Right at this moment, a large and firm hand caught him, and En Ci looked up to see a pair of determined eyes.

"Teacher."

A forlorn smile appeared on En Ci's face as he patted Long Yue's hand. "I've been in an elevated spot for too long; I've become bound by my own reputation. Losing this battle is indeed quite a heavy blow to me, but I also feel like a load has been lifted from my shoulders. I lost this match; there are no excuses to be made. The future belongs to young people like you. Make sure to pursue him as closely as you can; he's going to be the target that you chase after for the rest of your life."

After his voice trailed off, En Ci's footsteps became solid and determined again as he departed.

No matter what, he was still a Limit Douluo and the pillar of the Star Luo Empire.

Long Yue looked on as En Ci departed, then turned toward the radiant young man standing at the center of the competition platform as he took a deep breath. He still had to work even harder.

The Trial of Five Gods drew to a conclusion.

The Star Luo Empire didn't try to repress news reports about Tang Wulin's victory.

Prior to the final match, all of the news reports touted Tang Wulin to be a supreme prodigy, but following that final match, he was now being hailed as a legend.

His popularity in the entire Star Luo Empire had reached a peak, and when he returned to the resting area, he immediately received a call from the Holy Spirit Douluo.

Yali only said one thing: "I'm proud of you."

Even while consolidating her powers, she had watched the final match and witnessed Tang Wulin carry the Tang Sect and Shrek Academy to the peak of their glory.

This wasn't just a simple victory; even more importantly, it symbolized the passing of the torch. Just as En Ci had said, the future belonged to the young prodigies of this generation.

A full-blown celebration was being held at the Tang Sect headquarters. When Tang Wulin returned, he was met by a tsunami of cheers.

The Smiling Douluo had arranged a lavish feast, and it had been a very long time since the Tang Sect headquarters had been so lively and bustling.

Even though many of the Tang Sect disciples from other cities had flocked to Heaven Dou City to watch the Trial of Five Gods, the Smiling Douluo still made sure to spare no expense in the celebratory feast, buying out the best restaurant in Heaven Dou City for a day.

This amount of money was nothing! Tang Wulin's victory entailed that not only did they not have to offer a 10% discount to the Star Luo Empire, they were going to receive an additional 10% on their asking price! This was a difference of 20% of the asking price, which amounted to an astronomical sum!

With such an enormous amount of money, the Tang Sect would be able to purchase a staggering amount of resources from the Star Luo Empire.

Night fell, and Tang Wulin sat silently in his room.

As the star of the show, he had drunk a lot from the toasts proposed by the Tang Sect disciples.

However, he had expelled the alcohol with his soul power rather than allowed it to numb his mind.

He was filled with pride for the glory that he had secured, but as the exhilaration wore off, he gradually calmed down.

Through his battle with En Ci, he had been made even more aware of the disparity between him and a Limit Douluo. If his opponent had been any other Limit Douluo without a dragon-type martial soul, he would've had no chance at all.

He had indeed won the match, but he knew that he still had a long way to go.

However, there was one thing that he was particularly happy about, and that was the awakening of his Golden Blood Dragon domain.

Only after awakening his three-word battle armor domain could he truly make use of it, and the spontaneous awakening of the domain would've undoubtedly maximized its effectiveness. Only a suit of battle armor like his would be able to handle such an awakening. Otherwise, a normal suit of three-word battle armor wouldn't even have been able to handle the enormous rush of energy, and the suit of battle armor would've most likely been damaged while the domain remained dormant.

Did you watch the match as well?

The image of Gu Yuena surfaced in Tang Wulin's mind, and a faint smile appeared on his face at the thought that she was somewhere not far away from him.

He sat down with his legs crossed on his bed, then closed his eyes to assess the improvements he had made during the Trial of Five Gods. After defeating En Ci, his blood essence had suddenly spiked to an unprecedented level, thereby resulting in a qualitative change.

This was something that had been triggered by the momentum he had accumulated from the five successive victories, as well as the collective chant from the spectators. As a result, his soul power had shot up two ranks, and even more importantly, he had attained full mastery of the Body Sect's congenital secret method.

The breakthroughs were coming far too quickly. Tang Wulin's original goal was to be able to reach the Soul Douluo bottleneck by the time he returned to the federation. However, he was already at rank 83 soul power now, and the improvements he had made certainly weren't just limited to his cultivation rank.

Tang Wulin had already formulated a plan. Once he returned to the federation, he would go into seclusion for a while to learn about heavenly refinement from Zhen Hua. Of course, he would only do that if the situation in the federation were relatively stable.

With his increases in power and the formation of his spiritual domain, he had reached the peak of his soul refinement mastery. As such, it was time to learn about heavenly refinement so he could forge suits of four-word battle armor for himself and his friends in the future.

Tang Wulin was aware that it would be far too difficult to revive Shrek Academy through his own power alone. However, if all of Shrek's Seven Monsters could become four-word battle armor masters, then things would be completely different.

There was only a single Divine Blacksmith in this world, and forging suits of four-word battle armor was extremely taxing on one's blood essence, so Zhen Hua couldn't constantly churn out such suits of battle armor. In contrast, Tang Wulin had far more blood essence than Zhen Hua. If he could become a Divine Blacksmith, then he would be able to forge suits of four-word battle armor with far greater regularity, and the Tang Sect and Shrek Academy would be direct beneficiaries of this.

During this trip to the Dou Spirit Empire and Star Luo Empire, he had matured a lot, and many things had also become clearer to him. The goal that he had set for himself was very simple; he wanted to break through to a higher level in the near future and make all of his friends four-word battle armor masters.

Once all seven of them became four-word battle armor masters, they'd have the power to face any opposing force in this world.

The timeframe he had set for himself to achieve this goal was five to 10 years.

At their current rate of cultivation, everyone should be able to reach the Titled Douluo level within five years. Generally speaking, one had to at least be a Hyper Douluo before they would be able to handle a suit of four-word battle armor, but for them, that requirement could be lowered slightly.

During the return trip, everyone's suits of three-word battle armor would definitely be completed, and after that, it would be time to strive toward suits of four-word battle armor.

Tang Wulin had secured victory in the Trial of Five Gods, and this was a very meaningful victory that would have a huge impact on all three continents.

After witnessing his miraculous victory, many people who were sitting on the fence would have to consider what kind of changes he would bring about once he became a Limit Douluo in the future.

Tang Wulin also understood that this would also undoubtedly place him in a very perilous situation as his enemies would also have the same thoughts.

However, there was no fear in his heart, only single-minded determination. All of the responsibilities that he had shouldered weren't meant to be handled with ease anyway.

In the imperial palace of the Star Luo Empire.

Dai Tianling was seated on his own in his study with his eyes closed. Of course, he wasn't sleeping; he was merely thinking.

Everything had happened too abruptly, and the final defeat suffered by En Ci had left him reeling. This was something that he had never thought would happen.

He had originally intended to bind the Tang Sect more tightly to the empire through this Trial of Five Gods, but Tang Wulin had used this event as a stepping stone for himself instead.

Following the conclusion of the final match, many dissenting voices had already arisen among the officials. There were already people questioning why the empire had opposed the Tang Sect by organizing this Trial of Five Gods, rather than collaborate with the Tang Sect in the shadows.

The imperial family was no longer the same imperial family as 10,000 years ago. In this day and age, the emperor's rule was no longer absolute; the voices of the officials and the general public was just as important.

If he were too inept at his job, then he could even be usurped from his position. Of course, the current situation wasn't severe enough for such an occurrence to eventuate, but nevertheless, this event had had a severe negative impact on the empire.

Tang Wulin had raised the Tang Sect to the height of its glory, yet it was at the expense of the empire's reputation.

Tang Wulin was now the legend and idol of the empire, while he had to accept all of the responsibility for instigating this ill-advised Trial of Five Gods.