"So you guys went back early? It must have been something very important if you had to go on without them." Said Yun Ming as he stared at Wu Zhankong and the others from his chair.
They were all standing before the round table of the Sea God Pavillion House. Wu Yiyi and Zhao Jiu were glancing all around, taking in the sights of the legendary building.
While Wu Zhankong and Shen Yi were staring at Yun Ming with serious looks on their face.
"Yes, your honorable Sea God Master. The Holy Spirit Ya Li told us to go on ahead, to report to you about our findings on the Lost Continent." Said Wu Zhankong causing Yun Ming to nod his head.
"What did you guys find?"
"...Well, the lost continent isn't what it appears to be."
Wu Zhankong and Shen Yi began retelling Yun Ming everything they learned about the Demon Continent.
The layout of the continent, the demons that they found there as well as their exploration of Mahal.
Then what they learned from the person known as Nexus in the tower.
"The Monarchs are actually here!" Shouted Yun Ming his eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at the grim look of Shen Yi and Wu Zhankong.
"Yes, from the words of Nexus. They must have been here for months now, around the time of the Calamities." Said Shen Yi.
"With there plan being to try and find a way to free their demon army from the barrier that surrounds them."
"What about Ya Li and Wulin?"
"At the end of our talk, Nexus rewarded us for making it to his location. We were done receiving it before Tang Wulin, so Ya Li decided to stay back for him. Once he is done, Nexus should have transported them back to the mainland as he did us." Said Wu Zhankong causing Yun Ming to nod his head.
"Alright, you guys can go and take a rest. You should go rest, we will talk more about your findings later." Said Yun Ming as he glanced at Wu Yiyi and Zhao Jiu before they all left.
Yun Ming frowned as he thrums his fingers on the table, thinking if there was anything strange that happened this year.
That could allow him to relate it to the Demon Monarchs. But he couldn't really think of anything since the continent had been a mess for the past months.
Any activity he thinks he could relate to the Demon Monarch can easily as well be from the Calamities.
Or the Holy Spirit Cult.
'Hmm...Wait a minute. He said they are looking for a way to break the barrier that appeared around the continent. What on this planet would be strong enough to-'
Yun Ming's eyes widened before he swiftly pulled out his soul communicator and dialed a number.
The communicator rang for a few seconds before someone picked up.
"Yun Ming? I am kinda busy at the moment-"
"Cut the crap Chen Xinjie. I need you to tell me exactly what happened when the God Killer was stolen." Said Yun Ming as his hands moved through the piles of reports on the table.
"That? I thought you read the report?"
"I did but I need to know your story or at least what your men saw. I do not doubt that the higher-ups for you would be keeping the exact details a secret from us." Said Yun Ming.
Which wasn't all of a surprise since the Federation lied to all of the other organizations.
When they told everyone that all of the God Killers were destroyed. So they wouldn't be able to provide much to help kill the Calamities.
But from what they learned, the God Killer was too damaged to utilize against the Calamities at the time.
Shrek and the others didn't believe that the Federation was lying about this.
As they were the ones screaming for Calamity's death and wanted all the organizations to work together to kill them.
"...Alright." Said Chen Xinjie with a sigh before he relays what exactly his men told him.
Yun Ming fingers kept on tapping on the table as Chen Xinjie spoke before sighing when he was done.
'That sounds way too much of a coincidence...'
"Do you know anything about it? You also believe it was the Holy Spirit Cult?"
"...I have another candidate. It might be the Demon Monarchs from the Demon Plane." Said Yun Ming.
"Huh? Yun Ming, what are you talking about? Didn't you all stop the invasion and destroy the seed-"
"Not that Xinjie. I guess I should have started with this first but here is what I recently learned."
Yun Ming began telling Chen Xinjie everything Wu Zhankong and the others told him.
Bang!
Yun Ming heard the sounds of something breaking on the other line before Chen Xinjie spoke.
"Damn it! We don't have time for those pests! To think such a thing can happen at such a bad time. So that's why you think it might be them?"
"Yes, they might have stolen the God Killer weapon from the Federation, to destroy the barrier around the Demon Continent. So they can free their demonic army and begin their siege of the world." Said Yun Ming with a grim look.
"So I should get my men's and ride the Federation Navel over there to guard the area...Wait a minute." Mutter Chen Xinjie causes Yun Ming to arch his brow.
"It could also be the Holy Spirit Cult. As they might have stolen it to use it against Shrek." Said Chen Xinjie, causing Yun Min to sigh.
"While it is true all of us haven't fully recovered from the Calamities attack. Shrek is still in the best state out of all of us and can be considered the world's present symbol. If Something was to happen to Shrek...Were it to be destroyed, this might just crush the spirit of the people on this continent." Said Chen Xinjie.
This wasn't him giving face to Yun Ming and all of Shrek but the undeniable truth.
As to the world, especially the Douluo Continent, it was Shrek that has constantly stayed strong through this strife.
They repelled the attack of the Dread Wolf, Fafnir while the other organization fell from the Calamities might.
They held the key players that were needed to slay the Calamities, that being Tang Wulin.
The person that Chen Xinjie recently found out was being worshiped in some parts of the world as a god.
They were also able to help fix the problem in Star Dou Continent, with that same continent sending their thanks.
All of this has created a sense of confidence in the world, as long as Shrek is around.
All is well.
"I know... This means at the moment, there are two areas that might be destroyed with these God Killer weapons." Said Yun Ming.
He couldn't say it would be impossible for them to use the God-Killers somewhere else.
But only these two places seemed like the most viable spot, especially if either fraction wanted to maximize their profits.
"The Demon Continent or Shrek." Said Chen Xinjie with a sigh before asking Yun Ming.
"What do you think we should do?"
"Let's follow your original plan and have some of your soldiers stay around the Demon Continent Island. You will be using the Tang Sect submarine, so you can avoid being spotted by any of the Monarch if they are coming over." Said Yun Ming.
"This might cause some tension with the Federation."
"It doesn't matter, they can get jealous all they want about the submarine later. Right now, we all need to work together to prevent another tragedy from happening."
"I agree...What about Shrek?"
"We will continue doing what we were doing but I will have more of the elders around the city. To spot or seek out anything suspicious, as they should still need to come close to unleash the God-Killers."
"I see, avoiding any suspicion so they don't change their plans. This will be pretty tricky, as we don't know who has it, so all we're doing is guessing."
"That's all we can do, at the very least. We know what should be attacked." Said Yun Ming with his eyes slightly narrowing.
"Hm, I was wondering but don't you think they might be on the same side?"
"I don't think so, as the Holy Spirit Cult and Demon Monarch don't seem to follow the same ideal. At the very least, I wouldn't be surprised if they are using each other. Similar to how that cult was using the Calamities to help boost their ranks and strength." Said Yun Ming.
"Alright, I will get them ready, you have a meeting place?"
"Yes, I will send it to you later. First, I gotta inform the others and then get the Tang Sect approval for the submarines."
"Alright."
Yun Ming let out a sigh as he saw Chen Xinjie hanging up, wondering just why this year was so active.
'Why can't we have a good amount of peace?'
#
"...Could I have been wrong?" Muttered Er Ming as he huddles off to the side of where everyone was at.
"...Just how long is he going to be like that."Muttered Da Ming with Ya Li only shrugging.
"It takes a while to come to terms and even longer to get past the what-ifs." Said Ya Li.
"Still, I am not sure if that would have been a happy ending for them. Since our life energy is endless, whereas she wouldn't even be able to make it to a thousand. but I doubt he will be happy when she grows old and dies." Said, Da Ming.
"I agree but that's the beauty of it. It's better to love than to never at all, even if in the end, that love will disappear." Said Ya Li with a faint smile.
"Better to love than to not to huh..."Mutter Da Ming as he glances at Er Ming with a hint of sorrow in his eyes.
It wasn't amiss to say he felt a bit jealous of his little brother, for being able to leave behind descendants.
From his constant time of cultivating so, he and his family didn't get killed off in the Great Star Dou Forest.
Back then, one would be destroyed for not being powerful enough in Great Star Dou Forest.
But after reaching his strength of over a hundred thousand years, he found there was already no more suitable companion.
As he was a variant himself as there was only one Azure Oxpython and it was him in the whole world.
On the other hand, creatures of different species would rarely copulate in the soul beasts' world.
Considering his age and his reputation, he could find it within himself to find a mate now.
Technically he could couple with mankind since he was a human in a sense from Tang San reviving them in the Divine realm.
But it wasn't like he ever thought about it before.