Vast Experience Points

The Blood Corpse True Person had already detected someone's arrival.

Since capturing the Blood Corpse True Person, two groups had already come to interrogate him, but unfortunately, they had all come away empty-handed.

He hadn't expected more people to arrive after only half an hour?

It seemed they really attached great importance to him.

The Blood Corpse True Person thought venomously.

He hadn't uttered a single word under the interrogation methods employed by Zhishou Tower.

What puzzled him was how his identity had been exposed.

The Blood Corpse True Person slightly raised his eyelids and looked outside the bars.

His pupils constricted sharply.

Outside the bars wasn't a cultivator from the Prison Department as he had expected, but an extremely young-looking youth!

There wouldn't be idle people in such a heavily guarded area of the Prison Department.

This youth was an important figure.

The black-robed cultivator silently opened the iron gate on the bars and said softly to Lu Qingshan, "We've placed dozens of restrictions on him. He has no power to resist or struggle. Please, go ahead."

Lu Qingshan nodded and walked into the cell.

The Blood Corpse True Person's face was pale and bloodless, yet there were no visible wounds on his body.

It was clear that the previous interrogation methods had targeted his soul.

But judging by the situation, the Blood Corpse True Person's resolve was quite strong.

This was to be expected, though.

How could the Underworld have existed among humans for so long if it were an ordinary organization?

How could the mouths of Underworld members be so easily opened?

"Who are you?" the Blood Corpse True Person asked, gritting his teeth, enunciating each word.

Lu Qingshan didn't answer the Blood Corpse True Person's question. Instead, he squatted in front of the Blood Corpse True Person, looking at his gloomy eyes.

"Do you recognize me now?"

Cultivators already had exceptional memories, let alone the fact that their last encounter was not long ago.

"Great Xia Trading Company." The Blood Corpse True Person quickly reacted and recognized Lu Qingshan's face. "It's you?!"

"It is I." Lu Qingshan admitted.

The Blood Corpse True Person was silent for a moment, then suddenly chuckled, "I just can't understand it. I've never had any interaction with you, only met you once at the Great Xia Trading Company. How did you discover I was from the Underworld?"

Lu Qingshan looked at the Blood Corpse True Person with a cold expression. "Does it matter?"

"It might not matter to you, but it matters greatly to me." The Blood Corpse True Person looked at Lu Qingshan's handsome face and said with a dry laugh, "If you're willing to give me an explanation, I might reveal some information about the Underworld."

"Other than that, you won't get any information from me by any means," the Blood Corpse True Person said venomously. "Because from the moment I was captured, I harbored no hope of survival. I just want an answer now."

Lu Qingshan shook his head, unmoved. "I didn't come here to pry information out of you."

The Blood Corpse True Person vaguely guessed something and swallowed with some difficulty. "Impossible. You went to great lengths to capture me alive, how could you give up so easily on extracting information from me..."

"Zhishou Tower indeed wouldn't kill you easily, but I am not from Zhishou Tower," Lu Qingshan said calmly, looking at the Blood Corpse True Person.

There were three reasons why he asked Zhishou Tower for the Blood Corpse True Person as payment for intelligence.

First, the Lu Qingshan of this body had died at the hands of the Blood Corpse True Person, and he wouldn't feel at ease if this revenge wasn't taken.

Second, Zhishou Tower cultivators were cautious. Nothing falls from the sky for free; things given away easily tend to arouse suspicion.

Therefore, although Lu Qingshan's original intention was to reveal information to Yuanshan Tower to prevent the Underworld's current scheme, he chose to provide the information through a cooperative transaction rather than giving it away for free.

This, in turn, reduced the suspicion the two leaders of Yuanshan Tower had towards Lu Qingshan.

In their eyes, Lu Qingshan had revealed the Underworld's intelligence because he had his own agenda.

Third, and most importantly, Lu Qingshan desperately needed Experience to improve his strength.

Only strength was the foundation of everything.

The chaos in Chang'an was about to erupt, and he urgently needed a certain level of strength to protect himself in this turbulent era.

The Experience gained from killing a Foundation Establishment cultivator above his own level was substantial enough to significantly boost Lu Qingshan's strength.

Without further ado, under the resentful gaze of the Blood Corpse True Person, Lu Qingshan gently placed his palm on the Blood Corpse True Person's forehead, and his internal Spirit Power surged out from his palm.

Under Lu Qingshan's control, this Spirit Power directly rushed towards the Blood Corpse True Person's soul within his glabella.

Controlled by multiple restrictions, the Blood Corpse True Person was completely unable to resist this seemingly insignificant surge of Spirit Power.

The Spirit Power tore apart the Blood Corpse True Person's fragile soul.

Instantly, his soul was extinguished, and he ceased to exist.

"You launched a fatal attack, dealing 60 damage to Blood Corpse True Person (Lv27)!"

"Target eliminated, you have killed Blood Corpse True Person (Lv27). You killed an opponent of a higher level, gaining bonus experience. You received a total of 2100 (base experience) x 2 (multiplier) = 4200 experience points!"

With 2100 base experience points and a double reward for killing an opponent a level higher, Lu Qingshan gained 4200 experience points from this single encounter.

This was enough experience to directly push Lu Qingshan to the ninth level of Qi Refining.

Even wealthy players in games, who spent money to level up, couldn't achieve this speed.

Lu Qingshan was very satisfied.

Looking at the Blood Corpse True Person, who lay motionless on the ground, Lu Qingshan felt no emotional disturbance and left the cell.

Lu Qingshan left Yuanshan Tower and returned to the inn where he was temporarily staying.

Next up was the players' favorite part: spending money.

Lu Qingshan quickly made a rough calculation in his mind and formed a plan.

Lu Qingshan first invested his experience into the [Qi Guiding Technique] and began to level up.

"[Qi Guiding Technique] upgraded to Lv3, Spirit Power +10!"

"[Qi Guiding Technique] upgraded to Lv8, Spirit Power +10, gained 1 free attribute point!"

A total of 2700 experience points were spent to upgrade the [Qi Guiding Technique] from Lv2 to Lv8, increasing his Spirit Power cap by 60 points and granting him 3 free attribute points.

Without further hesitation, Lu Qingshan allocated all 3 attribute points to Strength.

After leveling up two more times, he would reach the level cap for the Qi Refining stage and could prepare to advance to Foundation Establishment.

He glanced at his status panel. He had 1518 experience points remaining. After spending another 1350 experience points {2250 * 0.6 (30% experience discount from [Innate Sword Seed] + 10% experience discount from [Beginner Sword Skill Affinity])}, he upgraded the Falling Bright Sword Art to its maximum level, Lv10.

Cultivation level was important, but skill levels were equally crucial.

If one only focused on increasing cultivation level while neglecting skill upgrades, the consequence would be a high level but low combat power. Such individuals were known as "gigantic infant" players with high levels but low combat effectiveness.

A significant drawback of "gigantic infant" players was that their leveling speed would be greatly hindered.

Without skill levels to complement their cultivation, they normally couldn't defeat NPCs of the same level. They could only bully lower-level monsters, but in "Nine Heavens," besides the experience bonus for killing higher-level opponents, there was also a penalty mechanism for experience gained from lower-level opponents.

Bullying lower-level monsters would yield very little experience.

However, deliberately not increasing cultivation level and solely focusing on improving combat power didn't guarantee a profit either.

After all, attribute points were the foundation of all combat power. A Qi Refining cultivator with all maxed-out skills, no matter how reckless, couldn't defeat a Golden Core cultivator whose skill levels were all at Lv1.

This required finding a balance between the two.

But as long as there was enough experience, none of that mattered.

Why overthink it?

Just max everything out.

However, after his transmigration, Lu Qingshan was no longer bound by the game's level caps.

—For example, during the "Chang'an Rebellion" version, the player level cap was 30 (Foundation Establishment).

The concept of "maxing everything out" was therefore impossible.

The seemingly vast amount of experience points vanished instantly, making Lu Qingshan feel a pang of regret.

The remaining minimal experience was what Lu Qingshan kept as a reserve for learning new skills later.

However, the investment was worth it; Lu Qingshan's combat power had surged.

Lu Qingshan (Human)

Profession: Sword Cultivator

Cultivation Method: [Qi Guiding Technique] Lv8 (0/800) — [Spirit Power +80]

Tier: Qi Refining

Experience: 168

Free Attribute Points: 0

Personal Attributes: Strength 5, Agility 1, Mana 1, Spirit 1, Charm 1, Stamina 1

Health: 20/20

Spirit Power: 80/80

Talents: [Innate Sword Seed] (Legendary): With the Innate Sword Seed, your talent for the sword path far surpasses ordinary individuals. As one born with innate knowledge of the sword, the experience required to learn and upgrade any Sword Skill will be permanently reduced by 30%. Simultaneously, you can use any sword weapon and learn any Sword Skill without restriction.

[Thick Skin and Flesh]: After prolonged immersion in potent corpse fluid, although it corrupted your spirit, it also significantly improved your physical fitness, granting an additional +10 Health and reducing damage taken from Rank 1 spells by 20%.

[Specialization]: Without specialization, one cannot achieve greatness. Sword Cultivators who specialize in the sword path cannot transfer to any secondary professions!

[Charge]: The will to charge, with no thought of retreat. The damage dealt by Sword Cultivators increases by: Tier x 5%. As a balance, Sword Cultivators will not receive any bonus modifications to their Stamina attribute!

[Sword Skill Affinity] (Beginner): The experience required for Sword Cultivators to learn and upgrade Sword Skills is reduced by 10%. The experience required to learn and upgrade skills other than Sword Skills is increased by 10%. Sword Skill damage is increased by 5%!

Skills: [Heavenly Eye Technique] (Universal): Detects character information. The greater the difference in cultivation, the less information can be obtained.

[Falling Bright Sword Art] Lv10 (max): Damage is Strength x 2 (1 + 0.1 * Skill Level). Additionally, each sword strike applies a layer of corrosive force, which slows movement speed by 1 per layer. Corrosive force can stack up to three layers. Upon reaching three layers, the corrosive force can be detonated to briefly immobilize the enemy.

Each sword skill requires 2 Spirit Power, and igniting the corrosive effect requires 5 Spirit Power.

Faction: [Yuanshan Tower]: Friendly (50)

[Zhishou Tower]: Friendly (5)

Lu Qingshan's current Strength is 5. This means that with one Falling Bright Sword Art, not counting defense reduction or defensive techniques, his theoretical damage output is 11 points (5 * 2 * 110% ([Charge] 5% + [Sword Skill Affinity] 5%)).

Keep in mind that Qi Refining cultivators, excluding Body Cultivators, generally have a maximum HP of only 11 points.

This is the way of the Sword Cultivator.