No hope for eternal life

Chapter 363: Lord Yuan Ao

Yang Man patiently explained: “All cultivators at the Jindan level and above have the opportunity to join our Juxian Pavilion. The level of sages is divided into four grades. Those who pass one test are third-grade sages, those who pass two tests are second-grade sages, and those who pass three tests are first-grade sages. As for the sage masters above the first-grade sages, only those whose cultivation or strength reaches the peak of the Spiritualization Realm can become one. Currently, there are three sage masters in the pavilion. Among them, the Great Sage Master has reached the Tribulation Realm, and the Second and Third Sage Masters are at the peak of the Spiritualization Realm.”

"What are the benefits and restrictions of being a wise man?" Mu Changsheng asked again. This is something he must ask clearly. If joining the Juxian Pavilion requires swearing an oath of allegiance, he will definitely not be able to do it.

“A third-class wise man can get ten top-grade spirit stones every year, a second-class wise man can get fifty, a first-class wise man can get one hundred, and a wise master can get one thousand. In addition, we monks in the Juxian Pavilion are directly under the control of His Majesty the King of Beiyuan State, and no one else has the power to reward or punish us. This is equivalent to a life-saving talisman, and we don’t have to worry about any unexpected disasters.” Yang Man talked eloquently and mentioned the benefits first.

Then, Yang Man talked about the restrictions: "Of course, it is not enough to just enjoy without working. The Juxian Pavilion issues various tasks. Every wise man must complete at least one task every two years. In addition, once you join the Juxian Pavilion, you cannot leave, otherwise you will be regarded as a traitor. Over the years, there have been thirteen traitors in the Juxian Pavilion, and all of them are now dead."

Mu Changsheng nodded slightly. For him, he would eventually choose to join either the Northern Yuan Kingdom or the Southern Liang Kingdom. The request of the Juxian Pavilion was not excessive and was within his acceptable range.

"I have made up my mind. I wonder what the test for joining the cabinet is?" Mu Changsheng asked again.

"Come with me." Yang Man led Mu Changsheng to the second floor, where there was a man in blue sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed.

Yang Man bowed respectfully to the man in blue, calling him, "Your Majesty."

"Your Majesty!" Mu Changsheng's heart was slightly shocked when he heard the words. He didn't expect that he would meet the King of Beiyuan so soon.

The rulers of Beiyuan and Nanliang are undoubtedly the two strongest people in this fantasy world. Mu Changsheng had long guessed that his subsequent tasks would be inseparable from these two people.

Yuan Ao, the ruler of Beiyuan State, opened his eyes. There was not much arrogance in his eyes, but rather an unusually peaceful look.

"Do you want to join the cabinet?" Yuan Ao asked Xiang Mu Changsheng.

"Yes." Mu Changsheng said respectfully.

"Which one are you best at?" Yuan Ao asked again.

Mu Changsheng thought for a moment and answered truthfully: "Array Dao."

Although Mu Changsheng mainly cultivated his body, and also practiced the art of talismans, the art of formations, and the art of strength, he was actually best at the art of formations, because his art of formations had been taught to him by his Taoist master and the Tianqing Emperor, and his foundation in it was the deepest.

However, the opponents that Mu Changsheng faced were always very strong, and their formations were mostly peaceful, without any means like the magic talismans that could greatly enhance the strength of cultivators. They were of little help to Mu Changsheng in battle, which made the formations somewhat unnoticeable.

After receiving Mu Changsheng's reply, Yuan Ao nodded slightly and said, "In that case, I will give you three tests using the Dao of Formation. If you pass one test, you will become a third-class sage, if you pass two tests, you will become a second-class sage, and if you pass three tests, you will become a first-class sage."

Mu Changsheng was surprised again when he heard this. He didn't expect that this test would come from Yuan Ao.

Although he was surprised, Mu Changsheng still said respectfully: "Your Majesty, please enlighten me."

Yuan Ao took out a piece of gold paper with a formation inheritance on it. Yuan Ao pointed at the gold paper and said, "Set up this formation within three hours."

Mu Changsheng carefully read through the formation inheritance. The formation was named Nine Rivers, a top-level third-grade formation. He was not unfamiliar with it.

After trying several times, Mu Changsheng successfully set up the Nine Rivers Formation in less than half an hour and completed the first test.

Yuan Ao was quite satisfied with this, and took out another piece of gold paper and said, "The second test is to set up the formation. Set up the formation within three hours."

Mu Changsheng looked at the inheritance on the golden paper and found that it was still the Nine Rivers Formation, but this time the Nine Rivers Formation was at the initial level of the fourth grade, and the difficulty increased a lot.

However, it was still a piece of cake for Mu Changsheng. It took him less than two hours to complete the fourth-grade initial stage Nine Rivers Formation.

Mu Changsheng originally thought that Yuan Ao would use a higher level Nine Rivers Formation to test him, but Yuan Ao’s third test was not like that.

“If you can solve this fourth-grade, initial-stage Nine Rivers Formation without using brute force, you will be considered to have passed the third test and be ranked as a first-class wise man.” Yuan Ao said calmly.

"Break the formation." Mu Changsheng raised his eyebrows, then nodded slightly. For a formation practitioner, breaking a formation is much more difficult than setting it up. It is reasonable to use this as the final test.

But again, Mu Changsheng has the experience of two great formation masters. Whether it is setting up a formation or breaking it, as long as the grade of the formation does not exceed his cultivation level by much, it will not be too difficult for him.

Mu Changsheng quickly unleashed the fourth-grade, initial-stage Nine Rivers Formation that he had set up.

"Not bad." Yuan Ao nodded with satisfaction and gave Mu Changsheng a token, which was a token representing the identity of a first-class sage.

"Take him downstairs to register." Yuan Ao instructed Yang Man again.

"Yes." Yang Man obediently took Mu Changsheng downstairs, registered, and received one hundred top-grade spirit stones, which was his annual salary.

With these one hundred top-grade spirit stones, Mu Changsheng had enough to buy the Ultimate Infant Pill, but he was still more concerned about the method of achieving the Supreme Nascent Soul.

So, Mu Changsheng asked Yang Man: "Does the pavilion have a method to achieve the Supreme Yuanying?"

"Yes." Yang Man said affirmatively: "There are two methods. One is the Super Infant Pill. It is said that this pill is more powerful than the Extreme Infant Pill, but it can only increase the probability of achieving the Supreme Nascent Soul, and it cannot guarantee that it will be achieved. The other method is the Supreme Fruit. It is said that this fruit can help people achieve the Supreme Nascent Soul 100%. It is sold in the pavilion, but one fruit requires 10,000 points of war merit, and it can only be purchased with war merit. No matter how many spirit stones you have, you can't buy it. If you want to get war merit, you must do tasks. The general task rewards are only a few points of war merit."

Mu Changsheng's eyes lit up slightly. There was no doubt that the Supreme Fruit was his target.

So, Mu Changsheng asked again: "Is there any way to quickly gain military merit?"

"It's only the Longhe battlefield. The fighting there has never stopped. You can gain military merit every time you kill a hostile cultivator." Yang Man replied.

"Longhe Battlefield." Mu Changsheng nodded slightly. He had also heard of the fame of the Longhe Battlefield. Both the Southern Liang and Northern Yuan wanted to destroy each other and unify the world, and the Longhe Battlefield was the front line of the battle between the two sides.

After bidding farewell to Yang Man, Mu Changsheng went straight to the Sutra Library inside the Juxian Pavilion. He was not interested in esoteric arts. He wanted to deepen his understanding of this fantasy world through the various books in the Sutra Library, as well as deepen his understanding of the Longhe battlefield.

"Killing a cultivator in the early stage of foundation building will reward one point of combat merit, killing a cultivator in the middle stage of foundation building will reward three points of combat merit... Killing a cultivator in the early stage of golden elixir will reward twenty points of combat merit... Killing a cultivator in the early stage of primordial infant will reward four hundred points of combat merit..."

On the Longhe battlefield, every life is clearly priced. If Mu Changsheng wants to accumulate 10,000 points of military merit, he only needs to kill 25 Nascent Soul early stage cultivators.

This goal may seem not high, but it is actually fraught with difficulties. This is because in this fantasy world, the Nascent Soul Realm is already among the top three realms. Killing one or two may not be a problem, but once too many are killed, it is likely to attract the attention of someone with ulterior motives and put his life in danger.

Without further ado, Mu Changsheng planned to rush to the Longhe battlefield immediately. Before going to the battlefield, he used almost all of his wealth to buy a fifth-grade top-level protective talisman. On the battlefield, swords and knives are blind, so a high-level protective talisman is necessary to prevent accidents.