for being too easygoing.

Zhang Huanyun watched the footage of the match between Tang Wulin and Bubble King three times, heaving internal sighs the entire time.

"You're becoming more and more convinced by my judgment, right?" A slightly gloating voice suddenly sounded from beside him.

Zhang Huanyun grumbled, "Do you not know how to knock?"

"We're such close friends; knocking would be creating distance between us, wouldn't it?" A man had suddenly appeared in the chair on the other side of his desk, and it was none other than the Blood One that he had just been cursing in his mind.

"What's your plan?" Zhang Huanyun asked as he appraised Cao Dezhi with an intense gaze.

Cao Dezhi chuckled, "You sure are good at sniffing out these things! I came to find you to discuss this matter. I know your petty mind is thinking about trying to take him away from me, but set that aside for now, and let's discuss the feasibility of my plan. After watching his recent match footage, I feel like he's getting closer and closer to reaching maturity, and he's performed even more exceptionally than I imagined. It has to be said that Shrek Academy possesses foresight that's superior to ours!"

Zhang Huanyun harrumphed, "Of course! Shrek Academy has been the number one academy on the continent for over 20,000 years. Even over 20,000 years ago, their academy mantra was that they only accepted monsters and no ordinary people; of course we can't match them when it comes to selecting talents. Come to think of it, your Tang Sect has also been around for 20,000 years, right? It's somewhat interconnected with Shrek Academy, so why isn't your sect nurturing these freakish talents?"

Cao Dezhi grumbled, "I'm not here to bicker with you! I'm going to tell you my plan, and you can tell me if I've missed any details."

……

Within the abyssal passageway.

"Thump, thump, thump!" Faint booms were ringing out within the passageway.

Jiang Wuyue's brows furrowed slightly as he cast his gaze toward the passageway, only to find that there was nothing there. He turned toward his vice-battalion commander, and asked, "Have you investigated that region?"

"We've already conducted an exhaustive investigation with our devices, but we didn't detect any auras of abyssal creatures. With our newest detection equipment, even Possession Demons wouldn't be able to escape our detection, so I can verify that there are definitely no abyssal creatures, at least not on our end."

"Lub-dub, lud-dub, lub-dub!"

"Then where is that noise coming from?" Jiang Wuyue was rather displeased.

A wry smile appeared on his deputy's face. "I don't know. We've already investigated all of the passageways, and the results have all been the same; there are no signs or traces of any abyssal creatures. Don't be too uptight, Battalion Commander; the abyssal tide has just concluded recently. According to the precedents set in the past several thousand years, there won't be any large-scale attacks from the abyssal plane for at least two or three more decades. The recently concluded abyssal tide wasn't as ferocious as we expected, so the abyssal creatures wouldn't have suffered very heavy losses, but at the very least, they shouldn't be able to attack us for at least a year or two."

"I certainly hope that's the case. It's just that I've been feeling rather uneasy lately. In any case, all of you keep your eyes peeled; we can't let anything happen while we're on duty here, understood?"

"Yes!"

After issuing some instructions to his subordinates, Jiang Wuyue was feeling slightly more at ease. He was feeling quite cautious, perhaps because there had been a lot of pressure on him recently. This wasn't the first time that strange sounds had appeared in the abyssal passageway, so if the investigation yielded no results, then it most likely wasn't a big deal.

On the thought of the recent pressure he'd been facing, a sense of anger immediately welled up in his heart. All of this pressure stemmed from none other than Tang Wulin! This guy was way too insane!

He should be participating in the semifinals of the mecha battle competition now, right? Please lose!

If he were to progress to the grand final in both disciplines, then Jiang Wuyue would be extremely disheartened.

Back in the day, he was once an idol figure that the younger generation of the Blood God Legion looked up to, but with the arrival of Tang Wulin, he was immediately discarded like an old rag!

What was even more frustrating to him was that Long Yuxue was still just as cold toward him as ever. She had clearly already given up on Tang Wulin, but she still refused to give him a chance. Even his sister couldn't help him in this regard, and she was constantly scolding him for having a low EQ.

How did he have a low EQ? He wasn't very good with words, but was that a crime? Jiang Wuyue was feeling quite frustrated, but he couldn't do anything about this situation. After this round of guard duty, he was going to confront Yuxue and tell her his feelings no matter what.

He had already prepared himself to confess, then borderline harass her until she agreed. He was going to put everything on the line!

The abyssal passageway fell silent again. No signs of abyssal creatures were detected in the 36 branches of the passageway, but the main passageway that had been sealed for countless years seemed to be trembling slightly amid the faint thudding noise...

……

After returning to his dormitory room from his forging workshop, Tang Wulin was feeling as light as a feather, and this feeling came from expressing himself to his heart's content. Every hammer blow that he struck during the forging process allowed him to vent some of his frustrations, clearing his mind and calming his heart.

After returning to his dormitory room, he was surprised to discover that even though he'd only participated in two semifinal matches, he could clearly sense that his spiritual power had increased once again.

As expected, pressure was the best catalyst for improvement. Not only had his spiritual power improved, his Golden Dragon Spear had also undergone a transformation.