Legendary Talent

What the hell?

By all rights, he should have revived at the respawn point he had bound long ago, not appeared in this inexplicable cave.

Lu Qingshan could not help freezing for a moment.

He carefully examined the liquid he was soaking in. It was black as ink, with faint silver threads floating within it. Lu Qingshan sniffed, and a faint sour stench of decay drifted into his nose.

As a veteran player who had entered Nine Heavens during its closed beta, Lu Qingshan quickly reached a conclusion.

This seemed to be the lowest-grade First-grade Corpse Strengthening Fluid, an auxiliary spiritual liquid Demon Cultivators used to refine corpse puppets.

Corpse puppets. How long ago had those memories been?

Lu Qingshan could not help falling into a daze.

The Corpse Puppet Uprising had been the main storyline during Nine Heavens' closed beta. If he had not happened to participate in the beta, he might not even have known about it.

By the time Nine Heavens officially launched its open beta, the Corpse Puppet Uprising, as a prelude, had long since ended. As a player who had only just entered the game back then, he had not actually participated much in that closed-beta main storyline. He had merely gone through it at a gallop, like a horse viewing flowers.

In truth, it was not just the Corpse Puppet Uprising. Players with meager strength had never been qualified to truly participate in the main storylines of the first several versions. They could only trail behind NPCs and watch the excitement.

"Wait..."

"Wasn't this stuff completely banned by human cultivators after the Corpse Puppet Uprising ended?"

"No, that isn't important. What matters is, where is my cultivation? And why am I here? Where is this?"

Lu Qingshan felt as though his head was not quite enough to process it all.

Suddenly, countless images exploded in the depths of his mind like atomic bombs, blasting him into utter disorientation.

Lu Qingshan's breathing quickened, his pupils contracted slightly, and he looked as though he had lost his soul.

He remembered.

He remembered.

His name was Lu Qingshan. He had been born in Azure Province and was a member of the Lu Family, a cultivation lineage in Azure Province.

Yet he had not become a cultivator because of his cultivation lineage bloodline. His mother had merely been an ordinary mortal woman, one his cultivator father had casually found for amusement.

In a cultivation world where the weak were prey to the strong and strength was revered above all, his philandering cultivator father clearly had not placed much importance on so-called blood ties. In truth, his father had left far too many offspring behind and simply could not manage them all.

With little cultivation talent, he had become a mid-level steward in the lineage's mundane businesses. While transporting goods, he had been attacked by cultivators. When he woke again, he was already in this bizarre cave.

No!

Lu Qingshan shuddered from head to toe, constantly reminding himself in his mind.

That isn't right. I am Lu Qingshan, but I am not Lu Qingshan of the Lu Family in Azure Province. I am a citizen of a country called Huaxia from another spacetime.

Yet the memories in his mind told him otherwise.

You are Lu Qingshan. Whether Lu Qingshan of Azure Province or Lu Qingshan of Huaxia, both are you.

Lu Qingshan's mind was a tangled mess.

He understood everything now.

Yes, he had transmigrated. He had transmigrated into Nine Heavens, the game he had struggled in for ten years.

Nine Heavens was the hottest full-immersion virtual reality game of the interstellar era. Ten years after its launch, it had held the top spot on the interstellar gaming rankings for ten straight years. At its peak, its concurrent player count had exceeded one hundred million, while registered users had reached the terrifying figure of three billion.

The game was set in a xianxia world. Its map was so vast that even before Lu Qingshan transmigrated here, players had yet to finish exploring it. Its storyline was so rich that ten years after launch, it had only progressed to the middle stage of the game.

As a full-time player who made his living through Nine Heavens, Lu Qingshan had lived through the changes of every major version and was somewhat well-known among players. Whenever he streamed, surpassing a million viewers had always been effortless.

"The Corpse Puppet Uprising means the current time should still be the Changan Era."

Lu Qingshan's expression turned grave. Changan, Changan—the era name had originally meant lasting peace and security. Yet who could have imagined that the most chaotic period in this world's history would begin brewing at the end of an era that hoped for enduring peace?

The Corpse Puppet Uprising was the omen of the turmoil that would engulf this world for an unknown number of years.

At that thought, a wave of exhaustion welled up in Lu Qingshan's heart. In the coming unrest that would sweep across all of Azure Sky, neither cultivators nor mortals would be able to escape the pervasive chaos and slaughter.

In the end, Lu Qingshan let out a long breath and gradually calmed down. It was not that he had come up with a plan, merely that Huaxia people had always possessed an excellent traditional outlook:

Since I'm already here, what else can I do?

Since he had come, he might as well settle in.

Fortunately, he had transmigrated to the end of the Changan Era, before the game's open beta. The turmoil was still brewing, and with his understanding of the plot, there was still room to lie low and survive.

If he had directly transmigrated into the storyline after the battle against the Blood Demon Lord, then as a mortal with no cultivation whatsoever, he would truly have been left in the dark, with nothing to do but wait for death.

"The end of the Changan Era, the end of the Changan Era..."

Like lightning splitting the night sky, Lu Qingshan suddenly realized something. His heart clenched viciously, and he could not help looking around.

As a game that had remained wildly popular for ten years without decline, Nine Heavens possessed not only an exceptionally balanced and entertaining combat system, but also another major feature: its grand, immersive storyline and NPCs intelligent enough to seem like real people.

As a player who had experienced that magnificent storyline, he had far too many regrets he wanted to make up for, yet he had never had the chance.

But now, he had returned to the beginning of it all and become a prophet of this world.

He was certain that no one in this world understood what was about to happen better than he did.

Perhaps, if he did it all again, those regrets might have a chance to be remedied?

Lu Qingshan's heart pounded without pause. At that moment, it felt as though something had been ignited within his body.

"However..." Lu Qingshan shook his head and glanced at the little heads scattered around him. "The urgent matter is figuring out how to get out of here first."

He was only an ordinary person now. Saving himself from a Demon Cultivator's hands would not be easy.

The Corpse-Strengthening Fluid he was soaking in was merely the lowest-grade First-grade Corpse Strengthening Fluid, which meant this Demon Cultivator was only at Qi Refining, the lowest rung among cultivators.

But no matter what, a cultivator was still a cultivator, not someone an ordinary person like him could easily deal with.

Suddenly, Lu Qingshan froze.

Light that should not have existed appeared before his eyes.

A waterfall-like stream of data flashed before him. Countless zeroes and ones continuously raced across his retinas, transforming into streaks of blue light.

At last, the data stream stabilized.

A message appeared before his eyes.

"You have soaked in Corpse-Strengthening Fluid (First-grade) for three months and have obtained the talent Thick Skin and Flesh."

This was?!

Lu Qingshan's mind buzzed. As a seasoned internet user of the interstellar era, there was no way he could fail to recognize what this was.

Lu Qingshan immediately reacted.

"Status panel, status panel!"

Lu Qingshan repeatedly called out in his mind.

A pale blue screen subsequently emerged in Lu Qingshan's mind:

Lu Qingshan (Human)

Class: None

Cultivation Method: None

Rank: None

Experience: 0

Free Attribute Points: 0

Personal Attributes: Strength 1, Agility 1, Mana 1, Soul 1, Charm 1, Endurance 1

Health: 20/20

Spirit Power: 0/0

Talents: Innate Sword Seed (Legendary): As one born with an Innate Sword Seed, your talent in the Sword Dao far surpasses that of ordinary people. As one born knowing the Sword Dao, the experience required for you to learn and level up any Sword Skill is permanently reduced by 30%. At the same time, you may use any Sword Weapon and learn any Sword Skill without restriction.

Thick Skin and Flesh: Long-term immersion in Corpse-Strengthening Fluid has corrupted your soul, but it has also greatly enhanced your physical constitution. You additionally gain Health +10, and damage received from First-grade spells is reduced by 20%.

Skill: Heavenly Eye Technique (General): Detects character information. The greater the difference in cultivation, the less information can be obtained.

------

This was Nine Heavens' character status panel.

Looking at the virtual data projected in his mind, Lu Qingshan could not help curling his lips into a smile.

As a veteran Nine Heavens player, with this status panel and his understanding of the world's plot, taking hold of his own fate and changing the fates of certain people seemed not to be so difficult after all.