"Ahem, let's have some wine." Xie Xie cleared his throat in an apologetic manner, but there was nothing apologetic about the smirk on his face.

Two beams of bright light appeared on either side of the sports stadiums, and each beam of light illuminated a diameter of around 10 meters. A series of metallic clangs rang out as two mechas emerged from the resting areas, and they strode into the light, putting them on full display to the spectators.

Huang Zhengyang's mecha was of a dark azure color, and it was very streamlined and elegant. It was clad in layers of protective armor, but didn't seem to be maladroit or clumsy in the slightest. His mecha was around seven meters tall, and its upper body was slightly hunched over. Its legs were short and thick, and its upper body was longer in comparison. Its back was slightly arched like a prawn, and there was a giant scythe resting on its shoulder that was definitely longer than the height of the entire mecha. The long shaft of the scythe was being held in the mecha's right hand, and its blade was over four meters wide and flashing with a cold light.

The dark azure mecha gave off a very menacing appearance under the illumination of the beam of bright light, and as soon as it emerged, a burst of invisible killing intent began to emanate from it.

It was quite clear that this was a melee combat mecha.

As for Tang Wulin, his mecha was entirely black in color, and it was also around seven meters tall. The mecha had a very lithe and agile appearance, and it completely mimicked the form of a human body with a thin waist, wide back, and large arms. The mecha was also very streamlined, and it appeared to be black, but under the illumination of the light, there were traces of a faint blue color emanating from its surface.

This was a special type of color that was only applied to a special type of metal that had been used to construct the mecha. This type of blue was known as cavansite blue, and only under the illumination of bright light would it reveal a sapphire glow. During the night, it simply looked like a completely black mecha.

In terms of appearance, this mecha was clearly much more appealing to the vast majority of spectators, but the dark azure mecha across from it had left far too strong of an impression on all of the citizens of the Star Luo Empire due to its glorious past.

Prior to obtaining a divine-grade mecha, Huang Zhengyang had always used this mecha, and it had been the origin of his nickname of Scythe of Despair. This was the mecha that he had used for the longest period of time in his life, and he still used it regularly; it was virtually an extension of his own body.

Tang Wulin's mecha was wielding a long spear that was also of the cavansite blue color. Aside from that, he wasn't equipped with any other weapons, such as the heavy ion laser gun that Dai Yueyan had expected him to bring to this battle.

This was going to be a clash between melee combat mechas, so it was undoubtedly going to be very exciting. It seemed that sparks were about to fly during this first battle of the Trial of Five Gods.

The lights shining down upon the two mechas faded, and the mechas made their way to the center of the venue.

Tang Wulin's mecha had been given the name Blue Emperor by him, and as it was striding toward the competition platform, Tang Wulin noticed that Huang Zhengyang's mecha was also doing the same. However, its gait was rather peculiar in that the entire mecha would crouch down slightly with every step it took. This seemingly inconsequential detail did not escape Tang Wulin's notice, and he realized that Huang Zhengyang was doing this so that his mecha could spring up explosively at any moment as it was walking forward.

As expected of the most powerful mecha pilot of the Star Luo Empire!

Tang Wulin's mecha had already been constructed as they were traveling to the Dou Spirit Empire. He had refined all of the metals used, while the ninth-grade mecha makers of the Tang Sect had overseen its construction.

The entire mecha had been constructed according to Tang Wulin's specifications, and its bodily proportions mirrored his own, it was basically an enlarged suit of armor.

"If you're both ready, then raise your weapons," the announcer prompted.

Tang Wulin raised his spear, and Huang Zhengyang also raised his giant scythe.

"I hereby announce that the first match of the Trial of Five Gods, the mecha battle, begins now!"

The match finally commenced with that announcement.

Huang Zhengyang had named this mecha of his Reaper of Despair, and after he obtained a divine-grade mecha, he had received more than one offer to purchase this Reaper of Despair for astronomical prices, but he had turned down all of them.

This mecha had already become something that felt like an indispensable part of his body.

As soon as the battle began, the Reaper of Despair glided forward as if it were skating over ice, rushing toward Tang Wulin's Blue Emperor while sticking close to the ground.

Blue Emperor's full name was Unpredictable Blue Emperor, and the "Unpredictable" part of the name had been added following the departure of his foster parents to pay homage to the divine technique his birth father had bestowed upon him.

Unpredictable Blue Emperor quickly rushed to the side, and Reaper of Despair instantly changed trajectory accordingly, gliding in an arc as opposed to its initial straight-line course. At the same time, it was already swinging its massive scythe through the air.

The entire sports stadium was completely silent at this moment, and everyone's attention was focused on this match.

In order to allow everyone to see more details, there was a series of large screens around the sports stadium that displayed information such as the names of the two mechas, and their current conditions.

The battle had only just begun, so both mechas were naturally at 100% condition. During the course of the battle, damage could be inflicted onto the mechas, and this percentage figure would change to allow the spectators to gauge which side held the upper hand.

Why was he attacking so early? A hint of befuddlement welled up in Tang Wulin's heart at the sight of Huang Zhengyang swinging his scythe through the air. There was still quite a large distance between their two mechas, there was no way that the scythe would be able to reach him.

Even so, Tang Wulin naturally didn't dare to get careless. For a mecha pilot of Huang Zhengyang's caliber, every move he made had to have a purpose, and as it turned out, he was right to have been cautious.

A streak of faint light silently drifted forth from the huge scythe, traveling through the air at an incredible speed and reaching Tang Wulin's Unpredictable Blue Emperor virtually in the blink of an eye.

Tang Wulin immediately reacted by controlling Unpredictable Blue Emperor to execute the Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track. In the eyes of the spectators, it was as if Unpredictable Blue Emperor had become completely weightless, and it was even leaving a trail of afterimages in its wake.

Just how fast did it have to be traveling to achieve this?

All of the spectators were feeling rather flabbergasted.

Dai Yueyan was also staring at Tang Wulin in a stunned manner. He had always known that Tang Wulin was very powerful, but that was only in the Soul Master and battle armor master disciplines; never would he have thought that Tang Wulin would be such an outstanding mecha pilot as well.

After all, mecha and Soul Master battles were two completely different things. Was this guy really human? How did he have the spare time and effort to practice mecha piloting?

Due to the fact that the streak of light had been released by the wide blade of the scythe, it encompassed a very large area. Unpredictable Blue Emperor had executed a series of brilliant evasive maneuvers using the Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track, but the streak of light wasn't an ordinary attack, either. Even though it was evaded by Tang Wulin, it somehow stopped on the spot and hung in mid-air. Huang Zhengyang then swung his scythe through the air again, and another identical streak of light appeared before hurtling toward Unpredictable Blue Emperor again.

At the same time, the front tip of the massive scythe suddenly shot forth through the air, and one could see that the rear of the blade was connected to the scythe's shaft by a chain.

The attack was extremely fast, and the giant scythe blade almost instantly reached Tang Wulin. Meanwhile, the second streak of light hurtled toward Unpredictable Blue Emperor from another direction, and in conjunction with the first streak of light that had been unleashed, all of Tang Wulin's avenues for retreat and evasion had been cut off, forcing him to face this unavoidable scythe blade.

Tang Wulin quickly made a series of judgments in his mind. Due to the fact that neither he nor his opponent knew anything about one another prior to this battle, he could only gather information on his opponent throughout the course of the battle.

Unpredictable Blue Emperor abruptly stopped, and as opposed to attempting to evade the streak of light, it lashed out with its Blue Emperor Spear like lightning. The spear shot forth, truly like a bolt of dark blue lightning, and struck the face of the giant scythe blade with unerring accuracy, and the spot it had struck was exactly where the blade's center of gravity was.

A crisp clang rang out as the scythe faltered in mid-air, but immediately thereafter, the blade suddenly tumbled through the air in an extraordinary maneuver, instantly appearing behind Unpredictable Blue Emperor while leaving a trail of cold light in its wake.