Tang Wulin shrugged in response. "Perhaps it's all rigged. He's the heir to the Spirit Pagoda, and I've heard that he's a Titled Douluo as well. If you're looking for a rival, I think you should be going after him."

Lan Fuozi appraised Qiangu Zhangting intently as he harrumphed coldly, "I'm sure they wouldn't dare to rig such an important event too heavily."

Tang Wulin chuckled, "Don't forget that the rules were made by his family. You better pray that you encounter him during the elimination matches. Otherwise, if he makes it into the top 10, none of us will have a chance."

"If they dare to rig the event like that, then I'll..." Lan Fuozi didn't finish his sentence, but his chest was heaving with rage.

Tang Wulin said, "Let's go and finish the examinations first." This Lan Fuozi was extremely powerful and possessed Spirit Domain realm spiritual power, so he would definitely prove to be a formidable foe for Qiangu Zhangting if they were to face one another, and Tang Wulin certainly wasn't opposed to creating some trouble for Qiangu Zhangting.

Following the first six examinations, Tang Wulin and Lan Fuozi were sitting at 57 and 58 points, respectively.

The seventh examination was something that Tang Wulin was very familiar with: mecha control!

However, Lan Fuozi was completely mortified at the sight of the generic yellow mechas being used for the examination.

"They're testing mecha control?" Lan Fuozi gulped nervously upon seeing this.

"Do you not know how to pilot mechas?" Tang Wulin asked.

Generally speaking, Soul Masters of a certain caliber all had a certain level of mecha piloting experience.

"I don't, not even a little bit," Lan Fuozi replied in a dejected manner, "I always thought that this stuff was useless compared to individual power. You're a battle armor master, right? I am as well! Isn't battle armor far superior to mechas?"

Tang Wulin smiled, and replied, "Once you reach a certain level, anything can become very powerful, including mechas."

"Oh? It sounds like you're an expert," Lan Fuozi remarked as he raised an eyebrow.

Tang Wulin shrugged in response. "I'll definitely do better than you, at least."

The mecha control examination was very interesting in that each participant had to draw lots to receive a certain skill that they had to perform, and the score was given based on the difficulty and execution of the skill.

This examination had clearly been prepared for Soul Master who excelled in mecha piloting but were lacking in other areas.

Qiangu Zhangting went ahead of Tang Wulin and Lan Fuozi, and he drew a skill before getting into a mecha.

The mecha control examination was completed in the air, so it didn't take up any space in the sports stadium. There were 10 designated areas in the air that could allow 10 participants to undergo the examination at once, and there were dozens of judges standing down below.

It was originally planned for each participant to complete three designated skills, but due to the large number of participants, that requirement had been reduced to one, but the difficulty of these skills had been raised significantly as a result.

After Qiangu Zhangting had drawn his designated skill, an electronic voice immediately announced it to be "dual directional change charge".

"What's that?" Lan Fuozi asked in a completely perplexed manner.

Tang Wulin replied, "Dual directional change charge refers to a mecha changing directions twice in succession during a forward charge to throw off the opponent. The most difficult part about the skill is to maintain control over the mecha during the directional changes. The criteria for this skill should be the speed of the mecha's movement, as well as the degree of control maintained throughout the maneuver."

Lan Fuozi turned to Tang Wulin with a surprised expression. "You really are sounding like an expert!"

Tang Wulin shrugged in response. "That's because you're speaking to a master mecha pilot!"

"Tch!" Lan Fuozi pursed his lips as he cast his gaze toward Qiangu Zhangting's mecha.

"Begin!" Qiangu Zhangting's mecha immediately rose up into the air following the announcement by the electronic voice.

Tang Wulin was an outstanding mecha pilot himself, so he was able to ascertain a lot based on this sequence alone. Qiangu Zhangting was able to instantly activate the mecha and bring it up to such a high speed in the blink of an eye, indicating that he was extremely familiar with piloting mechas.

Each mecha had a tolerance limit; if the limit were exceeded, the mecha would be at risk of being damaged, but staying too far within the limits would hamper the mecha's full potential.

From the propulsion sequence that Qiangu Zhangting had employed to rise up into the air, Tang Wulin could tell that he had grasped this balance perfectly, pushing the mecha to just within its tolerance limit.

Tang Wulin was quite surprised that Qiangu Zhangting was such an expert mecha pilot.

The yellow mecha shot forth into the air like a cannonball, then immediately charged forward without delay, completing two directional changes during the process in an extremely fast, smooth, and controlled maneuver.

This was truly a flawless textbook display; it was as if two massive streaks of yellow light had flashed through the air, and within the span of a few blinks, the maneuver had already been completed.

The yellow mecha was trembling slightly from exertion, but the speed, power, and coordination it had displayed had all exceeded the limit of a normal yellow mecha.

The mecha descended from above, and it only began to decelerate using the propellers beneath its feet at an altitude of around 30 meters, sending fierce winds sweeping in all directions.

Lan Fuozi harrumphed coldly, "What's the point in something like this?"

Tang Wulin shrugged in response. "There's a point to everything; it's just that mechas of this caliber aren't able to display anything worthwhile."

He had always been an avid mecha enthusiast ever since he was a child, which was why he had always made time to practice his mecha piloting skills even after he attained a suit of battle armor. In particular, after Zhen Hua had told him about how useful mechas could be to Soul Masters, he had become even more determined to continue developing in this area.

Among the Soul Masters that he knew, the first divine-grade mecha pilot was Mu Ye, and he had witnessed just how powerful Mu Ye's divine-grade mecha was.

At the very least, the core components of a divine-grade mecha had to be constructed from divine-grade metals; only then would the mecha have a mental connection with its pilot. Mu Ye had told him that a divine-grade mecha was a second life for a Soul Master. He had even given up the chance to become a Limit Douluo in order to become a divine-grade mecha pilot, and that was sufficient testament to just how alluring a divine-grade mecha had been to him.

The most difficult aspect in crafting a divine-grade mecha was the heavenly refined metals that were required. However, Tang Wulin had recently become a Divine Blacksmith, so that wouldn't be an issue for him! He was definitely going to craft a divine-grade mecha for himself someday, and that day wouldn't be too far away.

Even though his cultivation rank was progressing very quickly, he was still quite far away from the Limit Douluo level. Even with his aptitude, it would take at least 10 more years for him to become a demigod.

However, the next 10 years were extremely important for both Shrek Academy and the Tang Sect, so he couldn't just waste them. As such, he had to do everything in his power to improve himself, and both mechas and battle armor were shortcuts that a Soul Master could take to enhance their own powers.

"Hey, what are you spacing out for? It's your turn," Lan Fuozi said as he nudged Tang Wulin on the arm.

Only then did Tang Wulin return to his senses and make his way forward before scanning his electronic identification badge.

All of the lots were drawn electronically in order to save time, and soon, the electronic voice rang out. "Your tested skill will be triangular circuit."

Tang Wulin raised an eyebrow upon hearing this.

This was a skill that seemed to be very simple, but actually involved many intricacies. It was Ling Wuyue who had taught him this skill, and mastering it had been extremely beneficial to his development in mecha piloting.

Triangular circuit was a maneuver during which a mecha changed directions thrice in succession while moving to form a triangle. Precision was valued above all else in this skill, and one had to create a perfect triangle during the maneuver before returning to the exact spot where they had started.