What the hell?
Logically speaking, I should have respawned at the previously bound respawn point, not appeared in this somewhat mysterious cave.
Lu Qingshan couldn't help but be stunned for a moment.
He carefully observed the liquid he was soaked in, dark as ink, with faint silver strands floating in it. Lu Qingshan sniffed, and a slight musty acidic smell entered his nostrils.
As a veteran player who entered the game during the beta phase of "Nine Heavens," Lu Qingshan quickly made his judgment.
This seems to be the lowest grade of Corpse Puppet Liquid, a Spiritual Liquid used by Demon Cultivators to refine Corpse Puppets.
Corpse Puppets, how long ago was that memory?
Lu Qingshan couldn't help but feel dazed.
The Corpse Puppet Chaos, that was the main storyline during the beta phase of "Nine Heavens." If he hadn't participated in the beta, he might not have known about it.
By the time "Nine Heavens" officially launched for public testing, the Corpse Puppet Chaos, as a prequel, had already ended. As a new player entering the game then, his involvement in this main storyline from the beta version was minimal; he merely experienced it passively.
In fact, not just the Corpse Puppet Chaos, but players with low power, in the main storylines of the first few versions, were never truly qualified to participate. They could only follow behind NPCs and watch the excitement.
"Wait a minute..."
"Wasn't this thing globally banned by Human Cultivators after the end of the Corpse Puppet Chaos?"
"No, that's not important. What's important is, where's my cultivation? And why am I here, where is this?"
Lu Qingshan felt his mind wasn't functioning well enough.
Suddenly, countless images exploded in his mind like an atomic bomb, leaving him dizzy and disoriented.
Lu Qingshan's breathing became rapid, his pupils constricted, as if he had lost his senses.
He remembered.
He remembered.
His name is Lu Qingshan, born in Qing State, a member of the Lu Family, a cultivating family in Qing State.
But he did not become a cultivator due to the family's cultivating bloodline because his mother was an ordinary mortal, a random woman whom his cultivator father dallied with for amusement.
In the cultivating world, where the strong prey on the weak and the mighty are revered, his flirtatious cultivator father obviously didn't place much value on so-called familial ties. In fact, his father had left too many seeds behind and couldn't manage them all.
With little talent for cultivation, he became a middle manager of the family's secular ventures. During a delivery trip, he was attacked by cultivators and when he woke up again, he found himself in this bizarre cave.
Wrong!
Lu Qingshan's body shuddered as he continuously reminded himself in his mind.
It's not like this. I am Lu Qingshan, but I am not the Lu Qingshan of Qing State's Lu Family, I am a citizen of a country called Huaxia from another space-time.
But the memories in his mind kept telling him.
"You are Lu Qingshan, whether it's Qing State's Lu Qingshan or Huaxia's Lu Qingshan, that's who you are."
Lu Qingshan felt utterly confused.
He had figured everything out.
Yes, he had traveled through time, into "Nine Heavens," the game he had striven for ten years.
"Nine Heavens" is the hottest holographic virtual reality game of the Interstellar Era, dominating the star game charts for ten years with its peak concurrent users breaking the billion mark and registered players reaching an astonishing three billion.
The backdrop of the game is a world of immortals and martial arts so vast that even up until the time Lu Qingshan crossed over, players had not fully explored it. The story was so rich that even after ten years of operation, the game had only reached its middle stages.
Lu Qingshan, as a professional player reliant on "Nine Heavens" for his livelihood, had experienced major changes through various game versions and had a bit of fame among the players. Typically, his streams easily reached over a million viewers.
"The Corpse Puppet Chaos, that means the current time must still be the Chang'an Years."
Lu Qingshan's expression grew solemn, Chang'an, Chang'an; this era was meant to signify lasting peace, but who could have imagined, this world's most chaotic period began during the last years of this hopeful era.
The Corpse Puppet Chaos was merely a precursor to an upheaval that would span unknowable years in this world.
At this realization, a wave of fatigue overwhelmed Lu Qingshan, understanding that this upcoming tumult, sweeping across all of Sky Dome Heaven, would spare neither cultivators nor mortals from the omnipresent chaos and slaughter.
Ultimately, Lu Qingshan exhaled deeply, gradually calming down, not because he had a plan in mind but because of a fine traditional concept inherent to Huaxia people:
Since I'm here, what else can I do?
If it is to be, then so be it.
Fortunately, he had traveled to the game's public testing phase, just before the end of the last years of Chang'an, with the turmoil still brewing. With his knowledge of the plot, there was still some room to maneuver through the coming chaos.
If he transmigrated directly into the storyline following the battle with the Blood Demon Lord as a common man with no cultivation whatsoever, he was truly left completely in the dark, awaiting death.
"The last years of Chang'an, the last years of Chang'an..."
It struck him like lightning through the night sky. Lu Qingshan suddenly realized something, his heart clenched tightly, and he instinctively looked around.
As a game that had remained popular for ten years, "Nine Heavens" was known not just for its highly balanced and engaging combat system, but also for its grand storyline and NPCs, who were as intelligent as real people.
As a player who had experienced that grand storyline, he had many regrets he wished to address, yet he had no chance to do so.
But now, he had returned to the beginning of it all, becoming a prophet in this world.
He was sure no one understood what was about to happen better than he did.
Perhaps, if given another chance, those regrets might be addressed?
Lu Qingshan's heart pounded uncontrollably; it was as if something had ignited within him.
...
"However..." Lu Qingshan shook his head and glanced at the small heads scattered around him: "The most urgent task right now is to figure out how to escape."
Currently, he was just an ordinary person. Surviving from a Demon Cultivator's hands was no simple matter.
Soaking himself in the lowest grade of Corpse Puppet Liquid indicated that this Demon Cultivator was merely a Qi Refining Cultivator, the lowest stratum among cultivators.
But regardless, a cultivator was still a cultivator, by no means someone an ordinary person could easily contend with.
Suddenly, Lu Qingshan froze.
An unexpected glow appeared before his eyes.
It was a waterfall of data streaming past, with countless numbers of zeros and ones shuttling through his retina, turning into streaks of blue light.
Finally, the data stream stabilized.
A message appeared before his eyes.
"You have been soaked in 'Corpse Puppet Liquid' (First-Grade) for three months and have acquired the talent 'Thick-skinned'."
This was?! —
Lu Qingshan's mind buzzed. As a seasoned Netizen of the Interstellar Era, there was no way he didn't understand what this was.
Lu Qingshan quickly reacted.
"Attribute Panel, Attribute Panel!"
He kept chanting in his mind.
A pale blue light screen subsequently emerged in Lu Qingshan's mind:
Lu Qingshan (Human Race)
Occupation: None
Cultivation Technique: None
Rank: None
Experience Points: 0
Free Attribute Points: 0
Personal Attributes: Strength 1, Agility 1, Mana 1, Divine Soul 1, Charm 1, Stamina 1
Health Points: 20/20
Spiritual Power Value: 0/0
Talents: "Innate Swordseed" (Legendary): Your natural talent in the Sword Dao far exceeds that of ordinary people. Being innately versed in the Sword Dao, you permanently reduce the experience points needed for any Sword Technique by 30%, and you can unrestrictedly use any Sword Artifact and learn any Sword Technique.
"Thick-skinned": Prolonged soaking in Corpse Puppet Liquid has withered your Divine Soul but greatly improved your physical constitution, granting you an additional Health Points +10 and reducing damage from First-Grade Spells by 20%.
Skills: "Heavenly Eye Technique" (Universal): Detect personal information. The greater the Cultivation disparity, the less information obtained.
--------------
This was the character attribute panel for "Nine Heavens".
Looking at the virtual data projected in his mind, Lu Qingshan couldn't help but lift the corners of his mouth.
As a seasoned player of "Nine Heavens", possessing this attribute panel, along with knowledge of the world's storyline, taking control of his own destiny, and...changing the destinies of others seemed, perhaps, not so difficult after all.