Unexpected Gain

Rows of data appeared before Lu Qingshan's eyes:

"You have obtained the attributes of the Cry Soul Sword."

"Cry Soul True Person is controlling the Cry Soul Sword. Innate Sword Seed has taken effect. Judgment in progress. Judgment passed. Cry Soul True Person's control has failed!"

"Cry Soul True Person is controlling the Cry Soul Sword."

"You activated the sword weapon skill Soul Shock."

"Soul Shock hit successfully. The target will enter a brief soul-lost state."

"Cry Soul True Person's Flying Sword Technique was interrupted!"

"You used the Falling Bright Sword Art on the target. The Falling Bright Sword Art hit, dealing 10 damage, with an additional 5 (10*0.5) points of vital damage, for a total of 15 damage!"

"The target has died. You killed Cry Soul True Person (Lv26). Killed above your rank. Experience reward obtained: 2000 (base experience) x2 (multiplier) = 4000 experience!"

A single sword strike slew a Foundation Establishment cultivator!

Under that strike, a massive gash appeared across Cry Soul True Person's face. Blood gushed forth, making for an exceptionally gruesome sight.

Even at death's door, Cry Soul True Person's eyes remained full of doubt and confusion.

—Why had he died at the hands of a Qi Refining cultivator, and why had the one to kill him been his own bonded sword?

A Sword Cultivator's bonded sword was bound to its owner. Other than the Sword Cultivator themself, no one else could use it. This was a rule of iron known to all throughout the Nine Heavens.

Yet today, Lu Qingshan had shattered that ironclad rule.

Innate Sword Seed: You may use any sword weapon without restriction.

Any sword weapon naturally included a Sword Cultivator's bonded sword.

A Legendary Talent truly lived up to the word legendary.

From the moment he acted to the moment he killed Cry Soul True Person, only a few breaths had passed.

It looked exceedingly perilous, even somewhat rash.

But everything had been within Lu Qingshan's expectations.

Sword Cultivators had always been a class with meager health. Even Foundation Establishment Sword Cultivators could not change the fact that they were fragile as paper.

Because of the gap in cultivation realms, the Heavenly Eye Technique could not accurately inspect Cry Soul True Person's health.

But amid that attribute panel filled with question marks,

there was one extremely important piece of information.

—Behind Cry Soul True Person's health bar was an additional status: (Severely Injured).

A Sword Cultivator with scant health, and one already severely injured at that—his health was probably around ten points.

In Lu Qingshan's current state, one strike of the Falling Bright Sword Art dealt 11 damage.

But that was not enough.

That was merely theoretical damage, calculated without accounting for any defensive spells or defensive Spirit Artifacts.

Fortunately, Lu Qingshan recalled what Wu Yi had said: the Cry Soul Sword possessed the power of Soul Shock.

This was also Cry Soul True Person's famed technique.

Cry Soul Sword (Bonded Sword · Water)

Description: A sword forged from soulstone.

Sword Master: Cry Soul True Person

Level: Lv2 (131/2000)

Sword Weapon Effects: Flying sword speed +5%, Sharpness +1, Sword light division +1

Sword Weapon Skill: Soul Shock

Launches a Soul Shock technique at the target, with a chance to briefly send the target into a soul-lost state.

Note: This sword may only be used by its sword master.

The instant Lu Qingshan seized control of the Cry Soul Sword, he used its Soul Shock skill on Cry Soul True Person.

Secret arts concerning the soul, whether defensive or offensive, were an exceptionally precious category of secret art.

Most low-level cultivators had no possibility of learning such skills.

That was why Cry Soul True Person, relying on the Cry Soul Sword's Soul Shock skill, had been invincible in battles against cultivators of the same realm and had made a name for himself.

And as a low-level Foundation Establishment Sword Cultivator, Cry Soul True Person had likewise never cultivated a soul-defense secret art.

Naturally, he could not withstand the Soul Shock skill of his own bonded sword.

In a soul-lost state, he could not make any response to Lu Qingshan's attack.

In fact, most of a Sword Cultivator's skills had to rely on sword weapons to be unleashed.

This had originally been Cry Soul True Person's most practiced and sharpest combat routine—use Soul Shock for control, thereby ensuring that his flying sword struck true.

Lu Qingshan returned the favor in kind.

Worried that the strike would not deal enough damage, Lu Qingshan had attacked Cry Soul True Person's head.

Before the Nascent Soul Realm,

a cultivator's head was always a vital point.

Attacking a vital point granted a 1.5-times damage bonus.

With multiple layers of insurance, Cry Soul True Person was dead beyond all doubt beneath that strike.

Looking at Cry Soul True Person's corpse lying in a pool of blood,

Lu Qingshan's heart was filled with disdain.

Seizing a sword looked easy, but in truth, it carried enormous risk.

No matter how powerful the Innate Sword Seed was, he was still only a Qi Refining cultivator.

If Lu Qingshan tried to seize a sword from a Foundation Establishment Sword Cultivator one realm above him, there was a very high chance that he would fail the judgment.

If he failed the judgment, then grabbing the other party's bonded sword with his bare hand would be nothing more than offering himself up on a platter.

But how much effort would a Sword Cultivator who studied a lowly technique like the Cultivation Technique of Harvesting Yin put into nurturing his sword?

Moreover, he had previously asked Wu Yi and learned that Cry Soul True Person excelled at flying sword techniques.

Flying swords were one of a Sword Cultivator's bread-and-butter skills, and naturally, they were not easy to cultivate.

Cry Soul True Person was not a player. He could not rapidly raise his skill levels using experience points. If he wished to excel in flying sword techniques, he could only spend enormous amounts of time and effort on arduous cultivation.

Under such circumstances, Cry Soul True Person would be even less likely to have spare time to nurture his sword.

Sword Cultivators cultivated swords; naturally, they had to cultivate their own bonded swords.

Once a Sword Cultivator had chosen a bonded sword, he had to devote vast amounts of time and effort to nurturing it.

The more a sword was nurtured, the stronger it became. Its connection with its sword master would grow increasingly close, and the power it wielded would correspondingly become ever greater.

Put into gaming terms, a bonded sword was a Sword Cultivator's growth-type equipment.

The importance of nurturing a sword to a Sword Cultivator was beyond question.

Taking all these factors into account, Lu Qingshan had concluded that Cry Soul True Person's control over his own bonded sword could not be all that strong.

Lu Qingshan was ninety percent confident that when he seized the sword, he could at least pass the first judgment.

That was why he had chosen to act.

The instant he obtained the Cry Soul Sword's attributes, Lu Qingshan knew that the matter was settled.

A level 26 Foundation Establishment Sword Cultivator, yet his bonded sword was only Lv2—Cry Soul True Person had been even more negligent in nurturing his sword than Lu Qingshan had guessed!

One had to know that in the game Nine Heavens, even an ordinary Sword Cultivator of merely average skill would have a bonded sword of at least Lv4 by level 26.

A Sword Cultivator dying beneath his own bonded sword was originally an extremely laughable affair.

But for a Sword Cultivator like Cry Soul True Person, such a death seemed hardly strange.

Lu Qingshan no longer dwelled on it. Shaking his head, he began taking stock of his spoils.

Apart from another massive influx of experience, the wealth of a Foundation Establishment cultivator would also be an exceedingly bountiful gain.

Lu Qingshan bent down to loot the corpse.

A moment later.

Hm?

Lu Qingshan let out a soft cry as he looked at the two Storage Rings he had found on Cry Soul True Person's corpse.

Storage Rings were unlike Storage Bags. The storage space inside a Storage Ring was already extremely vast.

Thus, the saying about the Beggars' Sect elders being ranked by the number of bags they carried did not extend to Storage Rings.

—The storage space of a single Storage Ring could already satisfy the storage needs of the vast majority of players.

Then why did Cry Soul True Person have two Storage Rings on him?

There were two possibilities. One was that Cry Soul True Person was exceptionally wealthy.

The other possibility was...

At that thought, Lu Qingshan examined the two Storage Rings in his hand.

Then, a faint smile curved Lu Qingshan's lips.