Vast Experience Points

Blood Corpse True Person had long since noticed someone coming.

Ever since Blood Corpse True Person had been captured, two groups had already come to interrogate him, yet unfortunately, they had gained nothing.

He had not expected someone else to come again after only half an hour.

It seemed they truly attached great importance to him.

Blood Corpse True Person thought venomously.

Faced with Zhishou Tower's many interrogation methods, he had not uttered a single word.

What puzzled him was exactly how his identity had been exposed.

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

His pupils suddenly contracted.

—Beyond the bars was not a Prison Department cultivator as he had expected, but an exceedingly young-looking youth!

There could not possibly be idle people in a place as important as the Prison Department.

This youth was an important figure.

The black-robed cultivator silently opened the iron door in the bars and softly said to Lu Qingshan, "We placed dozens of restrictions on him. He no longer has any strength to resist or struggle. Please, go ahead."

Lu Qingshan nodded and walked into the cell.

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

Clearly, the previous interrogation methods had targeted his soul.

But judging by the situation, Blood Corpse True Person's mouth was quite tightly sealed.

Still, that was within expectations.

How could the Underworld, having existed among humanity for so long, be an ordinary organization?

How could the mouths of Underworld members be pried open so easily?

"Who are you?" Blood Corpse True Person gritted his teeth and asked, one word at a time.

Lu Qingshan did not answer Blood Corpse True Person's question. Instead, he crouched before him and looked into his shadowy eyes.

"Do you recognize me now?"

Cultivators naturally possessed exceptional memories, let alone when their last meeting had been so recent.

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

"It's me," Lu Qingshan admitted.

Blood Corpse True Person fell silent for a moment, then suddenly chuckled. "I simply cannot understand it. You and I have never had any dealings. We merely crossed paths once at the Great Xia Trading Company. How did you discover that I was one of the Underworld?"

Lu Qingshan looked coldly at Blood Corpse True Person. "Is that important?"

"Perhaps it isn't important to you, but it is very important to me." Blood Corpse True Person looked at Lu Qingshan's delicate features and gave a dry laugh. "If you are willing to give me an explanation, perhaps I can reveal some intelligence about the Underworld."

"Apart from that, no matter what methods you use, you will never get the slightest bit of intelligence from my mouth." Blood Corpse True Person said venomously, "From the moment I was captured, I gave up all hope of living on. Right now, I merely want to know the answer."

Lu Qingshan shook his head, unmoved. "I did not come to pry intelligence out of your mouth."

Blood Corpse True Person vaguely guessed something. He swallowed with difficulty. "Impossible. You went through so much trouble to capture me alive. How could you so easily give up on extracting intelligence from me?"

"Zhishou Tower indeed will not kill you so easily, but I am not from Zhishou Tower." Lu Qingshan looked at Blood Corpse True Person and spoke calmly.

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

First, the Lu Qingshan who had originally possessed this body had died at Blood Corpse True Person's hands. If he did not avenge this grudge, his heart would not be at ease.

Second, Zhishou Tower cultivators were cautious by nature. Pies did not fall from the sky, and gifts freely given always easily aroused suspicion.

Therefore, although Lu Qingshan had originally intended to reveal the intelligence to Yuanshan Tower so that Yuanshan Tower could stop the Underworld's scheme this time, he had chosen to provide the intelligence through a transaction and cooperation rather than give it away for free.

This instead made Yuanshan Tower's two tower masters harbor a few threads less suspicion toward Lu Qingshan.

Because in their eyes, Lu Qingshan had something he wanted, which was why he had revealed Underworld intelligence to them.

Third, and most importantly, Lu Qingshan urgently needed experience points to increase his strength.

Only strength was the foundation of everything.

The chaos in Chang'an was about to rise. He desperately needed a certain degree of strength to protect himself in the troubled times.

And the experience from killing a Foundation Establishment cultivator above his level was abundant enough to raise Lu Qingshan's strength by a great deal.

Without wasting more words on Blood Corpse True Person, under Blood Corpse True Person's unwilling gaze, Lu Qingshan gently pressed his palm against Blood Corpse True Person's forehead. Spirit power surged from his palm.

Under Lu Qingshan's control, that spirit power charged directly toward the soul within Blood Corpse True Person's brow.

Controlled by multiple restrictions, Blood Corpse True Person had no way at all to block this spirit power that would ordinarily have been insignificant to him.

The spirit power tore apart Blood Corpse True Person's fragile soul.

In an instant, his soul perished and his person vanished.

"You launched a lethal attack. You dealt 60 damage to Blood Corpse True Person (Lv27)!"

"Target dead. You killed Blood Corpse True Person (Lv27). Cross-level kill. You received an experience reward, gaining 2100 (base experience) x2 (multiplier) = 4200 experience points!"

With 2100 base experience and the double reward for killing an enemy one level above him, this single encounter had earned Lu Qingshan 4200 experience points.

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

Even wealthy players in the game who threw money at leveling could only level that quickly.

Lu Qingshan was very satisfied.

Looking at Blood Corpse True Person lying on the ground without the slightest trace of life left, Lu Qingshan felt no emotional stir and left the cell.

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

Next came the hand-chopping segment players loved most.

After making a slight calculation in his heart, Lu Qingshan formed a plan.

Lu Qingshan first invested experience into the Qi Guiding Technique and began leveling it up.

"Qi Guiding Technique increased to Lv3. Spirit Power +10!"

"Qi Guiding Technique increased to Lv8. Spirit Power +10. Obtained 1 free attribute point!"

He spent a total of 2700 experience points to raise the Qi Guiding Technique from Lv2 to Lv8, increasing his maximum Spirit Power by 60 and gaining 3 free attribute points.

Without much hesitation, Lu Qingshan added all 3 attribute points to Strength.

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

Looking at the panel, he still had 1518 experience points. After consuming another 1350 experience points {2250*0.6 (Innate Sword Seed -30% experience cost, Beginner Sword Skill Affinity -10% experience cost)}, he raised the Falling Bright Sword Art to max level Lv10.

Cultivation level was important, but skill level was equally important.

If one only focused on increasing cultivation while neglecting to level skills, the result would be having an extremely high level but low combat power. Such people were called giant-baby high-level low-combat players.

One major drawback of giant-baby players was that their leveling speed would be greatly slowed.

With only cultivation and no skill levels, under normal circumstances, they simply could not defeat NPCs of the same level. They could only bully low-level mobs, but in "Nine Heavens," there were not only experience rewards for cross-level kills, but also an experience penalty system.

If one bullied mobs lower level than oneself, the experience gained would be pitifully little.

But if one deliberately did not raise cultivation level and focused solely on increasing combat power, that did not guarantee steady profits either.

After all, attribute values were the foundation of all combat power. No matter how fierce a Qi Refining cultivator with every skill maxed out might be, he still could not defeat a Golden Core cultivator whose skills were all only level 1.

This required finding the right balance between the two.

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

Why think so much about it?

Just max everything out.

However, after transmigrating, Lu Qingshan was no longer constrained by version caps on his own level.

—For example, in the Chang'an Chaos version, the player level cap was level 30 (Foundation Establishment).

Naturally, talk of maxing everything out no longer applied.

The seemingly vast experience points instantly bottomed out, making Lu Qingshan feel a little heartache.

That small amount of guaranteed reserve experience was what Lu Qingshan had saved for learning new skills in the future.

But the investment was worthwhile. Lu Qingshan's combat power soared.

Lu Qingshan (Human)

Class: Sword Cultivator

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

Stage: Qi Refining

Experience Points: 168

Free Attribute Points: 0

Personal Attributes: Strength 5, Agility 1, Mana 1, Soul 1, Charm 1, Endurance 1

Health: 20/20

Spirit Power: 80/80

Talent: 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 to learn and level 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 improved your physical constitution. You additionally gain +10 Health, and damage taken from first-rank spells is reduced by 20%.

Specialization: Without specialization, one cannot achieve greatness. Sword Cultivators who specialize in the Sword Dao cannot change into any secondary profession!

Formation Breaker: With the will to break formations, there is only death and no life. Damage dealt by Sword Cultivators increases by: stage x5%. As a balance, Sword Cultivators receive no modifier bonuses to their Endurance attribute!

Sword Skill Affinity (Beginner): The experience required for Sword Cultivators to learn and level Sword Skills is reduced by 10%; the experience required to learn and level skills other than Sword Skills increases by 10%; Sword Skill damage increases by 5%!

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

Falling Bright Sword Art Lv10 (MAX): Damage is Strength x2 (1+0.1*skill level), and each sword form carries one layer of Dark Erosion Power. Each layer of Dark Erosion Power reduces speed by 1. Dark Erosion Power can stack up to three layers. After stacking three layers, Dark Erosion can be actively detonated to briefly bind the enemy.

Each sword form consumes 2 Spirit Power. Detonating Dark Erosion consumes 5 Spirit Power.

Faction: Yuanshan Tower: Friendly (50)

Zhishou Tower: Friendly (5)

Lu Qingshan's current Strength was 5. In other words, with one form of the Falling Bright Sword Art, without counting defense reduction or defensive spells, his theoretical panel damage was 11 points (5*2*110% [Formation Breaker 5% + Sword Skill Affinity 5%]).

One had to know that aside from Body Cultivators, Qi Refining cultivators generally only had a maximum of 11 Health.

This was the Sword Cultivator.