If he had another 10 years, Tang Wulin was confident that he'd be able to secure victory in the entire Trial of Five Gods.

Ever since he had met his birth father, the goals he had set for himself had changed. As such, even though he had won this first match, he wasn't overly excited. This was all part of the plan.

"You're the best, Boss!" Xie Xie rushed over to Tang Wulin before giving him a huge hug.

"Let go of me; you're making a fool out of yourself," Tang Wulin said in a resigned manner.

Xie Xie chortled, "I knew it! We all knew that you would definitely be able to create a miracle!"

Tang Wulin rolled his eyes in response. "Don't lie to me; that's not what you said when I first decided to take on this Trial of Five Gods."

"Ahem, that was back then; things are different now. You were in seclusion for a few days, and at the rate you're going, that's more than enough for a huge breakthrough," Xie Xie said with a cheeky smile.

Everyone else from Shrek's Six Monsters also strode into the room, and even Dai Yueyan had accompanied them.

"Congratulations, Wulin," Dai Yueyan said as he extended a hand toward Tang Wulin.

Tang Wulin shook his hand, but the wry smile on Dai Yueyan's face clearly belied his words of congratulations.

"Ever since I was a kid, I had a goal that I was going to inherit the throne as the most powerful Soul Master in the entire empire, and rule with wisdom and aplomb. Now, you've dealt me a heavy blow, at least when it comes to cultivation. I had always thought that Brother Long would be the only one who could best me in cultivation, but you're also on that list now. I really don't know how you guys cultivate; perhaps it really is all down to talent."

As he looked at Tang Wulin, Dai Yueyan was suddenly struck by the same impression as his father, which was that Dai Yun'er seemed to be the one with the best eye in the entire family. If they had known that this would happen, they should've never allowed Tang Wulin to leave all those years. Perhaps if they had struck at the time, then Tang Wulin and Dai Yun'er would already be a couple by now.

Back then, Tang Wulin was nowhere near his current status, so there wouldn't be any issues if they had done some things to keep him in the Star Luo Empire.

"You're far too kind, Your Highness. You're already very exceptional; it's just that our experiences and circumstances are different. We can focus more of our time and energy on cultivation, whereas you have to attend to much more important affairs, so that'll inevitably distract you."

Dai Yueyan grumbled, "There's no need to mollycoddle me; you clearly still had time to spare to become such an outstanding mecha pilot on top of your cultivation. Alright, go back and rest now; I hope to see you put on another spectacular display tomorrow. Oh, by the way, I won't forgive you if you don't sort out your issues with my sister."

After that, Dai Yueyan departed, and the Smiling Douluo arrived as soon as he left.

Hu Jie didn't say anything to Tang Wulin; all he did was give him a thumbs-up. No one in the Star Luo Empire had thought that Tang Wulin would be able to win even a single match in this Trial of Five Gods, yet he had created a miracle on just the first day.

Yue Zhengyu smiled, and said, "Hall Master Hu, you wouldn't be so surprised if you knew that Wulin is the champion in both the mecha and Soul Master disciplines of the Star Battle Net Inter-federation Competition. I don't think he's even human!"

Hu Jie chuckled, "I'm very proud to have an inhuman sect master like him! You should've seen the look on En Ci's face! Haha, the old bastard was like a floundering fish! Having said that, after this match, the rest of the matches will most likely become more difficult."

A puzzled look appeared in Tang Wulin's eyes upon hearing this.

Hu Jie explained, "The Star Luo Empire still underestimated you in the end. Your age makes it very easy to make that mistake, and Dai Tianling doesn't actually want there to be any bad blood between the royal family and our Tang Sect, so he chose Huang Zhengyang to participate in this mecha battle. Huang Zhengyang is indeed a divine-grade mecha pilot, but he's not a Hyper Douluo, and when facing someone like you in the mecha battle, it's more important to possess immense power than exceptional mecha piloting skills.

"After this loss, the reputation of the entire Star Luo Empire will hinge on the rest of the matches, so they're most likely going to send out their truly powerful beings. Hence, you have to be on your guard during the upcoming matches."

Tang Wulin nodded in response. Huang Zhengyang had been chosen, not just for his skills as a mecha pilot, but also for his popularity and importance to the Star Luo Empire. He was the most popular divine-grade mecha pilot in the entire empire, but he may not necessarily be the most powerful one. Furthermore, he had made use of a set of unique advantages to win that battle. Huang Zhengyang hadn't underestimated Tang Wulin, but neither had he ever seen someone that would waste so much soul refined metal on a single black mecha. As such, it could be said that he essentially lost under extraordinary circumstances.

The next match would undoubtedly be more arduous than this first one, but that only made Tang Wulin more excited, and he was already looking forward to the second match.

He was confident that as long as he performed to the best of his abilities, even if he were to lose, he would still benefit immensely. Even in the mecha battle today, the skills that Huang Zhengyang had displayed and his analysis following the match had struck Tang Wulin with a lot of inspiration. Only by facing off against these exceptionally powerful beings could he continue to improve at a rapid rate.

"I'm going back to rest now."

Much to everyone's surprise, the Tang Sect Master has secured victory in the first match of the Trial of Five Gods, and this piece of news had stunned the entire Star Luo Empire.

Over 15% of the entire empire's population had watched the live broadcast of this match, and over 40% of the population had tuned in to the replay.

What had originally been thought to be nothing more than a formality had concluded with an outcome that had stunned everyone in the Star Luo Empire.

In an empire that championed individual power and heroism above all else, what could be more astonishing than something like this?

Thus, Tang Sect Master Tang Wulin quickly became a household name. The Tang Sect had always held an extremely lofty status in the Star Luo Empire, so it was very easy for Tang Wulin's popularity to gain traction.

Furthermore, the Star Luo Empire had done a very good job in promoting the event, and all of their promotional material stated that Tang Wulin had accepted this trial after becoming the new Tang Sect Master to further strengthen the relationship between sect and empire. All of the revenue generated from the broadcasts and the sales of tickets would be donated to the imperial research center to develop mechas and soul tools.

This type of promotion naturally evoked within the citizens of the Star Luo Empire a great deal of fondness toward this Tang Sect Master.

Their patriotism naturally made them more inclined to support their empire, but due to how close the Tang Sect was with the Star Luo Empire, the outcomes of the matches were far less important in their eyes than how spectacular the matches were.

After hearing Huang Zhengyang's commentary on the first mecha battle, everyone was greatly enlightened and filled with praise and admiration toward this Tang Sect Master. At the same time, they were also very proud of Huang Zhengyang for the grace with which he had carried himself, even in defeat.

Soon, all types of headlines were being released, and the general consensus was that even though the Tang Sect Master had won the match, Huang Zhengyang had actually lost due to rather extraordinary circumstances.

There were some experienced and knowledgeable individuals who had identified the fact that Tang Wulin's Unpredictable Blue Emperor had been entirely constructed from soul refined metals, so in the eyes of the empire's citizens, this had been an evenly-matched and extremely enthralling battle.

Several of the empire's divine-grade mecha pilots had also expressed an interest to spar with Tang Wulin as well.

Thus, the popularity of the Trial of Five Gods spiked at a rapid rate, and the empire had already earned an astronomical sum in revenue from ticket sales and broadcast commissions for the upcoming second match.