Tang Wulin appeared to have completely lost his cool. In his desperation, Unpredictable Blue Emperor thrust its Blue Emperor Spear forward, targeting the opposing mecha's pilot room.

It seemed that he was taking a desperate leap of faith, and the final outcome would be decided by which side's attack would land first. A layer of golden scales had appeared over the surface of the Blue Emperor Spear, and it was giving off a powerful aura, but a faint smile appeared on Huang Zhengyang's face as he sat in his pilot room.

Was he planning to go for a kamikaze attack? Huang Zhengyang had been in this situation countless times in the past. He abruptly withdrew his Scythe of Despair, then clamped down onto the tip of the Blue Emperor Spear with the blade of the scythe just in the nick of time. At the same time, Reaper of Despair swiveled around slightly to evade the spear strike, and even though the spear still impaled its shoulder, the puncture was only around a foot deep, and had missed the pilot room.

The Scythe of Despair then clamped down even harder to completely jam the Blue Emperor Spear into place. At this point, his Reaper Scythe had already reached Unpredictable Blue Emperor's waist.

The surface of Unpredictable Blue Emperor took on a mirror-like quality again, and light flashed rapidly from its surface, but the Reaper Scythe still managed to slice into it.

"Clang!"

Was this the end?

All of the spectators waited for the final outcome with bated breath, and some of them didn't even dare to look anymore.

Right at this moment, scintillating light abruptly erupted from the Blue Emperor Spear, and it thrust forward violently again while the blade of the Scythe of Despair that was clamping the spear into place was snapped in half.

Thus, the Blue Emperor Spear completely pierced through Reaper of Despair's shoulder, and at the same time, countless Bluesilver Emperor vines erupted out of Unpredictable Blue Emperor, then instantly wound themselves around Reaper of Despair before picking it up and slamming it into the ground.

Everything had taken place far too quickly, to the extent that some of the spectators hadn't even managed to identify who had seized the upper hand yet.

On the rostrum, Dai Yueyan had already risen to his feet and was staring at the competition platform with an intense unblinking gaze.

In the instant after Reaper of Despair crashed down onto the ground, the Blue Emperor Spear had already been withdrawn before being thrust forward again like lightning, stopping just short of the pilot room. It was quite clear that if he had intended to do so, he could’ve plunged his spear straight into the pilot room to end Huang Zhengyang's life.

A pin drop silence settled over the entire sports stadiums, and Dai Tianling's eyes widened with incredulity.

Huang Zhengyang had clearly gained the absolute upper hand during that final clash, yet he had lost?

"The Tang Sect Master wins the mecha match of the Trial of Five Gods!" The announcer was stuttering slightly as he delivered this result, and this was clearly far different from the script he had been rehearsing.

The script he had prepared involved offering congratulations to the Pillar of the Empire, while also consoling the Tang Sect Master and commending him for putting on a spectacular display, but that entire script had been thrown out the window!

The Blue Emperor Spear was withdrawn, as were the Bluesilver Emperor vines, and Unpredictable Blue Emperor stood under the bright lights, right before the awestruck eyes of all of the spectators present.

The pilot room of Reaper of Despair opened up, and Huang Zhengyang was revealed in his major general military uniform.

His face was slightly pale, and as the loser of the battle, he emerged from his mecha's pilot room first.

At the same time, he immediately turned his attention to Unpredictable Blue Emperor's waist. There, he saw that the gash was still around half a foot deep, and his second strike had made absolutely no difference.

His heart was filled with befuddlement. Why was this the case? How was it that the first attack had inflicted that gash, yet the identical second attack had been completely ineffective?

Unpredictable Blue Emperor's pilot room also opened up, and the white-robed Tang Wulin jumped out from within. There were beads of sweat on his forehead, and it was quite clear that this battle had been quite a grueling one for him, more so on a mental level than a physical one.

He landed on the ground in front of his mecha before making his way over to Huang Zhengyang and extending his right hand.

Huang Zhengyang's figure and height were quite average, and his looks didn't stand out, either. [1]

However, despite his unremarkable appearance, he was the divine-grade mecha pilot who held the title of Pillar of the Empire.

A genuine look of admiration appeared in Tang Wulin's eyes, and he said, "Thank you for taking it easy on me, General Huang."

Huang Zhengyang shook his hand with a wry smile. "I didn't go easy on you; I lost fair and square. I've fought in countless mecha battles in the past, but this battle has truly opened my eyes; I still don't even know how I lost in the end!"

Tang Wulin smiled, and said, "You didn't actually lose to me. In terms of mecha piloting skills, you are far beyond me; I only managed to win as my mecha itself is very special, and you don't know much about me. Take a look at this."

Tang Wulin pointed at his Unpredictable Blue Emperor as he spoke.

Huang Zhengyang cast his gaze toward that direction to find that Tang Wulin was pointing at the gash on Unpredictable Blue Emperor's waist.

Much to Huang Zhengyang's surprise, he could see that the gash was slowly closing at a rate that was discernible to the naked eye.

"Is that... soul refined metal?" He turned to stare at Tang Wulin with incredulity in his eyes.

Tang Wulin nodded, and replied, "That's right, this Unpredictable Blue Emperor of mine was entirely constructed from soul refined metals, so its resistance and self-regenerative capabilities are both far beyond that of normal black mechas. As such, I'm able to perform some special maneuvers with it. On top of that, the soul skill I used to take your attacks during the battle can convert your offensive power into my own attack, which was why I was able to turn the tables on you on two separate occasions. Otherwise, you would've already won even with the soul refined metals my mecha had been constructed from, so this match was actually quite unfair for you."

Huang Zhengyang's lips twitched as he murmured to himself, "That's way too extravagant!"

Soul refined metals could be used to construct several dozens of suits of three-word battle armor! Using so much of it to construct a black mecha was an incredible waste. Even his red mecha hadn't been entirely constructed from soul refined metals; only the important joints and core circuits had been constructed from soul refined metals. It was no wonder that he had lost.

Was this even still a black mecha? If the entire thing had been constructed from soul refined metals, then the materials used for it would be enough to construct several dozens of suits of battle armor!

What an astonishing waste!

At the same time, Huang Zhengyang couldn't help but feel a little envious. Only an unfathomably wealthy organization like the Tang Sect would be able to dedicate so much soul refined metal into a single mecha.

Unbeknownst to him, Tang Wulin was a brilliant Saint Blacksmith himself.

At his current skill level, soul refinement of individual metals was no longer difficult to him; only soul refinement of alloys that consisted of multiple types of metals posed a challenge to him.

How had Yuanen Yehui been able to keep Dai Yueyan and Hua Lantang at bay on her own? Aside from her own incredible combat prowess, her suit of three-word battle armor had been a major key.

Her suit of three-word battle armor had been constructed from alloys that were comprised of over five types of different metals; how could it compare with a normal suit of three-word battle armor?

Huang Zhengyang sighed, "I understand why I lost now, and there's nothing unfair about this. If anything, this Trial of Five Gods is outrageously unfair for you. I'll be rooting for you in the upcoming matches. I hope to be able to spar with you again with my current mecha when you become a divine-grade mecha pilot. I'm going to go back and conduct some extensive research on the style of battle you showed me today. In terms of integrating your powers with your mecha, you've done a better job than I have. If I'm not mistaken, you possess twin martial souls, right?"

[1] [From chapter 1315: "On top of being a superb mecha pilot, he's also very handsome, but he's still yet to be married..." Er, so apparently, he turned ugly overnight, I guess LOL]