The Demon Island was part of a larger archipelago. The Demon Island itself was a barren wasteland, with barely any grass growing on it, including a few dead bushes here and there. But from before they landed, they could see that the other islands were no different. From the sky all the islands looked dark.
They got maps from Shrek Academy to help them find their destination. One was carried by Karni, and the other one by Tang Wulin. That was how they found this island. The island was peaceful. The military stopped attacking as soon as they were over the archipelago, and there was no one but them around.
From the sky, the Demon Island looked like any other of the archipelago. Almost black in terms of colour. Only now that they were here did they find that there was a different area in the middle of the island.
It really would have been quite the mystery if not for Karni knowing quite literally everything about it. Unfortunately, this was the first time that Karni's knowledge ended up working to his detriment. They were here for training, a lot of which was going to be mental training through trickery, deception and torture. However, Karni was incapable of falling for their tricks with the knowledge of the future.
The solution he came up with was simple: provocation.
The group headed toward the weird spot Yue Zhengyu spotted. What greeted them was a sort of wall. It looked like a wall of mist that started light but became thicker and thicker the further one looked. By the end they could not see past it anymore.
"I'll scout it out." Xie Xie offered. The rest agreed.
Karni just played along, though he saw the looks he was getting from Wulin.
As Xie Xie did a run around the perimeter and started testing things out, Wulin approached Karni. "So. What awaits us? What should we watch out for? I'm guessing you know what this mist is about as well?"
"I do know, but this time…" Karni took a breath. "I will not say. Or I shouldn't."
"Eh? But you helped us out with the military base."
"Because that didn't really count for the military training we will receive."
"What does constitute it then?" Siduo joined in. "I wasn't here originally, right? So you can tell me."
"Sisi, love, I love you, but I can't tell you either."
Siduo frowned at that, though her eyes quickly changed immediately after, as if she figured something out.
Wulin said from the other side. "Well at least tell us the reason."
"If I give away anything, it will not be training anymore. In fact, because I know what awaits us, my training might turn out to be inadequate. Look. I really wish I could tell you but trust me when I say this. I shouldn't, otherwise you will not get anything out of this."
Wulin did not know what to say to that. But he got the gist. Karni was ambiguous with his words, but this was clearly the kind of area one could only experience once in their lifetime. Even Siduo from the other side accepted that; with greater ease than Wulin actually.
As Wulin asked, Karni turned to her. "I'm guessing you've had similar experiences in the past?"
"When the love of my life couldn't tell me anything about it because it would impact my development? Yes. Multiple times. You were right every time, so I will take your word for it, even though I really do not enjoy these situations."
Karni chuckled at that. "Well, as long as you're fine with it… Oh, look, Xie Xie is back."
"What's the situation?" Wulin asked Xie Xie.
"The mist is around a very large circular area. If I try to go inside, pressure envelops me both mentally and physically. At some point, I can't continue anymore. I didn't use too much Soul Power on it though, but I'm guessing I would get exhausted quite quickly. I was also thinking, why not ask Karni how to go through it? Though I feel like my role as a scout was made useless due to him, it should make things easier, no?"
Wulin answered that. "Karni will be quiet for a while. If his word is to be trusted, which I think it is, it will impact our training if he tells us anything this time. We came here to get stronger, and knowing the future will actively make things worse for us."
"Eh? Doesn't that mean Karni won't be getting proper training then?" Xu Xiaoyan added. Siduo also glanced at Karni.
"It does." Karni answered. "I will have to find a workaround. I have a few plans, so no need to worry about me."
Wulin nodded at that and refocused on the problem at hand. "Xie Xie. You said pressure, right? Let me try it out first and see if I can get through it. I will tell you what I find. Until then, stay put."
"Yes!" Everyone of the Shrek Seven Devils said.
Wulin stepped forward into the mist and quickly found out what was happening. Indeed, his body felt just a bit heavier, and he felt a prickling sensation on his mind. The further he went the more it affected him. He felt like he was being squeezed.
Halfway there, he started using his Draconic Bloodline to fight through this.
The rest just watched, but Karni stepped forward as well.
"Hey now, Karni. The captain said to wait." Yue Zhengyu complained. He was a decently arrogant guy, but even he considered Tang Wulin as the proper leader of the team.
Karni turned around. "I know what waits there. I need to make sure my training will be proper. Besides. He's your captain."
No one could really refute that.
"Hey, Kiki. What about me?" Siduo could not help but ask.
Karni stopped at that. "Actually, it's better if you hold onto them this time around if I'm being honest."
Siduo sighed. "I was afraid you were going to say that. Fine, fine." Between the two of them, Karni was far closer to the Shrek Seven Devils than Siduo was. Siduo only somewhat got along with Yuanen Yehui and Xie Xie because the two visited Star Luo City Academy a few times.
Karni made an apologetic nod and stepped into the mist. First, he wanted to simply try out the power of his body.
He started walking under the pressure. Ten metres, twenty metres. A third of the way there… Halfway there… he started struggling here, but he found it amazing that he did not need to use any abilities yet.
His endurance... It turned out to have become stronger than Wulin's. Karni continued walking for another few metres. Here, he started using Relaxing Aura. Yet he quickly had to tone it down… His aura turned out to be a bit too effective for this misty pressure. With only twenty percent of the maximum power of Relaxing Aura, Karni could walk as if there was no pressure at all.
Huh. How about that. This mist was clearly made in mind with people trying to fight against it, not go along with it. There was an odd sensation with it that it very quickly accepted him, just like the forest would accept him in the surroundings.
Karni had a quick idea of what happened. This Demon Island came into existence thanks to the fallen cores of the God of Destruction and Goddess of Life. They were the epitome of nature. The wall came in existence due to the two energies mixing together. With the influence of his bloodline, he became part of nature. Because of that, he was surprisingly easy to accept.
He reached Wulin, who was already using some of his Blood Ring skills. Dragon Body in this case, as Karni noticed.
Wulin glanced at him in annoyance. Karni scratched his head. "If not for my Relaxing Aura, I would be using a skill already."
"Damn it. When did your defence became so strong?" Wulin complained.
"Eh. I'm a defence system as well. Your dragon scales are strong, but the focus was the body as a whole, its strength. Mine is a pure focus on defence. And need I remind you my bloodline isn't much behind yours."
"Oh, stop it with the snark." Wulin sighed as he continued to walk through.
Karni laughed at that. But it was fun to tease this almighty protagonist. Wait. Was that why Siduo used to tease him so much too?
Well, it did not matter. "I'm going on ahead. See you inside." Karni waved Wulin goodbye.
"I'll be there soon, don't get all comfortable." Karni aroused Wulin's competitive nature.
Karni just continued walking. He walked three quarters, four fifths and finally reached the end. He was surprised that, while he now had to use all of his Relaxing Aura—due to the pressure increasing exponentially—it wasn't being drained that much.
He took a step through the last layer of the thick fog, and breathed in the air.
Vitality. Greenery. A rich forest. Yep. It was just as he expected. The Demon Island was an amazing area for cultivation.
The place was wide enough for Karni to struggle seeing the end of it. The only "path" Karni could see led downwards, where, if Karni remembered correctly, the Rock of Destruction should lay.
"Oho? A visitor. How rare." An old man appeared.
"Ah, Old Demon Blight. Nice to meet you." Karni bowed in respect. "I am your junior from Shrek. Val Karni."
The old man actually took a pause. Then he started laughing hysterically. "I can't believe this. I've never seen such a guy enter. Let's see. You haven't been here before. So how do you know who I am?"
"Oh, I just know the future." Karni made a peace sign. Truthfully, he was relaxed, but he intentionally put up an over-relaxed attitude.
The old man just smiled. "Hm. Hm. Nice trick. Let's see how long you can keep it up. Come with me."
"Ah, just a second. I'm going to wait for my friend to get through as well. He shouldn't take too long."
Old Demon Blight paused. Again. He analysed Karni's expression for a bit, before shrugging. "Fine then. I've been here for a long time; a little waiting won't hurt me."
"Mm. Wulin will be quite the entertainment for you, you'll see."
The old demon, who really looked like a regular old guy, took in Karni again, then scuffed. "So you might really have seen some of the future. We'll see how this goes for you."
"Mhm. We will." Karni smiled, unbothered. The more he angered these guys, the better. What would happen if he still got normal training despite his attempts to get a harsher one? He made sure to get the final word in. The more annoyed they were with him, the better. Though if they chose to believe him and adapt for him to make the training harsher, it would be even better.
Karni sat on the ground with happiness and waited. What he was doing was borderline insane, because this old man in front of him was also quite insane.
There were seven demons on this island, and all of them were going to give different, excruciatingly painful trials. Some of them Karni could go through normally for proper training, but others, especially mental ones, would not work well on him. And he needed some mental training. The recent problem with his mother's face was proof of that.
Seven Old Demons. A generation of Shrek Seven Monsters now long past. Each a few hundred years old. These people needed entertainment, because they were awfully bored, so they liked to torture people. But at the end of the day, they were one of Shrek Academy. They were twisted beings. Good beings, but still very twisted ones.
The problem lied in the fact that Karni was aware of that. Many of the trials are the kind Karni himself would not willingly go through, even if he knew he needed training, because of how torturous these trials were. They were meant to train the mind to be able to handle all situations. The body was secondary to this.
The motivation the demons were going to use were their comrades, but Karni knew that these old blokes wouldn't actually hurt anyone. That meant he was going to lack motivation. The training was also going to present multitude of fucked up situations, but Karni also knew those were fake, so that wouldn't work either.
But he couldn't just say all of this at once. First, he needed to intrigue them. These old bastards were ancient; hence they had a lot of tolerance for bullshit. Karni would need to prove that he knew things.
"Ah. He's coming." Karni said, knowing exactly when Wulin would breach the wall of fog.
And Wulin entered through it. He looked exhausted. And his scales were shining. He used the Golden Dragon Tyrant Body alongside other skills to burst through.
Old Blight looked at Karni again. There was something in his eyes. He was already thinking of how to torture Karni, the old demon.
"Ho. A friend really came." Old Blight seemed unphased.
"Good, good. Young man. You seem tired. I am Old Blight. You may rest here for a while next to your friend. Then you can follow this path. I will be there."
Wulin was on guard, but seeing Karni's smile, he nodded and sat in meditative pose to recollect his powers.
Old Blight left and the two were left alone.
"So? How will your training be?"
"Working on it."
"I don't think the rest will be able to get in here alone."
"Mm. You should do what you're thinking."
"I'm thinking of helping them."
"I know."
"Ugh. You're such a pain in the ass sometimes, you know?"
"I know." Karni smiled again.
After half an hour of resting, Wulin got up. His regenerative power was better than Karni's. Karni's bloodline had a very specific purpose, but while that purpose was incredibly effective, it meant that other usual abilities people got with thick bloodlines were less present.
The two started heading down the path whereby the end, they noticed the old man standing near a crater. It looked like a meteor had fallen there. And indeed, as they got close, they saw a pitch-black rock at the centre of it.
"If you manage to get down there, you will get a reward." Old Blight was more ambiguous than he was supposed to be. That mean Karni had already gotten in his head somewhat. He wanted to see if Karni would bite.
Wulin also looked at Karni. Karni did a few hops. "Let's do this." He started running in.
Wulin actually wanted to see what would happen. But seeing that Karni was halfway there and he looked normal, he decided to go in too.
However, he soon realised his mistake. He got to the third, and he had to start using multiple skills at once. Martial Soul skills and two of his Bloodline skills. He could not help but wonder. How was Karni running so easily???
He did not know that Old Blight in the background was equally shocked.
Karni ran to the rock, circled it, then ran back at full speed. His Relaxing Aura was working overtime. He reached back to the top of the crater and immediately fell.
By then, Wulin had already collapsed at the halfway point. Old Blight jumped in to rescue him.
He then looked at Karni. "How is this possible?"
"Pure Destruction is indeed something. I could have used all of my Bloodline in three seconds around that rock. I had to run for my life."
"Wait. You know?"
"I told you I knew. The Rock of Destruction. Actually, the core of a fallen god."
"This…"
"What's taking so long?" Another voice suddenly joined.
"Oh, Old Demon Nightmare joined us." Karni could barely say anything. His Bloodline was almost fully spent.
"Wha? Why is this brat still awake?"
"I will explain later. Take this one out first."
Old Nightmare looked unsure. "Fine. You better explain yourself."
The old guy returned in seconds. He quite literally threw Wulin out of the fog. "Now explain yourself."
… … …
"Oh. He's awake. Captain! What happened?"
"More importantly! Where's Kiki!?" Siduo quickly asked over everyone else.
"I don't know where Karni is. He just… Whatever. We need to get through. That's definitely the right place. However, we will have to do this together. Yuanen might make it through, but the rest won't."
"Fuck that. I'm going now." Siduo complained.
"Siduo. Calm down. Karni should be okay." Wulin tried to reason with her.
"Yeah, no. I'm not taking any chances. My man is in there."
Her abilities exploded. She used her Self Fusion instantly. Eight Soul Rings in total fused together. She knew not to underestimate this wall of fog thanks to the abilities Wulin used before. The Flames of Yin and Yang appeared on her body as well.
And then she disappeared from the spot. She instantly breached the wall of fog.
… … …
"You stupid piece of cow shit. We've already revealed himself just by talking like this. We can't erase his memories! Even if he doesn't know the future, he knows too much."
"And whose fault is this? We'll just have to torture his friend harder. Even if he does know, he doesn't know all of it. Future shows only the parts it wants one to see."
"I am well aware you hanging nutsack. But he knows too much! Our names! His demeanour, he knew about the destruction energy!"
"He could have heard about that somewhere."
"Huh. True." Karni added.
"Shut it. Don't speak when we don't want you to." Old Blight screamed at Karni.
Karni just started laughing. Yes. The more they fought the better. However, it was also a problem. They didn't actually let him say anything to prove he knew the future. He may have succeeded in making his physical challenges become worse, but the mental ones certainly wouldn't be affected if they only made him suffer the usual way.
In this moment, Siduo came rushing through the wall, her Self Fusion collapsing, and she started falling.
Karni barely caught her. He barely managed to react. He didn't expect her to appear so quickly. The rest were likely to need at least another half an hour to plan things out and actually execute the plan.
"See? The kid is surprised at appearance of his friend. Knowing the future my ass."
"If you'd just allow me to-" The thick life energy suppressed him.
"Hm. You might have a point, Old Nightmare." Old Blight nodded at that.
Karni could not help but roll his eyes at that.
"Ok. So we agree? We torture him as we should. That blasted academy just keeps on sending these guys. It's about time we finish them off to teach the academy a lesson." Old Nightmare licked his lips, looking at Karni.
However, he couldn't help but pause… Karni wore a deadpan expression. He looked like he was just so done with their shit.
"You guys really need entertainment here. They have this new thing called a TV outside, you know? If you let me explain, the Wulin guy that you met before might someday help you relocate-"
"Stop spouting shit." Old Blight now also got annoyed. This kid was actually trying to annoy them? How dare he? That was their job!
"Ok. Look. I'll stop joking, but you have to let me explain-"
The energy suppressed Karni's voice this time around again.
Karni just looked at the two demons without any fear.
"Alright, that's it." He tried to say but couldn't.
His Soul Power activated. "Alright, that's it." Still nothing.
His Martial Soul showed. Six Soul Rings appeared. All fully black. That got a reaction from the two demons. Draconic Thunder was released, Still Harmony released. He said it again. "Alright, that is it."
But still nothing. The energy was actually limiting the sound as well.
Fine.
Fine.
Karni's almost Spirit Domain Realm Spiritual Energy exploded forth. His bloodline released at once. And the suppression could not fight that anymore, despite the two demons controlling it.
"That's fucking it. I've fucking had it with you Old Demons. Who gives a fuck if you're former Shrek Seven Devils. You can't escape this shitty place on your own anyway cause you're powerless to do anything outside. If you won't listen, I'll just fucking leave."
The two demons could not help but stare at Karni. "He knows." Old Blight said first.
"And his Spiritual Power is almost… He knows we can't leave." Old Nightmare said.
Karni suddenly beamed with a smile. "Alright, good. Finally. I tried to reason, but that was my mistake. I forgot you've been here for hundreds of years, and your ability to be rational is non-existent."
"Oi, you brat, watch your mouth. We still aren't fully convinced." Old Nightmare said, while Old Blight just started laughing.
"He's right though, our sense of reason is quite twisted."
"Perfect. So. For starters, your trials will not do what they should with me, cause I know shit. So you guys need to do better."
"Do better? Hah." Old Nightmare made an evil grin.
"Shut it you wannabe illusionist that wants to pretend he controls dreams and nightmares. Yours will be the most useless of all, cause I will know it's an illusion."
"W-Wannabe illusionist?" Old Nightmare actually stuttered. In hundreds of years, no one has called him that before. He was one of the best illusionists of his time!
"Ha… Haha. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA." Old Blight started laughing uncontrollably. "He called you- Ha. Hahaha. He called you a wannabe illusionist! I like him!"
Old Nightmare just stared at his overly joyous friend while Karni smiled with satisfaction. "Good. So we're on the starting line. Shall we talk about my trials then? I'll need an updated version."