This Sword Cultivator is Somewhat Dependable Chapter 3 - 2: Cultivation Technique (Part 1)

Even while basking in the excitement of freshly gaining his "Golden Finger," Lu Qingshan promptly spotted something unusual on his attribute panel.

His attribute panel displayed a standard beginner setup, like what players encounter upon first entering the game, with every one of the six basic attributes sitting at 1—widely known as a "blank slate." However, the talent slot revealed something exceptionally distinctive.

Legendary Talent "Innate Swordseed".

Before his transmigration, not a single player had ever held a Legendary talent.

Evidently, its presence on his attribute panel stemmed solely from carrying over the ultimate reward of the Godslayer Battle during transmigration.

Wouldn't this count as a "Golden Finger (Supercharged)"?

…

Lu Qingshan creased his forehead, plunging into intense reflection.

Per the "Nine Heavens" game rules, the six core attributes include:

Strength controls the explosive force of physical capabilities and heavily influences physical attack damage.

Agility governs the character's response speed, strike speed, travel speed, and action startup speed.

Mana dictates the strength of spells the character releases. Unlike typical games, mana doesn't set the max Spiritual Power Value—in "Nine Heavens," that limit depends completely on the practiced Cultivation Technique.

Divine Soul impacts sensory awareness, soul durability, mental fortitude, logical reasoning, and gut feelings; its key distinction from mana lies in heightened perception and grasp of the environment.

Charm influences mutual favor between characters and groups. Certain jobs demand set charm levels, and it offers bonus effects for those vocations too.

Stamina sets resistance against physical harm, plus the Health Points ceiling and regen speed. Raising stamina boosts Health Points, making it essential across all professions.

Free Attribute Points let players bolster the six basics: strength, agility, mana, Divine Soul, charm, and stamina.

Players arriving at Qi Refining Realm pick their cultivation path, essentially their profession.

"Nine Heavens" crafts a universe for cultivators.

The Human Cultivator's paths number six, dubbed the Six Dao cultivation systems, each tied to a basic attribute:

Body Cultivation, with stamina as the main attribute.

Beast Cultivation, with charm as the main attribute.

Dharma Cultivation, with mana as the main attribute.

Spiritual Cultivation, with Divine Soul as the main attribute.

Nether Cultivation, with agility as the main attribute.

And Sword Cultivation, with strength as the main attribute.

Professions each feature unique battle approaches and priorities. To break it down, Body Cultivators serve as warriors; Beast Cultivators as summoners; Dharma Cultivators as mages; Spiritual Cultivators as priests; Nether Cultivators as assassins—and Sword Cultivators, thanks to their special nature, defy easy comparison.

In his former life, Lu Qingshan mained Sword Cultivation. He poured ten years of his prime into mastering it, so reborn and thrust into this game world, he'd choose Sword Cultivation anew without a second thought—the field he dominated.

Plus, the Legendary Talent "Innate Swordseed" fit Sword Cultivation like a glove; ditching such a flawless beginning for an offbeat option defied logic.

…

Shasha—

Within the cave's hush, footsteps sounded from the distance, drawing near.

Someone was coming!

Lu Qingshan's entire frame went rigid, snapping into full alert mode.

Lu Qingshan held his breath.

Two youths in black robes, roughly fourteen or fifteen years old, stepped inside the cave.

Eyeing the tidy rows of dozens of corpses in the Corpse Pool, one youth spoke up, "Master warned that the bodies used for Corpse Puppet fabrication should not be soaked in a potent corpse solution for more than three months, or the Divine Soul remnants in the bodies will be completely decayed by the solution, rendering them unusable for Corpse Puppet crafting."This batch of bodies has been in the Corpse Pool for three months now; why hasn't Master returned? I'm worried that if we delay further, this batch of materials will be wasted."

"Yeah, Master has been out since last month and hasn't returned yet. Normally, he would come back before the materials for the Corpse Puppets mature. Could something have happened?"

"Quit your pointless worrying. Master has been making tons of Corpse Puppets lately; hardly anyone around here can threaten him. Let's haul these corpses out of the Corpse Pool so we don't waste them. Otherwise, Master will surely scold us."

"You're right, let's get to it then."

…

Feigning death in the Corpse Pool while holding his breath, Lu Qingshan overheard the pair's chat and sensed a rush of relief.

From their quick exchange, he picked up vital intel.

Their master—the top cultivator at this corpse refining spot—wasn't inside the cave right now.

To put it simply, the dungeon boss was out and hadn't returned.

This was clearly his prime shot at escape.

By taking down the leftover "minions," he could conquer this dungeon.

…

Lu Qingshan fired off a Heavenly Eye Technique at the two ahead.

Even though the Heavenly Eye Technique comes free with new accounts as a basic skill, its usefulness often feels like a divine art in countless ways.

No spiritual sense can pick up on the Heavenly Eye Technique's attribute scanning—even against high Divine Soul foes, you'd just get question marks at most.

In typical NPC detection, a superior Divine Soul lets them sense the probe, and blindly scanning fellow cultivators counts as a huge no-no in the cultivation world.

A risk-free scanner like the Heavenly Eye Technique stands alone—a sneaky but huge advantage handed to players by the game makers.

These two up front weren't strong, so the Heavenly Eye Technique laid bare their full character sheets for Lu Qingshan:

Song Qing (Human Race)

Occupation: Dharma Cultivator (Primary) / Talisman Scribe [First Grade] (Secondary)

Cultivation Technique: [Qi Drawing Technique] Lv2 (151/200)

Rank: Qi Refinement

Attributes: Strength 1, Agility 1, Mana 2, Divine Soul 1, Charm 1, Stamina 1

Health Points: 11/11

Spiritual Power Value: 20/20

Skills: Fireball Technique lv1, Swift Movement Talisman lv1, Fireball Talisman lv1

Talent: None

——————

Jie Shi (Human Race)

Occupation: Dharma Cultivator (Primary)

Cultivation Technique: [Qi Drawing Technique] Lv3 (127/300)

Rank: Qi Refinement

Attributes: Strength 1, Agility 1, Mana 2, Divine Soul 1, Charm 1, Stamina 1

Health Points: 11/11

Spiritual Power Value: 30/30

Skills: Fireball Technique lv2, Wind Control Skill lv1

Talent: None

——————

These were mere low-tier Qi Refinement cultivators at the second and third layers, both Dharma Cultivators.

Truth be told, Lu Qingshan's attributes didn't lag far behind theirs.

During Qi Refining, each pair of levels grants just one free attribute point, and Lu Qingshan's bonus 10 health from his sturdy build put him neck-and-neck with them overall.

Yet in Nine Heavens, battle prowess goes way beyond raw attributes.

These guys had trained cultivation techniques, built up spiritual power, and wielded a couple of spells.

Compared to them, Lu Qingshan's edge was like two average Joes with matching physiques squaring off—one empty-handed, the other packing a pistol.

Who triumphs?

Without question, the pistol guy.

Therefore, Lu Qingshan's sole path to victory lay in stopping them from pulling the trigger on their spells.