"Thank you, Your Majesty," the Smiling Douoluo said in a genuine voice as he heaved an internal sigh of relief. A positive outcome had finally been reached.

If Dai Tianling had continued to insist on opposing the Tang Sect's conditions, then the Tang Sect would have no choice but to make concessions. After all, the Tang Sect's top priority was to prevent this war from taking place.

Dai Tianling waved a hand, and said, "The power displayed by your sect master has already shown us that your Tang Sect will continue to be an important ally to our Star Luo Empire for at least the next century."

While it was indeed true that an element of luck had been present in all three of the victories that Tang Wulin had secured, he was still only in his early twenties! With his incredible talent, what lofty heights would he scale to in the future?

One had to realize that in the past 20,000 years, the only two people who had reached the very pinnacle and ascended to become gods were from the Tang Sect! No one knew exactly how much power the Tang Sect had.

One of the reasons that the Spirit Pagoda had targeted the Tang Sect was because they wanted the cultivation notes left behind by the Tang Sect's forefathers. Which Limit Douluo didn't want to take another step forward?

Tang Wulin was so outstanding that even the Atlas Douluo couldn't compare with him at the same age, so who would dare to say that Tang Wulin didn't have a chance of reaching that level in the future?

The founder of the Tang Sect, Tang San, had ascended to godhood and led two empires in battle against the Spirit Hall. He had faced the two gods of the Spirit Hall on his own and slain one of them while crippling the other. He was the one who had established the legend of Shrek's Seven Monsters.

Then, there was the founder of the Spirit Pagoda, Spirit Ice Douluo Huo Yuhao. He had emerged when the Tang Sect was on the brink of fading away into a relic of the past and led it on a stunning resurgence. Even though he had founded the Spirit Pagoda, he never actually took control of the organization, choosing to remain in the Tang Sect for the most part instead. At the time, the invincible Sun Moon Empire's army had reached the Star Luo Empire's border, but Huo Yuhao had faced the entire army on his own and forced the ruler of the Sun Moon Empire at the time to concede.

On top of that, he vowed to protect the Star Luo Empire from the Sun Moon Empire for as long as he lived, and that gave the Star Luo Empire the chance to recuperate and survive. In a sense, it could be said that Dai Tianling was a descendant of the Spirit Ice Douluo. Both of the two most legendary figures in the history of the Douluo Continent had extremely close ties with the Tang Sect; would Tang Wulin, who was currently besting an entire empire on his own, also follow in their footsteps?

Even if there was only the slightest possibility of that happening, Dai Tianling didn't want to make Tang Wulin the empire's enemy. Hence, he had made his intentions known prior to the commencement of the fourth match, and in reality, he had made this decision well in advance.

Dai Tianling and En Ci also smiled at the sight of the relaxed smile that had appeared on the Smiling Douluo's face.

This was undoubtedly going to be the most relaxed they had been while spectating one of the matches of the Trial of Five Gods.

At this point, Tang Wulin had already made his way to the entrance of the sports stadium. With the Holy Spirit Douluo's assistance, he could feel that he had returned to his top condition.

This was a very wonderful feeling, and his three consecutive victories had instilled within him a lot of confidence and momentum. This was the match that he was most confident in, so he had to win!

The battle against En Ci the following day would be a chance for him to fully express himself. He was going to face the almighty Limit Douluo with everything that he had.

The gate up ahead was opened, and it was time to enter the stadium.

Tang Wulin strode out of the waiting area, and there was someone else who was also emerging through a gate on the other side of the venue.

In the instant that the two of them made their way into the sports stadium, deafening cheers immediately rang out, and countless people were chanting Tang Wulin's name.

A faint smile appeared on Tang Wulin's face as he raised a hand to acknowledge the spectators, and right at this moment, the announcer's voice rang out. "The fourth match of the Trial of Five Gods will be the weapons battle. The representative of our Star Luo Empire will be the weaponry master, Weeping Blood Douluo Chu Tiange!"

Weeping Blood Douluo Chu Tiange? This was a name that was both familiar yet also alien to Tang Wulin. He had heard the Smiling Douluo mention this name in the past, which meant that this opponent wasn't a surprise.

Information about his opponent quickly began to surface in Tang Wulin's mind.

Weeping Blood Douluo Chu Tiange possessed the Weeping Blood Sword martial soul. He was an exceptional swordsman and had already attained a sword soul. He was a Hyper Douluo who was the chief priest of the Holy Hall. He had invented his own Weeping Blood Sword Techniques, and was indeed a master of weapons.

At present, he was in his eighties, and his soul power was at around rank 97, which placed him slightly below Infernal Flame Douluo Zhang Geyang. He was quite an understated individual, and his hobbies included studying weapons and collecting antique weapons.

Chu Tiange was the one who had been projected to be the likeliest representative for the Star Luo Empire during this weapons match, and the Smiling Douluo had formulated a few strategies for Tang Wulin to counter him.

If Chu Tiange were to be the Star Luo Empire's representative, then his weapon of choice would definitely be a sword, which meant that Tang Wulin would primarily have to be wary of his sword techniques. Chu Tiange had been studying swordsmanship for over 70 years, and he was truly obsessed with the way of the sword. It was said that he had already begun to grasp sword essence.

For those who were pursuing the way of the sword, sword intent, sword soul, and sword essence was the order of progression.

Ye Xinglan was currently already pursuing sword essence, but it would still take her a very long time to reach that level. Tang Wulin had attained a spear soul as well, but was also quite some way away from spear essence.

This wasn't something that could be achieved through talent alone; it required sufficient time and deeper understanding of one's weapon.

Due to the fact that this was a weapons battle, Chu Tiange would be prohibited from using his Weeping Blood Sword martial soul, so he'd have to use another weapon. However, Tang Wulin wasn't concerned even if his opponent were to use a divine weapon. After all, he had the Golden Dragon Spear and Dragonslaying Saber, both of which were true divine weapons!

Thus, Tang Wulin strode into the venue with an abundance of confidence in his heart. His opponent was a disheveled elderly man with messy hair and an unkempt beard. For this occasion, it seemed that he had donned a set of new robes, which were rather antiquated in style.

There were no embellishments on the entire azure robe, and it was a very mundane piece of clothing. Furthermore, his eyes were a little glazed over and completely devoid of the sharpness that one would expect from a master swordsman.

However, this only made Tang Wulin even warier of his opponent. There was no aura to be detected from Chu Tiange, which meant that he was already at a stage in his cultivation where he was able to completely subdue his own aura, thereby making him an even more formidable opponent.

The Smiling Douluo also had his gaze fixed on Chu Tiange as the latter strode into the stadium. He had finally managed to correctly guess the representative for the Star Luo Empire.

Chu Tiange was indeed very powerful, but he was a rather eccentric character due to his obsession with swords. As such, he was most likely treating this as an opportunity to further hone his own swordsmanship. The fact that he wouldn't be able to use his Weeping Blood Sword would severely restrict his powers, so Tang Wulin had a very good chance of winning this match. At the very least, he wouldn't lose too badly.

In Hu Jie's eyes, the outcomes of the final two matches weren't all that important anymore. Even if Tang Wulin were to lose one or both matches, the Tang Sect would only have to make a 10% price concession, which was well within the sect's tolerance range.

The research and development of soul tools was far more expensive than the material costs, and the Tang Sect had already recovered those costs in their past collaborations with the empire, so price was never an issue.

Losing the final two matches wouldn't be of any detriment to the resounding reputation that Tang Wulin had already forged, so they were essentially completely inconsequential. As for the match that was going to be held the next day, Hu Jie could only curse En Ci for being a shameless old geezer. Holy Dragon Douluo En Ci was the undisputed most powerful being in the entire Star Luo Empire, so there certainly wasn't any glory to be had for him in victory.

"Begin!"

The fourth match of the Trial of Five Gods finally commenced, and the Smiling Douluo suddenly discovered that the smile on Dai Tianling's face had become even more pronounced.

In the face of Hu Jie's inquisitive gaze, Dai Tianling yawned, and murmured to himself, "I stayed up way too late last night; it sure wasn't an easy task convincing the Weeping Blood Douluo to participate in this battle!"

Convince? Chu Tiange required convincing to participate in this match? A person as obsessed with honing his swordsmanship as Chu Tiange was shouldn't require any convincing to participate in a battle!

Could it be...

A sense of foreboding suddenly welled up in the Smiling Douluo's heart. There was definitely something wrong here!