Chapter 2: Cultivation Technique (Part 1)

Although he was immersed in the joy of just having received his "Golden Finger," Lu Qingshan soon noticed an anomaly on his attribute panel.

His attribute panel was a very ordinary one, the kind a player sees when they first enter the game, with all six basic attributes at 1, commonly referred to as a "blank slate." Yet, there was something very special in his talent slot.

Legendary Talent "Innate Swordseed".

Legendary talents were something that, up to the point of his transmigration, no player had ever possessed.

Obviously, the only reason such a thing would appear on his attribute panel was that he had brought along the final reward from the Godslayer Battle when he transmigrated.

Could this be termed as a "Golden Finger (Supercharged)"?

...

Lu Qingshan furrowed his brows and fell into deep thought.

According to the game settings of "Nine Heavens," the six basic attributes are:

Strength determines the explosive power of physical functions and significantly impacts physical attack power.

Agility affects the character's reaction speed, attack speed, movement speed, and the speed of initiating actions.

Mana affects the power of the spells cast by the character. Unlike in other games, the mana attribute does not determine the upper limit of the character's Spiritual Power Value; in "Nine Heavens," the upper limit of Spiritual Power is wholly dependent on the Cultivation Technique practiced.

Divine Soul affects the character's sense perception, soul strength, willpower, common-sense judgment, and intuition, the biggest difference from the mana attribute being that Divine Soul is more about awareness and understanding of the surroundings.

Charm affects how positively characters and factions perceive one another. In addition, certain professions strictly require specific charm values, and charm provides additional bonuses to these professions.

Stamina determines the character's resistance to physical attacks and also their Health Points limit and recovery rate. Increasing stamina can raise Health Points, thus making it a crucial attribute for any profession.

Free Attribute Points can be used to enhance the six basic attributes: strength, agility, mana, Divine Soul, charm, and stamina.

When players reach the Qi Refining Realm, they may choose their cultivation system, or so-called profession.

"Nine Heavens" is a world for cultivators.

The Human Cultivator's cultivation system includes six paths, known as the Six Dao cultivation systems, each corresponding to one of the six basic attributes:

Body Cultivation, whose primary attribute is stamina.

Beast Cultivation, whose primary attribute is charm.

Dharma Cultivation, whose primary attribute is mana.

Spiritual Cultivation, whose primary attribute is Divine Soul.

Nether Cultivation, whose primary attribute is agility.

And Sword Cultivation, whose primary attribute is strength.

Each profession has its unique combat style and focus. To put it plainly, Body Cultivators are warriors; Beast Cultivators are summoners; Dharma Cultivators are mages; Spiritual Cultivators are priests; Nether Cultivators are naturally assassins, and Sword Cultivators, due to their unique aspect, have never had a proper analog.

In his previous life, Lu Qingshan was a player who specialized in Sword Cultivation. He devoted ten years of his youth to this profession, and without a doubt, having been reborn and transmigrated into this game, he would choose Sword Cultivation again without hesitation, the profession he knew so well.

Not to mention, the Legendary Talent "Innate Swordseed" he had drawn was undoubtedly tailor-made for the profession of Sword Cultivation; he had no reason to abandon such a perfect start to pursue something unconventional.

...

Shasha—

Amid the silence of the cave, footsteps approached from afar.

Someone was coming!

Lu Qingshan's whole body tensed, entering a state of high alert.

Lu Qingshan held his breath.

Two teens dressed in black robes, around the ages of fourteen or fifteen, entered the cave.

Glancing at the neatly arranged dozens of bodies in the Corpse Pool, one of the teens said, "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?"

"Stop worrying aimlessly. Master has crafted so many Corpse Puppets recently; there are few people in this place who pose a threat to him. Let's move these bodies out of the Corpse Pool, so we don't waste them. Otherwise, we'll definitely be scolded by Master."

"You're right, let's get moving then."

...

Holding his breath in the Corpse Pool, posing as a dead body, Lu Qingshan listened to the two's conversation and felt a surge of relief.

In the brief exchange between the two, he obtained a very important piece of information.

Their master, the most powerful cultivator at this corpse refining site, was currently not within the cave.

Simply put, the dungeon's boss was out and had not returned yet.

This was undoubtedly his best chance to escape.

As long as he could clear out the remaining "minions," he would be able to get through this dungeon.

...

Lu Qingshan threw a Heavenly Eye Technique at the two in front of him.

Although the Heavenly Eye Technique is a common skill freely given when players create an account, its practicality can largely be considered a divine technique in many respects.

The Heavenly Eye Technique's ability to detect attributes is not perceivable by any awareness, even if the target has high Divine Soul attributes, at most the information detected would be question marks.

You see, in NPCs' ability to detect, if the opponent's Divine Soul attribute is high enough, your detection action can be perceived, and recklessly using detection techniques on other cultivators has always been a major taboo in the cultivation realm.

A detection skill like the Heavenly Eye Technique, which has no negative impact, is absolutely unique — akin to a small yet significant cheat given by the game officials to players.

The two individuals in front didn't possess high power, so under the effect of the Heavenly Eye Technique, Lu Qingshan received very detailed character panel information:

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

——————

Both were low-level cultivators in the second and third level of Qi Refinement, and their occupation was Dharma Cultivation.

In fact, in terms of attributes, Lu Qingshan wasn't much different from these two men.

In the Qi Refining Realm, every two levels increased only provides one free attribute point, and with Lu Qingshan's additional 10 points in health from being thick-skinned, he was on par with the two in overall attributes.

However, in the world of Nine Heavens, a person's combat power obviously cannot be measured by attributes alone.

These two were cultivators who had practiced cultivation techniques, had generated spiritual power and mastered one to two spells.

The gap between Lu Qingshan and these two, compared to reality, is like two ordinary people with similar physical fitness engaging in a face-to-face fight—one unarmed, the other holding a handgun.

Who would win?

Obviously, the one with the handgun.

Thus, the only way for Lu Qingshan to defeat these two was to prevent them from firing their handguns.