This Sword Cultivator is Somewhat Dependable Chapter 2 - 2 Legendary Talent

What the hell?

By all rights, I ought to have revived at the bound respawn spot from before, instead of popping up in this eerie, mysterious cavern.

Lu Qingshan found himself momentarily dazed.

He scrutinized the inky-dark liquid surrounding him closely, noting the subtle silver threads drifting within. As Lu Qingshan inhaled, a faint musty, acidic scent wafted into his nose.

As a seasoned beta tester of "Nine Heavens," Lu Qingshan swiftly reached his conclusion.

This appears to be the basest type of Corpse Puppet Liquid, the Spiritual Liquid employed by Demon Cultivators for crafting Corpse Puppets.

Corpse Puppets—how distant that recollection feels now?

Lu Qingshan felt a wave of bewilderment wash over him.

The Corpse Puppet Chaos marked the central plot of "Nine Heavens" beta phase. Without his beta involvement, he might never have encountered it.

When "Nine Heavens" went live for open beta, the Corpse Puppet Chaos—as its prelude—had concluded. New players like him at that time had scant active roles in this beta-era main storyline; they just tagged along passively.

In truth, beyond the Corpse Puppet Chaos, low-level players in early version main plots could hardly join in earnestly. They trailed NPCs, mere spectators to the spectacle.

"Hold on..."

"Didn't Human Cultivators ban this stuff worldwide after the Corpse Puppet Chaos wrapped up?"

"No matter—that's beside the point. The key issue is, where's my cultivation base? Why am I here, and what is this place?"

Lu Qingshan sensed his thoughts scrambling, not quite sharp.

All at once, a barrage of visions detonated in his brain like a nuclear blast, spinning him into vertigo.

Lu Qingshan's breaths quickened, his pupils shrank, as though he'd gone numb.

He recalled it all.

He recalled it all.

His name was Lu Qingshan, hailing from Qing State's Lu Family, a cultivation clan there.

Yet he never awakened as a cultivator through the family's bloodline, for his mother was a plain mortal—a casual fling for his cultivating father.

In this cultivation realm of survival of the fittest where power ruled supreme, his philandering cultivator dad clearly scorned family bonds. Indeed, the man had sown too many offspring to oversee.

Lacking cultivation aptitude, he managed mid-level family mortal businesses. On a transport run, cultivators ambushed him; upon reawakening, he lay in this strange cavern.

Incorrect!

Lu Qingshan's frame trembled violently while he mentally corrected himself over and over.

That's not it. I am Lu Qingshan, yet not the one from Qing State's Lu Family—I hail from a nation named Huaxia in another dimension.

Still, the memories surging in his head insisted otherwise.

"You are Lu Qingshan, be it Qing State's or Huaxia's—you remain that person."

Complete disarray gripped Lu Qingshan.

He had pieced it together.

Indeed, he had transmigrated into "Nine Heavens," the game he'd poured a decade into.

"Nine Heavens" stood as the Interstellar Era's premier holographic VR game, topping star charts for ten years, with peak online users surpassing a billion and total registrations hitting three billion.

The game's immortal-martial world sprawled so immensely that, even at Lu Qingshan's crossing, players hadn't mapped it fully. Its narrative depth meant a decade in, it lingered in mid-game phases.

Lu Qingshan, a pro gamer living off "Nine Heavens," had navigated countless version shifts, earning some player renown. His streams routinely drew over a million watchers.

"The Corpse Puppet Chaos indicates we're still in the Chang'an Years."

Solemnity etched Lu Qingshan's face—Chang'an, Chang'an; this name evoked eternal tranquility, yet it ushered the world's stormiest epoch in its twilight.

The Corpse Puppet Chaos served only as the harbinger of a cataclysm stretching across endless years in this realm.

With this truth dawning, exhaustion crashed over Lu Qingshan, as he grasped the imminent turmoil would engulf all Sky Dome Heaven, ensnaring cultivators and mortals alike in boundless disorder and carnage.

In the end, Lu Qingshan let out a long sigh, slowly steadying his nerves—not from any brilliant strategy forming in his thoughts, but from that timeless Huaxia principle:

Now that I'm here, what other choice do I have?

If fate decrees it, let it come.

Luckily, he had arrived during the public beta stage of the game, right at the onset of Chang'an's final era, where chaos was only beginning to stir. Armed with his plot knowledge, he still had space to navigate the impending storm.

Had he landed straight into the plot after the Blood Demon Lord's battle as a powerless mortal without any cultivation, he'd be utterly clueless, just waiting for doom.

"The final days of Chang'an, the final days of Chang'an..."

A bolt of realization flashed through his mind like thunder in the dark. Lu Qingshan abruptly grasped it, his heart gripping fiercely as he scanned his surroundings on reflex.

Famous for a decade, "Nine Heavens" boasted not only its perfectly tuned, captivating battle mechanics but also its epic narrative and NPCs so lifelike they rivaled true humans.

Having journeyed through that magnificent plot as a player, Lu Qingshan harbored regrets he yearned to fix, but opportunity had always eluded him.

Yet here he was, back at the story's dawn, a seer in this realm.

Without doubt, no one knew the forthcoming events more intimately than him.

Maybe, with this second shot, he could mend those past sorrows?

Lu Qingshan's pulse raced wildly; a fire seemed to spark alive inside him.

...

"Still..." Shaking his head, Lu Qingshan eyed the tiny heads littering the area: "The top priority now is finding a way out."

At present, he remained a mere mortal. Breaking free from a Demon Cultivator's grasp was far from easy.

The use of the crudest Corpse Puppet Liquid showed this Demon Cultivator was only at Qi Refining, the bottom rung of cultivators.

Even so, a cultivator outclassed any ordinary human by miles—no contest possible.

All of a sudden, Lu Qingshan stiffened.

A strange shimmer burst into view before him.

Data cascaded like a torrent, endless zeros and ones racing across his vision, morphing into vivid blue trails.

At last, the flow of data settled.

One message popped up in his sight.

"You have been soaked in 'Corpse Puppet Liquid' (First-Grade) for three months and have acquired the talent 'Thick-skinned'."

What in the world was this?! —

Lu Qingshan's thoughts exploded. As a veteran netizen from the Interstellar Age, how could he fail to recognize this?

Swiftly, Lu Qingshan responded.

"Attribute Panel, Attribute Panel!"

Silently, he repeated it over and over.

Soon, a faint blue interface materialized within Lu Qingshan's consciousness:

Lu Qingshan (Human Race)

Occupation: None

Cultivation Technique: None

Rank: None

Experience Points: 0

Free Attribute Points: 0

Personal Attributes: Strength 1, Agility 1, Mana 1, Divine Soul 1, Charm 1, Stamina 1

Health Points: 20/20

Spiritual Power Value: 0/0

Talents: "Innate Swordseed" (Legendary): Your natural talent in the Sword Dao far exceeds that of ordinary people. Being innately versed in the Sword Dao, you permanently reduce the experience points needed for any Sword Technique by 30%, and you can unrestrictedly use any Sword Artifact and learn any Sword Technique.

"Thick-skinned": Prolonged soaking in Corpse Puppet Liquid has withered your Divine Soul but greatly improved your physical constitution, granting you an additional Health Points +10 and reducing damage from First-Grade Spells by 20%.

Skills: "Heavenly Eye Technique" (Universal): Detect personal information. The greater the Cultivation disparity, the less information obtained.

--------------

This marked the character panel from "Nine Heavens".

Gazing at the holographic stats floating in his mind, Lu Qingshan couldn't suppress a grin.

As a veteran "Nine Heavens" gamer, with this panel in hand plus his grasp of the world's plot, seizing his fate—and even reshaping others'—didn't seem so impossible anymore.