"However, that advantage won't be replicated in this soul spirit battle. The level of power of a soul spirit is strongly correlated with the powers of the soul master, and there's a vast disparity in power between Soul Douluos and Hyper Douluos. Generally speaking, a Soul Master will normally obtain their last soul spirit when they progress to the Titled Douluo level, and that will also be their most powerful soul spirit. Tang Wulin is quite exceptional for his age, but he still hasn't reached the Titled Douluo level yet."

A perplexed look appeared on Dai Tianling's face. "But according to my knowledge, many Titled Douluos will obtain a powerful soul spirit when they become a Soul Sage, and that soul spirit will provide soul rings for them until they reach the Titled Douluo level."

En Ci chuckled, "That is indeed true under most circumstances, but Tang Wulin's opponent for today isn't an ordinary Titled Douluo. I personally chose his opponent for this match, and you'll soon see for yourself that Tang Wulin doesn't stand much of a chance. Tang Wulin seems to possess a very powerful dragon bloodline that can heavily impact other Soul Masters with dragon martial souls. Long Yue fell victim to that several years ago, so on this occasion, I made sure to choose a Soul Master without a dragon-type martial soul. In my opinion, this match most likely won't last very long."

"Oh? Have you become a clairvoyant overnight, Principal En Ci?" A mocking voice suddenly rang out, and En Ci didn't even have to turn around to know who it was; there was only one person who dared to speak to him like this in the presence of the emperor.

The Smiling Douluo sat down on Dai Tiangling's other side, and the presence of his enormous belly and backside immediately struck Dai Tianling with a somewhat claustrophobic sensation.

"Your Majesty," Hu Jie greeted with a smile.

"Welcome. How is Tang Wulin's condition today? Has the mecha battle from yesterday affected him much?" Mecha battles were generally less taxing for Soul Masters, but a battle that was as mentally intensive as the one that had taken place the day before would also be quite grueling.

"Rest assured, Your Majesty; our sect master has recovered more than adequately. By the way, did I just hear someone predict a quick defeat for our sect master? Who's going to be his opponent for today?"

The Smiling Douluo hadn't been made aware of what opponents Tang Wulin was going to face in advance. Dai Tianling was solely in charge of choosing his opponents, and he had chosen to delegate that duty to En Ci today.

En Ci suddenly smiled, and proposed, "How about we make a bet, fatty?"

The Smiling Douluo shot a glance at him. "What's the bet?"

En Ci replied, "If I recall correctly, there's a place owned by your Tang Sect over at the federation where all types of precious immortal plants can be found; if you lose, then I'll get an opportunity to pick an immortal plant from there. Of course, it may not be me that picks the plant; it could be my disciple as well."

The Smiling Douluo faltered slightly upon hearing this before immediately shaking his head. "No way."

The Ice Fire Yin Yang Well was extremely important to the Tang Sect; there was no way an outsider could be granted access to it.

"When did you become such a coward?" En Ci goaded in a mocking voice.

The Smiling Douluo chuckled coldly, "Have I become a coward or have you become an idiot? I'm nothing more than a branch supervisor; I have no right to grant anyone access to that place, so what am I supposed to be betting here?"

En Ci continued, "Then why don't you ask your sect master? He should be able to make the decision. I'm going to be putting something on the line that's just as precious."

The Smiling Douluo's expression remained unchanged. "Oh? And what could that be?"

En Ci seemed to have already made a decision in advance, and he smiled as he replied, "A Holy Radiant Dragon Crystal, how about that?"

The Smiling Douluo was astonished to hear this. A Holy Radiant Dragon Crystal? Did such a thing actually exist? This was the first thought that sprang to his mind, but he then quickly decided that such a thing had to exist as there was no way a man of En Ci's status would make a joke about such an important matter.

He turned to En Ci with a meaningful expression. "Are you sure?"

En Ci nodded in response. "Positive."

Even though En Ci hadn't said this himself, Hu Jie knew that a Holy Radiant Dragon Crystal had to be extremely important to him.

It was extremely difficult for a Soul Master to become a Limit Douluo; only a combination of an unimaginable amount of hard work and countless incredible opportunities could give rise to such an unfathomably powerful being.

Due to the emergence of soul spirits, modern Soul Masters were able to progress faster in their cultivation than Soul Masters of ancient times, but their cultivation foundations weren't actually as stable on average. Even so, there were definitely less than 10 Limit Douluos in total on the entire Douluo Star. It was undoubtedly the case that this Holy Radiant Dragon Crystal had to have played an important role in En Ci's progression to the Limit Douluo level.

Perhaps this crystal would only be effective for those with the Holy Radiant Dragon martial soul, but there were countless Soul Masters in the Tang Sect, and it would definitely benefit the Tang Sect immensely to get their hands on such an extraordinary treasure. Furthermore, a Holy Radiant Dragon Crystal really was comparable with an immortal plant.

"I'll contact the sect master." This was a very important matter, and the Smiling Douluo immediately stood up before walking off the rostrum.

En Ci smiled as he looked on at Hu Jie's departing figure, and Dai Tianling could clearly sense that there was a rather sly element to his smile, so this had to be a trap.

Shortly thereafter, Tang Wulin closed his soul communicator with a faint smile on his face.

A Holy Radiant Dragon Crystal, eh? That's truly an extraordinary item!

The Dragon God had nine children, and the Light Dragon King was one of the most powerful of its offspring. A Holy Radiant Dragon was a type of lightning attribute giant dragon with the closest bloodline to the Light Dragon King, and they had once stood at the pinnacle of the food chain back when the dragon clan had been the rulers of the continent.

A Holy Radiant Dragon Crystal was truly a priceless treasure. Tang Wulin possessed the Golden Dragon King bloodline, so he didn't care much for this Holy Radiant Dragon Crystal himself, but it could be extremely useful for his friends. Yue Zhengyu's holy attribute powers and Xie Xie's Time Space Dragon martial soul would surely both be able to benefit immensely from this item, and if it were used as the core for one of their future suits of four-word battle armor, that would definitely significantly bolster the power of that suit of battle armor.

The fact that En Ci was willing to offer something so precious in a bet was a clear indication that he was very confident in Tang Wulin's opponent. However, unbeknownst to En Ci, Tang Wulin was also very confident in this match, even more so than he had been for the mecha battle.

The Trial of Five Gods had been proposed by the Star Luo Empire, but the sequence of the five matches was decided by Tang Wulin.

He was confident in his chances in the mecha battle, but that confidence wasn't absolute. If he lost in the mecha battle, then he would need to make a comeback in the second battle, so unbeknownst to everyone, Tang Wulin was actually the most confident in this match.

As for the bet, it really was an easy decision to accept. Even if he did lose, En Ci wouldn't be getting much out of this as virtually all of the immortal plants over 100,000 years of age were currently with Tang Wulin, so there was basically nothing there.

In contrast, just the mere thought of a Holy Radiant Dragon Crystal was getting him very excited.

Right at this moment, a bell chimed to notify everyone of the imminent commencement of the match. Tang Wulin rose to his feet and strode out of the resting area.

In the sports stadium.

With Dai Tianling as the witness, the Smiling Douluo and En Ci sealed their bet on the rostrum. On the surface, both of them seemed to be very confident.

At this moment, the announcer declared, "The second match of the Trial of Five Gods will be the soul spirit battle. Allow me to introduce to everyone the basic rules of the soul spirit battle. Firstly, it must be established that the soul spirit battle didn't exist during ancient times as soul spirits were invented by the legendary forefather of our Star Luo Empire, Spirit Ice Douluo Huo Yuhao. It was his revolutionary invention that ensured Soul Masters didn't fall into obscurity and continue to exist today. Hence, this battle will pay homage to the legendary Huo Yuhao.

"During this battle, the only participants can be the soul spirits of the two competing Soul Masters. Furthermore, the Soul Masters can enhance their soul spirits to a certain degree, but can't directly participate in the battle, which means enhancement skills can be used, but not directly offensive or defensive skills. The match will conclude once one side's soul spirits are all defeated."

The rules were quite simple, and they had been accepted by both sides in advance.