No hope for eternal life

On the ring, the referee quickly announced the start of the competition.

Mu Changsheng immediately took out seven golden arrow talismans, and seven golden arrows shot out, attacking Han Tao on the opposite side from all directions.

According to Mu Changsheng's previous observations, this person is a swordsman at the peak of the foundation building stage.

Facing the sword of a cultivator at the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage, Mu Changsheng felt that his Iron Bone Transformation was not yet complete, and it was too risky to catch the blade with his bare hands, so it would be safer to use talisman bombardment.

Han Tao's face turned unhappy when he saw this, because he had long guessed that Mu Changsheng would do this. Anyone would find it difficult to face this kind of talisman bombardment.

Han Tao was seen moving continuously, swinging his sword, slashing and hitting, blocking the attack of the golden arrows while getting closer to Mu Changsheng.

Mu Changsheng retreated calmly, keeping as much distance as possible, and fired another round of seven arrows from the golden arrow talisman in his hand.

Han Tao was still struggling to swing his sword to dissolve Mu Changsheng's attack, and kept trying to close the distance between him and Mu Changsheng. Even though he knew that Mu Changsheng was a physical cultivator, he had to deal with Mu Changsheng at close range, otherwise Mu Changsheng's talisman bombardment would be too uncomfortable.

"No." Mu Changsheng suddenly frowned. The attack of his golden arrow talisman was at the peak level of foundation building. The combined power of seven arrows was even greater. It was too easy for the opponent to resolve it.

"Could it be another 'dark horse'?" Mu Changsheng couldn't help but wonder in his heart, secretly sighing that his luck was really "good" enough. He thought he had a sure win in the competition, but suddenly something unexpected happened.

"No matter what, try to keep a distance from him. The longer we can wear him down, the better." Mu Changsheng made up his mind. No matter what cards Han Tao had, it would never be a wrong thing to wear him down a little.

Due to the limitations of the arena, even though Mu Changsheng tried his best to avoid Han Tao's approach, the distance between them was still getting closer. Just when Mu Changsheng was considering whether to use the spirit-summoning talisman, Han Tao on the opposite side suddenly stopped.

"I give up." Han Tao said to the referee beside him, then turned around and walked off the ring.

The referee was no longer surprised by this and announced: "Mu Changsheng wins."

"This guy." Mu Changsheng couldn't help but frowning as he watched Han Tao's departing back. The other party had always wanted to fight him in close combat, and when he was about to achieve his goal, he suddenly chose to admit defeat.

"He must be trying to hide his trump card, and consume my talismans. Moreover, he dares to admit defeat, which obviously shows that he is very confident in his own ability and can win the subsequent challenges." Mu Changsheng thought to himself, and took note of this matter. He will pay more attention to Han Tao in the future.

Afterwards, Mu Changsheng took another look at the arena on Mu Xun's side, only to find that Mu Xun had already left the arena. It seemed that the competition over there ended faster. Mu Changsheng had been concentrating on his own competition just now and could not pay attention to Mu Xun's battle situation, so he did not know who won the competition between Mu Xun and Song Zhi.

After returning to his seat, Mu Changsheng asked Xiang Muxun: "Did you win?"

"Of course." Mu Xun said lightly.

"Showoff." Mu Changsheng scolded with a smile. He knew that Mu Xun had a secret technique that could steal the power of surgery. Facing a magic cultivator like Song Zhi, he had great restraint, so it was normal for him to win.

"What about Song Zhi's methods?" Mu Changsheng asked again. He naturally wanted to obtain more information so that he would have a better grasp of the situation when dealing with it.

"Except that her spells are more powerful and her casting speed is slightly faster than that of ordinary peak foundation-building cultivators, I didn't see anything unusual. She surrendered easily." Mu Xun told the truth.

"Is that so?" Mu Changsheng nodded slightly, but he did not relax in his heart. It was also possible that Song Zhi saw that his opponent was Mu Xun and knew it would be difficult to win, so he deliberately kept his trump card.

An hour later, the competition among fifty people and twenty-five groups was over. Next came another round of challenge, which was also the last chance for the twenty-five losers to enter the top twenty-five.

"I want to challenge Sui Zuoyou."

"I want to challenge the first half of the game."

……

The names of the challengers were called out one by one, but Mu Changsheng still didn't hear his own name. Obviously, these people were very discerning and knew that even if Mu Changsheng's cultivation was only in the middle stage of foundation building, he was not someone to be trifled with.

Afterwards, Mu Changsheng focused his attention on Han Tao's challenge competition. It was a pity that Han Tao specifically picked a weaker opponent, and the competition between the two was not exciting at all. After a long battle, Han Tao narrowly won with one move, and there was no sign of any problem.

"Han Tao is very likely hiding his strength. If you meet him, be careful." Mu Changsheng whispered to Mu Xun beside him. He believed in his intuition and judgment. The worse Han Tao's performance was, the deeper he was hiding.

"Yeah." Mu Xun nodded in response and made a note of the matter.

At the end of the challenge, still no one challenged Mu Changsheng. The fourth round of the martial arts test ended here, and Mu Changsheng successfully advanced to the top 25.

"I wonder what the final round of competition will be like? Will it be group competition first, then challenge?" Mu Changsheng thought secretly in his heart. Although the competition rules of group competition followed by challenge are reasonable, there are still some loopholes to be found. Just like now many people, including Mu Changsheng himself, are hiding their cards, just because they don't want to reveal their cards in advance, so as not to fall into a disadvantage.

"I know you're all wondering what the rules are for the final round of competition." County Lord Gao Xuan spoke up at this time: "This final round of competition is about the top ten places to advance to the county exam, so it must be fair and open, and you don't have to worry about being treated unfairly."

As Lord Gao Xuan finished speaking, the county lieutenant behind him stood up and began to announce the rules of the competition: "The Lord has personally ordered that the last round of this year's martial arts test will be a round-robin points competition. Each of the 25 cultivators will compete with the other 24 cultivators. Winning a match will earn one point, while losing will not earn any points or be deducted. The ranking will be determined by the number of points. If the points happen to be equal, the two cultivators will compete again to determine the final ranking."

"In addition, if anyone is injured during the competition, there will be pharmacists on site to provide treatment throughout the entire process. The treatment is free and will be provided until the injury is fully healed. After the injury is fully recovered, the next competition can be held until all competitions are completed."

"Okay." "That's great, I don't have to worry about getting hurt anymore."...

When the people in the audience heard this, they all cheered.

"It's really generous." Mu Changsheng couldn't help but say it. Others thought about not having to worry about getting injured during the competition, but he thought about spirit stones. You know, accidents are inevitable during the competition. If you accidentally lose half your life, the cost to save it will be quite high.

On the other side, Han Tao frowned slightly. Some were happy while others were sad. The rules of this competition were really too good. There were almost no loopholes to exploit. Everyone had to try their best. Otherwise, if they lost a game, their ranking would be lowered by one. In this way, his previous hidden means would not be of much significance. At most, he could gain a slight advantage in the first one or two games.

"Well, at least getting into the top three shouldn't be a problem." Han Tao thought to himself. The top three was exactly his goal.

"Next, there will be five matches going on at the same time, and the five arenas have been numbered. Go on stage according to your number." The county lieutenant announced: "Ring number one: Bai Xuanyu vs. Han Tao; Ring number two: Wang Yuanlong vs. Shan Chaoqun..."

"Hehehe, there's something interesting to watch." Mu Changsheng pulled Mu Xun's sleeve and said excitedly. Bai Xuanyu was the biggest "dark horse" in this martial arts test. He didn't believe that Han Tao could still hide. It just so happened that he and Mu Xun were not in the first five competitions, so the two of them could watch the battle carefully from the audience.

The fact was just as Mu Changsheng had thought. When Han Tao heard that his first opponent was Bai Xuanyu, his brows frowned even deeper. Obviously, he also knew that Bai Xuanyu was a strong opponent. In this way, his only remaining hidden advantage would be useless.

A moment later, Han Tao and Bai Xuanyu took the stage one after another, and the referee gave the order: "The competition begins."

After the competition began, Bai Xuanyu stepped back immediately to distance himself from Han Tao. It seemed that he was also paying attention to Han Tao, knowing that this person might have a hidden card, so he chose the safest way to deal with it.

Like formation masters and talisman masters, formation masters are afraid of being approached by others, so they must try to keep a distance as far as possible to maintain the greatest advantage.

As Bai Xuanyu retreated, he began to wave the folding fan in his hand, and wind blades attacked Han Tao. This was both an attack on the enemy and a formation.

"We can't let him set up the formation." Han Tao thought to himself. In addition to Mu Changsheng, there were other people who saw through Bai Xuanyu's formation and deliberately spread the news. Therefore, Han Tao, who knew the trick, would never wait stupidly for Bai Xuanyu to finish setting up the formation.