Blood Two took a glance at him. "Are you feeling less confident?"

Blood Nine chuckled, "No, there's still an absolute power gap between us, after all. I lost to him on that day because I underestimated him, and I didn't even manage to use 30% of my power. At the end of the day, I am the true Blood Nine! After this competition, I'm definitely going to reclaim my title."

Blood Two said, "Having confidence is a good thing, but don't ever underestimate your opponent. Even if you can reclaim your title, will you be able to defend it?"

Blood Nine fell silent upon hearing this. Tang Wulin was simply improving far too quickly. If he continued to improve at this rate, then it wouldn't take long before their powers would be on par with one another.

Blood Two suddenly smiled. He was always very serious, and it was very rare to see him smile like this. "You're not the only one who has to worry; all of us have to worry about our current positions. However, this is a good thing for the Blood God Battalion and the Blood God Legion."

Blood Nine raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. He already thought that he had a very high opinion of Tang Wulin, but it appeared that his father held Tang Wulin in even higher regard.

……

Jiang Wuyue sat in the cafe of the resting area with a dazed expression on his face, silently drinking a cup of coffee. His mood was just as bitter as the coffee that he was drinking.

Long Yuxue really did have a sharp discerning eye! Who would've thought that Tang Wulin would be so powerful?

During the same competition, he didn't even make into the finals, yet Tang Wulin was constantly forging ahead, and he was now part of the final four.

This meant that he was among the top four most powerful battle armor masters below the three-word battle armor master level. With his aptitude, if he could become a three-word battle armor master, then he would most definitely stand among the most powerful beings of the Soul Master world.

His aptitude was far inferior compared to Tang Wulin's, so how could Long Yuxue possibly consider him?

"Why are you here?" A familiar voice that tugged on his heartstrings suddenly sounded.

"Huh?" Jiang Wuyue raised his head to find that Long Yuxue had arrived before him. His lips twitched, and he replied, "Why CAN'T I be here?" 

As soon as he uttered those words, he was struck by the urge to give himself a vicious slap.

To his surprise, Long Yuxue didn't insult him. Instead she sat down across from him, and Jiang Wuyue was surprised to find that compared to her frail state a few days ago, she appeared to have completely returned to her normal self.

"Yuxue, you..."

Long Yuxue asked in a calm voice, "Do you want to ask me why I suddenly look completely fine now?"

Jiang Wuyue nodded in a slightly slack-jawed manner.

Long Yuxue continued, "It's because I'm a soldier."

"Huh?" Jiang Wuyue was confused. What did that have to do with anything?

Long Yuxue continued, "Men aren't the only things for me to live for in this world. This is going to be a wonderful memory of mine for me to reflect on in years to come, but it's not going to weigh me down for my entire life. If there's no way for my feelings to amount to anything, then I'll just have to let it go. Otherwise, I'll only be making things awkward for everyone. I do like him, but his heart is with someone else; I can't steal his heart, so I'll just have to be content with being his friend."

Jiang Wuyue was rather skeptical and concerned. "Yuxue, are, are you alright? You haven't been traumatized by this and fallen in love with women, have you?"

"Piss off!"

……

This is it!

Tang Wulin chose his mecha, and as he did so, he was still reflecting on the battle from the day before.

The biggest mistake he'd made during his battle against Yuanen Yehui was that he had allowed himself to completely lose the initiative. He was too complacent for too long, and that had almost resulted in his downfall.

If it weren't for the fact that he possessed sufficiently powerful defensive prowess, as well as an ultra-powerful explosive ability like his Golden Dragon Vibrational Explosion, he would've already been eliminated from the competition.

This was going to be another quarterfinal, but it was only going to be more difficult as this was a mecha battle. He had only one objective; to become the final champion!

He held his spear and slowly walked onto the competition platform. The clanking noises made by his mecha were immediately drowned out by the cheers from the spectator.

A faint smile appeared on Tang Wulin's face. He had to win!

His opponent had also appeared on the competition platform, and this was also a melee combat mecha wielding a sword, looking as ordinary as ordinary could be. However, his heart stirred slightly as he caught sight of the number "255" above his opponent's head.

It was him!

He had done some research on all of his potential opponents, and it was undoubtedly the case that he was not one of the hot favorites to become the final mecha battle champion. In contrast, his opponent was most definitely one of the hot favorites. He wasn't the biggest favorite, but he was definitely among the top three favorites.

Just as Tang Wulin had the nickname of Spear King, he also had a nickname, which was Metal Master, and his ability was metal elemental manipulation.

Aside from the fact that he was a Soul Master and a mecha pilot, he was also a mecha maker of at least the seventh rank.

Even though mecha making was easier than forging in the later stages, it was certainly far from simple to reach his level. Seventh-rank mecha makers could already easily make black mechas, and it was even speculated that this Metal Master was at least an eighth-rank mecha maker, which would be even more extraordinary.

If he were facing Tang Wulin in a Soul Master battle, Tang Wulin would be able to brush him aside with ease. However, his metal elemental martial soul used in conjunction with a mecha resulted in a qualitative change.

"This is a matchup between Spear King and Metal Master; who do you think will come out on top, Little Lin?" Commentator Hai Shu asked.

"I don't think I need to air my opinion on this one. I'm sure the vast majority of people share the same opinion as me; Metal Master has a huge advantage over everyone else in the mecha battle segment of this Star Battle Net Inter-federation Competition. His martial soul is far more useful in mecha battles than any other participant’s martial soul; Spear King is indeed very powerful, but he'll most likely struggle against an opponent like this. If both of them were using the mechas they'd be most comfortable using in real life, then perhaps this would be a more even match, but under the current circumstances, Metal Master is the clear favorite."

Hai Shu sighed, "Indeed! In the face of Metal Master's abilities, Spear King can only try to defeat him in an explosive burst before he gets to complete the modifications on his mecha. Otherwise, the match would be as good as over. Alright, the match is now about to begin, let's see who's going to come out on top in the end. Perhaps Spear King will be capable of pulling off a miracle."

On the competition platform, Tang Wulin appraised his opponent from afar as he slowly raised his spear. 

Metal Master, eh? 

"Five, four, three, two, one, begin!"

As soon as the countdown concluded, Tang Wulin instantly sprang into action. He hurled his spear toward Metal Master without any hesitation, and at the same time, he activated his own mecha's propeller, sending him hurtling toward his opponent like the wind.

Metal Master had also activated his mecha's propeller, but as opposed to advancing, he was retreating to open up more space between them.

Tang Wulin's spear was flying through the air extremely quickly, but there were several hundred meters between them, so it would naturally still take some time for the spear to reach his opponent.

As the Metal Master began to flee, the first modifications that were made were on his mecha's backside and shoulders. The metal on those regions was quickly melting, and at the same time, their internal structures were rapidly changing.

During this process, Tang Wulin could clearly see that a series of circuits were taking shape before the metal on the outside closed again.

Those were clearly soul propellers that were being created!

That's right, this Metal Master's forte lay in his ability to modify his own mecha during battle.