This Sword Cultivator is Somewhat Dependable

"Naturally, you are welcome, but I did not expect you two, who are not from Jiaolong Island, would also be willing to engage in such a dangerous venture with no apparent benefit," Mo Yan said with a clasped hand salute.

Lu Qingshan touched his nose but did not speak further.

Zang Xiaojian indeed had a heart of pure loyalty, but his reason for staying and participating in the dragon-slaying battle was not that simple. Apart from harboring a killer intent towards the Jiao Clan, a more significant reason was that the Three-feet Edge was in Xue Zhuyong's possession.

In the predetermined course of history, two months later, Xue Zhuyong would carry the Three-feet Edge to counterattack the Jiaolong Demon King. After this battle, the Three-feet Edge would disappear.

He was worried that history would repeat itself.

Therefore, for the sake of the Three-feet Edge, he also had to be present to witness the entire process of the battle to prevent the mysterious disappearance of the Three-feet Edge again.

Lu Qingshan was naturally aware of the significant risks involved.

But to gain benefits and yet not want to undertake any risk—where in the world does such a good deal exist?

Lu Qingshan could not help but sigh lightly again.

His initial plan was to find Xue Zhuyong first, and to obtain the Three-feet Edge before his major battle with the Jiaolong Demon King.

While he did find the person, the battle with the Jiaolong Demon King was still inevitable, and moreover, it was he who had personally driven this battle.

...

Now, it was just a matter of waiting for the Jiaolong Demon King to arrive.

Having some spare time, Lu Qingshan found a secluded spot, took out a white jade bottle Magic Artifact filled with Dragon Transforming Spiritual Liquid, activated the Returning Ruins Scripture technique, and began to absorb the Spiritual Liquid within.

Before the battle started, he was prepared to enhance his strength.

"Absorbing Spiritual Liquid, gaining an enhancement from the Taoist Level technique Returning Ruins Scripture, absorption speed enhanced: 100%... Absorption complete, conversion yields 400,370 Experience Points."

Before long, an entire bottle of Dragon Transforming Spiritual Liquid was depleted.

Lu Qingshan gained the most significant amount of Experience Points he had ever seen to date.

With the fierce battle against the Jiao Clan just ahead, Lu Qingshan naturally was not in the mood to save up Experience Points any longer and began using them decisively to enhance his Combat Power.

Enhancing the level of his technique, which enhances his own Spiritual Power Value, is always the most cost-effective choice and also a priority.

"[Returning Ruins Scripture] upgraded to lv11, Spiritual Power Value +100!"

...

"[Returning Ruins Scripture] upgraded to lv13, Spiritual Power Value +100!"

"Your Rank has been elevated to the later stages of the Foundation Establishment, Divine Sense +10!"

...

"[Returning Ruins Scripture] upgraded to lv18, Spiritual Power Value +100!"

"[Returning Ruins Scripture] upgraded to lv19, Spiritual Power Value +100!"

"Your Rank has reached the Perfection of Foundation Establishment, Divine Sense +10!"

"[Returning Ruins Scripture] upgraded to lv20 (max)! The technique has been upgraded to the highest level, additionally gaining Spiritual Power Value +1000, mastery of Technique Divine Ability: [Power of the Mountains and Seas]."

[Power of the Mountains and Seas]

Description: Seizes the power of the mountains/seas within a ten-mile radius, augmenting oneself. However, as a consequence, the mountains/seas from which the power is seized will become devoid of all life, turning into a barren wasteland.

Additional Information: The range of the Power of the Mountains and Seas will increase with the cultivator's Rank.

Spell Cost: None

Cooldown Time: 1 day

...

"Your Spiritual Power Value limit exceeds 3000, Talent [Spiritual Power Control] (Intermediate) upgraded to [Spiritual Power Control] (High Level)!" Experience tales at empire

[Spiritual Power Control] (High Level): The advancement in Cultivation allows you to control Spiritual Power more exquisitely. Spiritual Power Control +3 (Current enhancement: Spiritual Power Amplification +30%)"

"Detected that you have reached the current Rank's maximum level, you can choose the Golden Core Advancement Task!"

"Please select the difficulty of the Golden Core advancement task (First Grade to Ninth Grade, up to Ninth Grade). Note, the higher the difficulty of the advancement task completed, the higher the enhancement obtained during advancement, and the higher the quality of the formed Golden Core."

Starting from the Golden Core, one can freely choose the difficulty of the advancement task.

Because the quality of the Golden Core formed by cultivators can be differentiated from one pattern to nine patterns.

The higher the quality of the Golden Core, the greater the enhancement it provides to the cultivator.

A Nine-Pattern Golden Core cultivator is definitely far stronger than a One-Pattern Golden Core cultivator.

This is also why players should not focus solely on advancing Cultivation but should also consider enhancing their skill levels.

If the skill level isn't high enough, naturally, the combat power will also be weaker, consequently, one can only choose to undertake lower-level progression tasks.

If the quality of the Golden Core formed isn't high, the rank bonus obtained will also be weaker compared to others, and in the long run, this vicious cycle will further widen the gap in combat power between players of the same rank, not to mention compared to those genius NPCs.

This is the so-called difference between exceptional cultivators and ordinary ones.

In his past life, even as a sword cultivator ranked in the top ten, the Golden Core Lu Qingshan had formed during the Golden Core Stage was only of Seven Patterns quality.

But this time, with the Taoist rank Cultivation Technique, the Returning Ruins Scripture, and many powerful sword techniques to rely on, Lu Qingshan felt more confident and assertive than before.

He was determined to form the highest quality Nine-Pattern Golden Pill!

"Select the Ninth Grade progression task!"

"You have obtained the Ninth Grade progression task[Nine-Pattern Golden Pill]."

[Nine-Pattern Golden Pill]: 1. Learn a Golden Core Technique (The technique level must not be less than Heaven Rank).

2. Kill enemies of the same rank (0/100), and enemies above your rank (0/3).

3. Master the talent[Spiritual Power Control](High Level).

4. Reach the first layer of the Solidifying Form Realm at the initial stage in the Divine Soul Realm (44/100).

To form a Nine-Pattern Golden Pill, there are four task conditions. The first is a stringent requirement on the cultivation technique because if the technique is only Mortal Level or Spirit Level, it indeed wouldn't make sense to form a Nine-Pattern Golden Pill.

The second task condition is of the nature of a trial, requiring one to kill a hundred enemies of the same rank, where the difficulty lies in finding such a large number of same-rank enemies.

As for killing three above-rank enemies, the difficulty lies in the quality of those kills.

Advancing beyond one's rank is never an easy task.

This task isn't simple, but perhaps, through this dragon-slaying battle, he has the opportunity to complete a large portion of the targets.

The last two task conditions are about the cultivator's own mana and divine sense, practicing the Returning Ruins Scripture allowed Lu Qingshan's spiritual power to become much purer and deeper than that of an ordinary cultivator, so he already met the requirements for spiritual power.

The difficult part is the Divine Soul Realm.

The first layer of the Divine Soul Realm is the Solidifying Form Realm, within which cultivators can condense their souls into primordial spirits and look inward at the primordial spirit.

The entry requirement for this realm is for the divine sense to reach a count of one hundred.

If one doesn't practice any divine sense training spells, and merely relies on upgrading through levels, a cultivator at the perfection of the Foundation Establishment Stage could only reach a divine sense of around forty, far from the Solidifying Form Realm.

Indeed, both the Solidifying Form Realm and Spiritual Power Control (High Level) are abilities typical of a Golden Core Cultivator.

The meaning of this progression task is simple and clear: only those who can elevate their mana and divine sense to compare with Golden Core Cultivators during the Foundation Establishment Stage are qualified and capable of forming the highest quality Nine-Pattern Golden Pill!

...

Lu Qingshan spent a total of 190,000 experience points to elevate the Returning Ruins Scripture from level ten to the maximum level of twenty.

Looking at the remaining 210,000 experience points in the experience bar, Lu Qingshan began to improve his skill levels.

With the combined effects of the Innate Swordseed and Primary Level Sword Technique Affinity talents, Lu Qingshan invested 50,000 of the experience points in the Flying Sword Technique, upgrading it to the maximum level twenty.

The Wind-Cutting Secret Sword, due to frequent use, was currently at lv1 (1500/2000). Lu Qingshan thought about it and invested nearly 20,000 experience points, leveling it to lv5.

With each level increase in the Wind-Cutting Secret Sword, the additional two stages of damage each increase by 5%, and the cooldown time is reduced by 5 seconds.

[Secret Sword: Wind Slash]lv5 (0/12000)

Skill effect: Consumes 10% of the maximum spiritual power, the next attack will cause two additional attack stages, the second-stage attack damage is 80% of the base damage, and the third-stage attack damage is 50% of the base damage.

Additional effect: Each additional attack stage will carry an attack special effect.

Cooldown time: 2 minutes and 40 seconds

...

Moreover, Lu Qingshan spent 50,000 experience points, also raising the Formless Sword Escape to lv5.

At this level, the distance that Formless Sword Escape can accompany the Flying Sword has reached sixty feet.

Finally, with the remaining nearly 150,000 experience points, Lu Qingshan only kept 10,000 for unexpected needs, and the rest was entirely invested into the Primordial Spirit Sword Control Technique.

"Primordial Spirit Sword Control Technique upgraded to lv3, divine sense +2!"

...

"Primordial Spirit Sword Control Technique upgraded to lv6, divine sense +5!"

...

"Primordial Spirit Sword Control Technique upgraded to lv10, divine sense +5!"