This Sword Cultivator is Somewhat Dependable

"Tch~" The Dragon Sparrow Sword emitted a genuinely delighted chirp.

Both the Dragon Sparrow Sword and Lu Qingshan were very satisfied with this enhancement.

"Young Master, what spell is this?" Qin Yitian asked, her voice tinged with surprise.

Sword Cultivators always followed a gradual process in nurturing their swords, and she had never seen anyone do it as instantaneously as Lu Qingshan.

Lu Qingshan pondered for a moment, then explained with a bit of mischief, "Deep Blue, you can call this Divine Skill 'Deep Blue'."

"Deep Blue..." Qin Yitian murmured the name, somewhat entranced.

The next enhancement of the Dragon Sparrow Sword would require one million Experience Points, an amount far beyond Lu Qingshan's current capacity.

So, unless something unexpected happened, the level of the Dragon Sparrow Sword would remain at LV3 for a long time to come.

The Life-bound Sword provided a 30% damage bonus. Sword Technique Affinity at the Intermediate Level added another 10% damage, and with an additional 15% from Trapped in Formation, the combination of these three factors had increased his offensive capability by more than fifty percent.

This was the reason why Sword Cultivators could dominate the offensive forefront among the six Cultivation streams, standing unrivaled among their peers.

All the innate abilities of Sword Cultivators were oriented towards stacking damage.

Enhancing the Life-bound Sword had used up one hundred ten thousand of Lu Qingshan's Experience Points. He then allocated two hundred thousand from the remaining two hundred forty thousand Experience Points to the Taoist Treasury.

Cultivation was the foundation of Combat Power.

"[Taoist Treasury] has been raised to lv2, Spiritual Power Value +1000!"

…

"[Taoist Treasury] has been raised to lv5, Spiritual Power Value +1000!"

The Purple Gold Nine-Pattern Golden Pill within his Dantian began to shine brilliantly, spinning rapidly, as Spiritual Power constantly surged and condensed.

In just a blink, the Golden Pill had grown from the size of a mung bean to that of a soybean.

"This is also the work of the Deep Blue Divine Skill." Before Qin Yitian could express her astonishment, Lu Qingshan took the initiative to explain.

"Such a miraculous Divine Skill..." the Dragon Sparrow Sword uttered in wonder.

Feeling the overwhelming power emanating from the Golden Pill, Lu Qingshan was in a rather pleasant mood.

The Taoist Treasury had a total of 20 levels, corresponding to the four minor ranks of the Golden Core Stage, which meant five levels per rank.

He was currently at the peak of the Initial Golden Core Stage, which was the most appropriate level for his current Cultivation Technique.

Advancing another level would bring him into the middle ranks of the Golden Core Middle Stage.

----Breakthroughs in Cultivation happening quickly could still be explained by exceptional talent.

But if someone had just advanced to the Golden Core Stage and others were still consolidating their Cultivation, yet you already managed to break through to the Golden Core Middle Stage, even exceptional talent would be hard to justify.

Lu Qingshan would not excessively hide his power and talent merely to remain unobtrusive.

Doing so would prevent him from catching others' attention and value, losing many potential opportunities for favorable exchanges.

But before truly growing strong, he would not behave recklessly either; instead, he would try to maintain an appropriate measure.

....

"Qin Yitian... how could she possibly be a sword?! How can a person turn into a sword?" Finally catching on, the Western Rat King suddenly started to bluster, unable to comprehend such a thing and looking at Lu Qingshan suspiciously, "Are you messing with me again?"

"Then tell me why it couldn't be?" Lu Qingshan countered.

"It's just... it's just..." The Western Rat King, frantic, scratched his head and after some thought, realized that there might be some sense in what Lu Qingshan said.

"But why do I feel like something's not quite right…" Unable to find a reason to argue back, the Western Rat King decided not to dwell on it further, simply muttering to himself.

"Wait a minute! Lu Qingshan!" The West Rat King suddenly realized something and snickered, "Since she is a Sword Spirit, doesn't that mean that in your presence, the one with the highest status—apart from the West Rat King myself—who else could it be!"

Without waiting for Lu Qingshan to react, the little demon rat, feeling his status restored, started to chuckle to himself.

"Our brotherly bonds are indeed deep. What could a mere broken sword understand about sibling affection?"

Whoosh!

A Sword Qi suddenly shot out, shearing off a tuft of the little demon rat's hair from the top of its head, which gently floated down in midair, giving the West Rat King a good scare. Stay connected via empire

"Lu Qingshan, what are you doing?" the little demon rat exclaimed in panic.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Several more bouts of Sword Qi materialized out of thin air, aiming for the red hair of the West Rat King.

The little demon rat, frightened, immediately clutched at the little red hair on its head, transforming into a black shadow and scampered away in defeat.

Lu Qingshan watched the true image of the West Rat King scurrying away, with a smile that was not quite a smile.

Of course, the Sword Qi was not from him, but rather from the Dragon Sparrow Sword.

First, there was the sugar-coated shelling of 110,000 Experience Points, and then a fierce lopping of the West Rat King's hair. Qin Yitian's slight dissatisfaction should be gone by now, I suppose.

It seemed that by actively provoking Qin Yitian, the little demon rat really did understand the essence of brotherly love.

....

Once everything was settled, as the Tower Master had yet to present the rewards, Lu Qingshan, while waiting, took the opportunity to refine the Metal Element Sword Armor for which he had already gathered the materials.

As his only protective spell at present, the Sword Armor's practicality and importance were at the top of his list of methods.

Refining the complete set of Five Elements Sword Armor as soon as possible was one of his minor goals at this stage.

After this, Lu Qingshan waited for another three days, until Dantai Qingrun finally paid another visit.

"Summoning us to State City Fufeng?" Lu Qingshan raised an eyebrow.

"Yes," Dantai Qingrun nodded: "Beiming True Venerable relayed this message to me.

The merits from the extermination of the Netherworld in Lingxu were immense. As for the specific rewards, the main building intends to let us pick them ourselves from the treasure vault of Qing State's main building.

Besides, the True Venerable also mentioned that there's a small portion of the rewards that are quite special, which we will only learn about once we get there."

Dantai Qingrun raised an eyebrow, "Although Beiming True Venerable didn't specify what this part of the reward is, the implication is that it is definitely something of great value.

It's not just as a reward, but it seems that a larger part of the reason is that the Tower Master holds us in high regard and intends to cultivate us. It's a combination of award and gift that he has bestowed upon us."

"I see..." A gleam flickered in Lu Qingshan's eyes, and he couldn't help but feel some anticipation, "So when do we leave?"

"Tomorrow," Dantai Qingrun explained: "According to the True Venerable, I might not be able to return to Lingxu for a long time after this, so I want to visit the Dantai Family before leaving."

The Dantai Family was located in Lingxu Prefecture.

"That's only appropriate," Lu Qingshan agreed.

"However," Dantai Qingrun seemed to think of something and asked casually, "How come I haven't seen Miss Qin?"

"She went home," Lu Qingshan said honestly.

"Oh?" Dantai Qingrun expressed surprise, "So suddenly?"

"Yes," Lu Qingshan chuckled: "You know, young girls, always homesick, right?"

"Heh!" Dantai Qingrun's delicate eyebrows lifted as she gave a cold snort.

…