Meanwhile, Tribute of Life transformed into a ball of green jelly-like substance that was quickly squirming in an attempt to extricate itself from the Golden Dragon Spear. However, the Golden Dragon Spear refused to let up, and regardless of how much it struggled and writhed, the light radiating from the Golden Dragon Spear continued to grow brighter and brighter, while Tribute of Life dimmed further with each passing second.

"Sect Master Tang, can't you stop this?" Yu Guanzhi asked in an exasperated manner. He had truly shot himself in the foot!

Prior to coming here, it had never occurred to him that something like this was a possibility.

A wry smile appeared on Tang Wulin's face. "I want to stop it, but I can't! I'm only a vessel for this spear; I can't stop it when it wants to do something. Divine tools have their own autonomous will and are capable of evolution. For the Golden Dragon Spear, devouring life energy is the key to its evolution. As its vessel, I can help it store some life energy, which it will gradually absorb while it's resting in my body, so there's nothing I can do to stop it. It clearly really likes your Tribute of Life, just like a child who's found a new favorite toy.

"We can't take that toy away from it or it'll throw a tantrum. We're still depending on it in this battle against the abyssal plane, so we can't afford to get on its bad side now, isn't that right?"

Yu Guanzhi's lips twitched slightly upon hearing this. What kind of question was that? What choice did he have in the matter?

Yu Guanzhi didn't know whether to laugh or cry at this situation. This Tribute of Life belonged to his family, not the federation; who was going to compensate him for its loss? Even though he was the current family leader, having a divine tool stripped away like this was a heavy loss.

"Sect Master Tang, you have to compensate me for this!" Yu Guanzhi urged with a wry smile.

Tang Wulin replied, "How do you propose we do that? Our Shrek Academy and Tang Sect are just small organizations with no other divine tools in our possession!"

Yu Guanzhi almost swore out loud upon hearing this. Shrek Academy and the Tang Sect were small organizations? What kind of small organization stood for 20,000 years?!

However, he knew that he couldn't afford to lose his temper here, so he could only heave a forlorn sigh. "Ever since I became the leader of my family, Tribute of Life has always been with me. To me, it's not just a divine tool; it's a friend, a companion, a brother; it's family! I can't bear to part with it!" Tears began to well up in his eyes as he spoke, and Tang Wulin couldn't help but be stunned by Yu Guanzhi's acting skills.

He clearly wasn't that grief-stricken just a moment ago! How had the onset of emotions arrived so quickly? This was some next-level method acting!

Tang Wulin put on a resigned expression, and said, "There's not much I can do. You asked for this yourself, and I don't have any divine tools to compensate you with!"

Yu Guanzhi sighed, "The problem is that I have to answer to my family. How about this? I won't ask for a divine tool for compensation. I've heard that you're a super prodigy of the blacksmith world and that your heavenly refinement speed is unmatched, so how about you forge a few suits of four-word battle armor for our family in your spare time? If you can do that, I'll shoulder the blame for the loss of this divine tool."

Tang Wulin was astonished by just how shameless this elderly general was.

He was making it sound like suits of four-word battle armor were cabbage that could be sold for a dime a dozen!

"I can only promise you one suit of four-word battle armor," Tang Wulin said.

"Deal!" Yu Guanzhi agreed without any hesitation.

While it was completely unexpected that Tribute of Life was devoured, Yu Guanzhi had already made up his mind before coming here that his most important objective was to establish good relations with Tang Wulin, and the main reason behind this was that Tang Wulin was the only current active Divine Blacksmith!

As the leader of a prominent family, he had to think for the sake of his next generation, and the importance of four-word battle armor couldn't be understated.

He never actually intended to get Tang Wulin to return Eternal Heaven. Given sufficient time, Tang Wulin would definitely be able to drive Shrek Academy and the Tang Sect to a historically unprecedented peak.

What would it be like once all of the Titled Douluos of Shrek Academy and the Tang Sect were equipped with suits of four-word battle armor? No other power would have any hope of matching the two super organizations then.

To put it bluntly, perhaps there would only be a chance for Shrek Academy to be repressed once Tang Wulin passed away.

The crushing defeat Tang Wulin had inflicted upon Qiangu Dongfeng heralded the arrival of a new era that belonged to Shrek Academy.

The final traces of light radiating from Tribute of Life faded, and the Golden Dragon Spear roared with elation as it vanished back into Tang Wulin's glabella as a streak of golden light.

Immediately thereafter, Tang Wulin's aura also became subdued again. At his current level of power, controlling his own aura was a very simple task.

Offering a suit of four-word battle armor in exchange for devouring a divine tool was a very worthwhile trade, and he could clearly sense the emotion of excitement currently being transmitted to him by the tree of life.

This was life energy of the highest caliber and highest degree of purity, and it was what the tree of life yearned for the most.

In this short span of time, the secondary tree of life had grown to over twice its original size, stretching to over 50 meters tall. All types of plants were beginning to germinate on the nearby mountains, and rich life energy hung in the air like a substantial mist.

Devouring this divine tool had benefited the ancient tree of life even more so than devouring the energy of all of those abyssal creatures during the day.

Tang Wulin could sense that even the life energy of a quasigod level abyssal creature would only provide roughly the same level of nourishment for the tree of life.

Even more importantly, he could feel extremely potent reciprocation from the tree of life, thereby drastically enhancing his physical body. He seemed to be in a state that was infinitely approaching A'Ruheng's Invincible Vajra Body; all he needed was the final breakthrough.

Yu Guanzhi heaved a long sigh as he turned to Tang Wulin with an envious expression. "Looks like I won't be able to complete any of the objectives I came here with. Sect Master Tang, what are your views on this battle?"

Everything else that had been discussed earlier had been largely irrelevant, and Yu Guanzhi was finally getting to the main topic now.

After watching the footage of the battle between the Five Limit Douluos of Shrek Academy and the three quasigods of the abyss, Yu Guanzhi knew that Shrek Academy and the Tang Sect's support was going to be indispensable if they wanted to defeat the abyssal plane.

Tang Wulin replied, "We've stopped the abyssal army from reaching further inland, so we've already completed our initial objective. However, the Black Sovereign has already appeared in such a short time, which indicates that this invasion will most likely be even more fearsome than the one that took place 6,000 years ago. The Black Sovereign is only ranked ninth in the abyssal plane, and all of the sovereigns above her are undoubtedly even more powerful; which is a very sobering thought. 

"Our top priority is to focus our efforts on preventing the passageway from expanding any further. Most of the forces deployed by our Tang Sect and Shrek Academy have already arrived, and we're ready to go at any time; the rest is up to the federation."

Yu Guanzhi nodded in response. "I've already gotten a copy of the sealing array's blueprint from the Blood God Legion, and I'm currently getting my troops to prepare the required resources as quickly as possible. However, we'll need everyone's help to create the array, so a copy of the blueprint will also be delivered to you soon."

Tang Wulin's heart stirred slightly upon hearing this. He was well aware of just how precious this blueprint was, and it was also strictly confidential federal information, so it was a significant show of sincerity that Yu Guazhi was willing to give him a copy so easily.

Tang Wulin knew that Yu Guanzhi was a vice-minister of the army headquarters, a role that Chen Xinjie had also once held.

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