Devil Island Directed Training

Xie Xie froze for a moment, then sprang up from the rubble faster than anyone else. The man who had been lying there half-dead just moments before was now scrambling after him, shouting, "Wait for me! You're the one who's ruining things, not me!"

Tang Wulin shook his head, bent down to pick up Xu Xiaoyan's Star Staff and handed it back to her, then said to the remaining people, "Let's not run anymore. We can't outrun Teacher Cai's messages anyway. We might as well walk slowly; it'll make us seem more polite."

Ye Xinglan glanced at him. "Are you trying to appear friendly, or are you just too tired to run anymore?"

"... I have them all," Tang Wulin answered honestly.

Yuanen Yehui stood up from the stone slab, stretched his aching wrists, and said expressionlessly, "Anyway, he ran away but we didn't. Teacher Cai will look for him first."

Gu Yue walked at the back, following at a leisurely pace. When they reached the edge of the field, he glanced down at a piece of debris embedded in a crack in the stone slab.

A moment later, when Cai Yue'er arrived at the entrance of the Soul Fighting Arena with a file stamped with an official seal, she nearly crushed the file in her hand.

The bluestone pavement in the center of the Soul Fighting Arena seemed to have been turned upside down by a giant dragon. The largest crack stretched from the center all the way to the edge of the arena. Several stone slabs were piled up in the corner with their surfaces turned upside down, and a thick layer of debris and stone dust was spread out. When the wind blew, a cloud of gray mist was raised.

She stood at the door in silence for a long time, the edges of the paper in her hand crumpled.

"... Okay, very good."

She took a deep breath, turned, and walked towards the Shrek Academy gate.

The gatehouse of Shrek is one of the most magnificent buildings in the Outer Court, and the gilded plaque above the gate gleams in the afternoon sun.

Cai Yue'er stood directly below the gate tower, arms crossed, with a chair beside her, which she had apparently taken from some guard room. She sat down with an air of nonchalance, facing the main road leading to the city outside the gate, like a trap waiting for its prey to return.

Fifteen minutes later, several swaying figures appeared in the distance.

The first person I saw was Xie Xie. He was walking at the front, gesturing to the person next to him. He suddenly stopped halfway through his gesture, his finger pointing towards the gate frozen in mid-air.

"... It's over," he said.

The others stopped in their tracks.

Tang Wulin squinted at the figure below the gate tower, his expression slowly turning into resignation.

Xu Xiaoyan shrank behind Ye Xinglan.

Yuanen Yehui stood there expressionless, but her eyes had already darted around, searching for a side door to go around.

Yun Jingheng stood at the very back of the crowd.

He was about ten paces away from the others, clutching a grilled sausage in his hand, which he had obviously bought on the way and was currently biting into, not yet swallowing.

The moment he saw Cai Yue'er sitting at the gate, his chewing of the sausage slowed down. He squinted at her for a while, then took the half-swallowed piece of sausage from his mouth and turned to look at the height of the courtyard wall next to him.

"You're going to climb over the wall?" Xie Xie looked at him with a tone that seemed to say, "Are you crazy?"

"I'm considering the feasibility," Yun Jingheng said.

Cai Yue'er sat down at the foot of the gate tower, watching the group of people in the distance stop and begin to whisper. She didn't stand up or call out, but simply cleared her throat.

The voice wasn't loud, but it carried exceptionally clearly in the quiet afternoon. "Yun Jingheng, I see you. Finish your sausage before you come over, don't waste it."

Yun Jingheng stopped chewing the grilled sausage completely.

He looked down at the half-eaten sausage in his hand, then looked up at the upright figure below the gate, sighed, stuffed the sausage into his mouth in a few bites, patted the grease off his hands, and strode towards the gate.

Behind him, Xie Xie looked at him with an expression that said, "A hero goes forth never to return." Tang Wulin silently followed.

Yun Jingheng stopped three steps away from Cai Yue'er, and several people followed one after another. Xie Xie hid behind Tang Wulin, and Xu Xiaoyan shrank so much that she almost embedded herself in Ye Xinglan's shadow.

Yuanen Yehui stood at the very edge, his expression unreadable, but his eyes kept lingering on the file in Cai Yue'er's hand.

Cai Yue'er sat in a chair, legs crossed, looking at the row of faces in front of her—some guilty, some putting on a brave face, and some expressionless. After a few seconds, she smoothed out the crumpled file and patted it in her palm. Her tone was ambiguous, neither angry nor anything else. "You seven, put the Soul Fighting Arena aside for now."

"The repair costs will be deducted from your off-campus assignment subsidies (the seven of you), to be paid in installments over two years. Don't even think about trying to renege on the payment."

When Yun Jingheng heard the words "split over two years," his heart skipped a beat—what kind of terrible debt would be deducted for two years?

Cai Yue'er turned the file over and cleared her throat. "The targeted training quotas for Devil Island are for seven of you."

There was a moment of silence among the seven people.

Xie Xie peeked half his head out from behind Tang Wulin: "Devil Island?"

Cai Yue'er nodded. "The intensity of Devil Island far exceeds any training you've experienced at the academy. It's a two-year program with no holidays, no visits, and no option to quit midway. You either come out fully, or—"

She paused for a moment, then said, "Either you don't get out of here."

Yun Jingheng stood at the front, his gaze fixed on the file.

He noticed that when Cai Yue'er uttered her last sentence, her tone remained completely unchanged, as if she were stating an objective physical law, without any intimidation or exaggeration.

"When do we leave?" he asked.

Cai Yue'er glanced at him, then flipped to the last page of the file and pointed to the date column. "Someone will deliver it in three days. You don't need to bring too much luggage."

Tang Wulin remained silent for a moment, then asked in a low voice, "No messages will be sent back within two years?"

"The message won't get back," Cai Yue'er said. "Before you leave, make sure you have everything you need to say in the next couple of days. We'll meet at the dock in three days. Latecomers won't be waited for."

After she finished speaking, she rolled up the file, tapped it on the armrest of her chair, then stood up, dragging the chair back with a creak.

She glanced at the seven people in front of her, her gaze finally settling on Yun Jingheng, as if searching his face for something—hesitation? resistance? nervousness?

But after looking around, she only saw Yun Jingheng standing at the front with his hands in his pockets, his face expressionless.

"Alright, everyone, you can all leave now. Go back and pack your things."

Cai Yue'er turned and walked towards the academy, but stopped after a few steps. Without turning her head, she added, "Yun Jingheng, your father is looking for you. Go back."

Cai Yue'er's figure vanished in a flash in front of the gate.

The remaining seven people stood under the gate, the sunlight shining brightly overhead, casting a warm glow on the ground.

Xie Xie stepped out from behind Tang Wulin and rubbed his face vigorously. "Devil Island... I've heard my senior brothers mention it since my first day at the academy. Legend has it that less than half of the people who go there ever come back unscathed. But those who do come back all become Titled Douluo."

Ye Xinglan's expression was as calm as if she were listening to advice on what to wear tomorrow. "That's great. After going and coming back, you'll definitely become Titled Douluo. No matter how you look at it, it's a win-win situation."

Yuanen Yehui glanced at her, a slight smile playing on his lips, then turned and walked towards the dormitory. "Then let's pack our things."

Yun Jingheng stood at the foot of the gate tower, raised his hand to shield his eyes from the sunlight, and squinted at the canopy of the Golden Tree in the distance.

After a few seconds, he turned to the rest of the group and said, "Let's meet at the dock in three days. Give us everything you need to say. I'll be going now."

When he pushed open the gate to his courtyard, Yun Ming was sitting on the porch drinking tea.

He looked up at his son, his gaze lingering on his face for a moment, then put down his teacup. "Going to Devil Island was my arrangement."

"Um."

Yun Jingheng sat down across the stone table, poured himself a cup of tea, and said, "Isn't two years a bit too long?"

"Those who can stay for the full two years but can't handle the mental strain will be teleported away. You'll reap considerable benefits there."