No hope for eternal life

Chapter 360 Entering the City Lord's Mansion

The city where Mu Changsheng is located is a county town under the jurisdiction of Kongshi Kingdom, named Suicheng. Among dozens of countries, Kongshi Kingdom can only be considered as middle-level in strength.

After figuring out the situation in the illusion world, Mu Changsheng's guess was further confirmed. He would most likely have to undergo multiple tests in the illusion world. Therefore, his strategy had to change. He had to lay a solid foundation during his training to strengthen his foundation in the future.

Afterwards, Mu Changsheng finally began to carry out his mission. If he wanted to become a retainer of the City Lord's Mansion, he naturally had to go to the City Lord's Mansion.

When he arrived at the City Lord's Mansion, Mu Changsheng did not dare to ask for a meeting with the City Lord rashly, but instead started a conversation with the two guards guarding the gate of the City Lord's Mansion.

"Thank you for your courtesy, my two lords." Mu Changsheng said as he handed each of them a bag of spirit stones.

The two guards were also shrewd people. Even after they took the spirit stones, they still said with a straight face: "What do you want to do? Let's make it clear in advance that we can't help you with big things, and we may not be able to help you with small things either."

"No business, no business. I just want to get some information." Mu Changsheng said repeatedly.

After hearing this, the two guards relaxed a little and asked, "What information do you want to know?"

"How can I become a guest of the City Lord's Mansion?" Mu Changsheng asked.

"This is easy. Once you reach the Golden Core Stage, you can naturally become a guest of the City Lord's Mansion as long as you are willing." A guard said easily.

"Golden Core Realm?" Mu Changsheng frowned slightly. Even though he had a unique advantage in this illusion, two months was still too tight in terms of time to break through to the Golden Core Realm. Moreover, he wanted to achieve the ninth-grade golden core, so how to get the Nine-Turn Golden Core was also a problem.

"Is it possible to reach the Foundation Establishment Stage?" Mu Changsheng asked again.

"Foundation Building Realm?" The two guards looked at each other, then looked at Mu Changsheng strangely, and asked: "Could it be that you want to be a retainer?"

Mu Changsheng did not hide it and nodded immediately and said: "That's right."

"With your cultivation level at the initial stage of foundation building, you still want to be a retainer. You are not even qualified to be a gatekeeper." One of the guards said sarcastically.

"It's not possible in the early stage of foundation building, is it possible in the peak stage of foundation building?" Mu Changsheng asked neither humbly nor arrogantly.

Seeing Mu Changsheng's persistence, another guard looked at him with a higher opinion and replied, "Yes, the city lord has a third-grade spirit puppet. Ordinary cultivators in the early Jindan stage are no match for it. If there is a cultivator in the foundation-building stage who can fight the spirit puppet to a draw, he can also become a retainer."

"There is hope indeed." Mu Changsheng said secretly. After experiencing so many illusions, he also summed up his experience.

No matter how real the illusion is, it is different from reality after all. Reality has infinite possibilities and is unpredictable, while the illusion has traces to follow. Even in the most difficult test, there will always be a glimmer of hope.

Afterwards, Mu Changsheng left the City Lord's Mansion. His goal now had been determined. First, he would break through to the peak of the foundation building stage, and then challenge the spirit puppet and become a retainer.

If you want to make a quick breakthrough, spirit stones are essential. The tens of thousands of low-grade spirit stones that Mu Changsheng has on hand are far from enough. He needs more spirit stones.

Mu Changsheng did not go to the market to pick up bargains this time because he had a better idea.

Mu Changsheng first went to the spiritual material store and spent 72,000 low-grade spiritual stones to buy various spiritual materials for refining talismans. He wanted to earn spiritual stones by selling talismans.

This was an idea Mu Changsheng had a long time ago, but he didn't expect to "practice" it in the illusion first.

Due to his low level of cultivation, Mu Changsheng could only refine some second-grade high-level talismans, but his advantage was that his success rate was very high, almost 100%.

In just less than two days, Mu Changsheng refined all the spiritual materials into talismans, and earned 170,000 low-grade spirit stones from selling them. The net profit was higher than the cost.

Mu Changsheng used hundreds of thousands of spirit stones to buy spiritual materials and continued to refine talismans. This cycle repeated itself over and over again, and the number of spirit stones in his hands continued to double.

In just one month, thanks to Mu Changsheng's sleepless and unremitting efforts, he had accumulated nearly ten million low-grade spirit stones!

Afterwards, Mu Changsheng stopped refining the talisman and used four million low-grade spirit stones to buy three Sheling Fruits.

After taking three Sheling Fruits, Mu Changsheng's cultivation quickly broke through to the peak of the foundation building stage.

At this point, Mu Changsheng's goal has been mostly accomplished, and the next step is to prepare some means to deal with the city lord's third-grade spirit puppet.

For Mu Changsheng, this was not too challenging. Whether he used formations or talismans, they were enough to deal with the so-called third-grade spirit puppet.

In the end, Mu Changsheng decided to use formation methods to deal with the spirit puppets. For this purpose, he refined three sets of third-grade intermediate-level God-Slaying Formation plates.

After everything was ready, Mu Changsheng came to the City Lord's Mansion again. The two guards were still guarding the door.

"You have broken through to the peak of foundation building!" The two guards looked as if they had seen a ghost. They couldn't believe that Mu Changsheng had broken through to the peak of foundation building so quickly.

"I'm lucky. Please let me know that I would like to apply to become a retainer." Mu Changsheng said in a dignified manner.

The two guards no longer dared to underestimate Mu Changsheng. One of them immediately went into the mansion to report, and the other said respectfully: "Please wait a moment."

A moment later, the city lord personally came out to greet him. He looked very enthusiastic and laughed, saying, "Heroes have always emerged from youth. You have reached the peak of foundation building at such a young age. You have a bright future ahead of you."

Obviously, the guards had already told the city lord the news that Mu Changsheng had broken through three realms in one month, so the other party attached so much importance to Mu Changsheng.

Mu Changsheng felt that his subsequent tests would most likely be related to the city lord, so he deliberately left a good impression on him. He immediately clasped his fists and saluted, saying, "Your Excellency is too kind. I am just a poor man. I heard that you are known for your love of talent, so I came here to meet you."

"Hahaha, follow me into the mansion quickly." The city lord smiled and welcomed Mu Changsheng into the city lord's mansion.

Afterwards, the city lord brought Mu Changsheng to an open field, released a third-grade spirit puppet, and said, "My friend, you are still young, so I don't ask you to tie with this spirit puppet. If you can hold out for thirty breaths, I will consider you successful."

Mu Changsheng had no objection to this and said with gratitude: "Thank you very much for your grace, sir."

Afterwards, the spirit puppet moved and was about to attack Mu Changsheng, but was firmly trapped by Mu Changsheng's third-grade intermediate-level God-Slaying Formation. The spirit puppet rushed around in the formation for thirty breaths without being able to free itself, and the outcome was immediately clear.

"A third-grade formation!" The city lord raised his eyebrows, quite surprised, and asked Xiang Mu Changsheng: "Did you make this formation yourself?"

"That's right." Mu Changsheng said with a fist.

"Okay, okay, okay!" The city lord said three "OK"s in a row, gave Mu Changsheng an identity token, and announced: "From today on, you are the 29th guest in my mansion."

"I am willing to serve you, sir." Mu Changsheng said with a salute.

"In two months, there will be the Four Nations Martial Arts Competition. With your strength that crushes those of your peers, you will surely shine. Don't be in a hurry to break through." The city lord warned. This was also the reason why he was so happy, as he was worried about not being able to find anyone.

"Four-Nation Martial Arts Competition." Mu Changsheng's heart moved when he heard this. He was not unfamiliar with these four words. The Kongshi Kingdom where he was located and the three surrounding kingdoms were equally powerful and no one could do anything to the other. Therefore, whenever there was a dispute among the four kingdoms, they would hold a Four-Nation Martial Arts Competition. The winner would gain and the loser would lose.

At the same time, the voice of the Dragon Palace Spirit rang again in Mu Changsheng's mind: "You have passed the third test and can get a treasure worth about 200 top-grade spirit stones. If you continue to take the subsequent tests, if you fail, you can only get 50 top-grade spirit stones."

"Go on." Mu Changsheng replied firmly.

"The fourth test is to get first place in the Foundation Establishment Realm in the Four Nations Martial Arts Competition." The spirit of the Dragon Palace issued another task.

"It is as expected." Mu Changsheng said in his heart. He had already anticipated this fourth test.

After bidding farewell to the city lord, Mu Changsheng moved into the city lord's mansion and continued to devote himself to cultivation.