"You have received self-destruct damage from the Blood Demon Lord, you are dead."

"You have killed the Blood Demon Lord, completed the mission, received the final mission reward, drawing for Legendary Talent..."

When Lu Qingshan woke up, the system notification from that intense battle still echoed in his mind.

Unconsciously, a smug smile curled at the corners of Lu Qingshan's mouth—

No matter how high the reputations of the major guilds among players, no matter if their power overshadowed everything, still, I, a lone player, managed to sneakily succeed and obtained the final mission reward.

This intense battle, named the Godslayer Battle, was an official event by "Nine Heavens" to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the game's launch.

On that day, the game issued a server-wide announcement, one of the Great Demon Lords from the Demon Race, the Blood Demon Lord, was trapped in the Black Abyss for a special mission and couldn't leave for a short while.

It called for all players to quickly head to the Black Abyss, besiege the Blood Demon Lord, and fight for the cultivators of the Human Race. The player who ultimately killed the Blood Demon Lord would gain the final mission reward, the "Legendary Talent."

As soon as the announcement was made, it created a sensation across the server, and all players went mad.

The Demon Lord is one of those NPCs with the highest combat power in the game.

"Nine Heavens" had been running for ten years now, and although the main storyline of the game had reached the middle stages, the Demon Lord still remained an invincible, highly lethal boss in the eyes of the players.

While for players, as long as it had health points, they could just recklessly charge at it.

But even if players could use their numerical advantage to forcibly win against a Demon Lord, killing one was something utterly impossible at this stage.

The reason was simple, the Demon Lord wasn't a fool; with his cultivation, the moment he sensed danger and decided to flee, the players genuinely had no means to stop him.

This was also why this battle, although a besiege against a Demon Lord, was named the Godslayer Battle—because for the players at this stage, killing the Demon Lord was as difficult as slaying a god.

Now, the Demon Lord was restricted by the officials to the Black Abyss, meaning players could essentially wear down the Blood Demon Lord by sheer numbers. Such an opportunity to slay a god was placed right before the players by the officials. Who could not be excited?

Moreover, the final reward for the mission was "Legendary Talent"!

The importance of talent in "Nine Heavens" is beyond question.

Since the game had started, players, in the eyes of NPCs, often played the role of cannon fodder, those whose cultivation was decent but whose combat power was hardly mentionable.

At the same cultivation realm, those well-known NPCs could kill players of the same level as easily as slaughtering dogs, and there were even some NPCs with heaven-defying abilities who could kill players from a higher realm.

Why?

Isn't it because these "protagonist template" NPCs possessed heaven-defying talents?

For example, a certain genius Sword Cultivator NPC, equipped with the Legendary Talent "One Sword Frost Cold": Sword Technique damage increased by 100%.

Yes, Legendary Talents are just that brutally simple!

When every strike deals double damage, isn't fighting such an opponent like chopping vegetables?

How can one play like that?

I can't deal with this, I just can't.

Heck, players generally assume they're the protagonist when playing a game, but then they log in to find out that they're just an extra, only there to highlight how awesome the main character is; in front of NPCs, aside from Infinite Resurrection, they're left with no sense of superiority.

That just shatters your spirit, right?

Now, the officials put an opportunity to become the protagonist right in front of all the players. Who wouldn't be thrilled?

Finally, this damn planner turned human!

The way the mission's rewards were allocated made the players' blood rush—The player who dealt the final blow to the Blood Demon Lord would receive the final mission reward.

Normally, the final reward for such a server-wide event would be allocated based on contribution rate, and the player with the highest contribution rate would receive the final mission reward.

Although this method is theoretically the fairest, it also means that the final reward tends to go to those top-tier players, leaving ordinary players with no chance to compete for the final mission reward.

Usually, trying to win this so-called jackpot at each event is like gods fighting; ordinary players in such events mainly just add to the crowd and scrape up the most basic participation reward.

But this radically different reward allocation method for the tenth anniversary celebration caught the fancy of countless ordinary players: Hmm... isn't this the officials encouraging us to steal the show?

Stealing the show, there's a strategy for that.

Yes, the top players are formidable.

But in such a large-scale server-wide event, where things are chaotic and every moment countless skills are being thrown at the Blood Demon Lord, who can keep track of the damage?

Even if you're a top player, you can't be sure you can deliver the final blow to the great boss. It all comes down to luck to land that finishing hit.

Hehe.

Given the popularity of "Nine Heavens", possessing an account with a "Legendary Talent" could sell for a fortune, easily making more money than winning the lottery and enough to splurge for a lifetime.

Now, even the typically indifferent Buddhist-like players couldn't help but get involved, all making their way to the Black Abyss.

Who can't indulge in a daydream?

Lu Qingshan was among this vast group of players dreaming of sneaking a victory, but he was slightly different from the average player; he was somewhat famous, ranking in the top ten of Sword Cultivators without belonging to any guild.

As a top ten Great Sword Cultivator among players, Lu Qingshan naturally had some ace skills unlike the average player.

"Heaven and Earth Sword": At the cost of dropping a major realm in cultivation, the player's next damage skill carries special effects: true damage, killing effect, ignores death immunity.

Each of these effects alone would be considered to have Legendary Talent.

Not to mention the combination of three effects, whose intensity can only be described with one word.

Terrifying indeed!

Naturally, the cost of such great power is immense, and the penalty of falling a major realm made it so that Lu Qingshan had this skill for a long time but had never used it.

Especially as his Cultivation Realm grew higher, the cost of falling a major realm became even more burdensome.

He thought he would never use this skill.

But now, an opportunity for a huge gamble was before him.

Even with the "Heaven and Earth Sword" effects, he couldn't be sure he would make the final strike, but the odds were significantly higher, and he was willing to take that chance.

If he didn't get the ultimate reward, at worst, he would just need to intensely commit to his cultivation for a while to recover. But if he succeeded? Legendary Talent, and moreover the first ever player-owned Legendary Talent in "Nine Heavens", falling even to the Foundation Establishment Stage was still hugely profitable.

So, when the Health Points of the massive Blood Demon Lord plummeted under the players' siege, preparing to self-destruct, Lu Qingshan used his Heaven and Earth Sword and unleashed his strongest Sword Technique.

What followed was a dazzling red light and two system notification sounds.

Upon hearing the first system notification, Lu Qingshan thought he had failed.

Fortunately, the second notification arrived shortly after.

He had succeeded after all.

...

Lu Qingshan felt his body stiff and somewhat cold, as if soaked in some liquid.

He frowned involuntarily; resurrection wasn't supposed to feel like this.

Could it be the side effects of using "Heaven and Earth Sword"?

Lu Qingshan's first response was to curse in his mind, Damn planners, what are you messing with now? Even dropping a major realm in cultivation isn't enough, and you still have to mess with the resurrection process.

Subconsciously, Lu Qingshan sensed the Spiritual Power within his body.

Empty, just as expected...

Wait, empty?!

As a seasoned player of "Nine Heavens", I had already reached the current version cap – the Body Integration Realm. Even using "Heaven and Earth Sword" to drop a major realm shouldn't leave my Dantian completely void of Spiritual Power.

Could this be a bug?

Although many thoughts floated through his mind, in reality, only a very brief moment had passed since he awoke.

Lu Qingshan, puzzled, slowly opened his eyes.

It was a dark, damp cave; the cave walls were embedded with Luminous Pearls, emitting a faint white glow, allowing Lu Qingshan to clearly see his current situation.

It wasn't just a feeling; he was indeed soaking in a liquid.

A small pool filled with dark liquid, and he was in it, like soaking in a hot spring with only his head above the surface.

Glancing around, besides himself in the small pool, there were dozens of cute little heads above the water surface, aligned neatly.

???????