This Sword Cultivator is Somewhat Dependable

The place was already bustling with cultivators. Lu Qingshan swept his gaze around the circle, and although he did not recognize anyone, it was not difficult to tell that they were all cultivators from the tower's main forces.

Moreover, the aura emanating from these cultivators was exceptionally profound. Upon a cursory observation, he could tell that at least all of them were at the Golden Core Middle Stage, and there were even quite a number of Nascent Soul Cultivators.

Such a luxurious lineup could be said to have gathered most of the high-level cultivator strength from Qing State's main tower.

With his cultivation at the Golden Core Early Stage, Lu Qingshan seemed to become the weakest link among these cultivators.

But he did not mind, nor did he show off. Instead, he quietly blended in with the group of cultivators.

Many cultivators were whispering among themselves.

From their conversations, Lu Qingshan quickly determined that the situation of the cultivators present was similar to his own; they had received the Spirit Message from Beiming True Venerable and had been transported here.

As for the content of the Spirit Message, other than that there was a mission to launch and for them to assemble here, proceeding with discretion, there were no additional details.

After a while, the private chatter among the cultivators ceased.

Four cultivators appeared on a high platform in front of the square at some unknown time.

Three of them were recognized by Lu Qingshan as Beiming True Venerable and the other two Tower Masters of the main tower, but the last cultivator, a middle-aged man in a gray Taoist robe with a piercing gaze like that of an eagle or a wolf, he did not recognize.

But since he could stand alongside the three Tower Masters, he must at least be a Great Cultivator with Void Refining cultivation.

"Esteemed fellows," Beiming True Venerable said loudly, as he was responsible for explaining to the cultivators present, "you were called over this time because there is a major mission ahead, which you should all be aware of."

"As for the specific details of the mission, they have not been disclosed to you."

"The reason is simple: the mission is of great significance with wide-reaching implications, and we cannot afford any mistakes. To prevent any leaks from insiders, the specific details of the mission have been kept confidential."

Upon hearing this, the cultivators present fell silent and took a shallow breath.

From the few words spoken by Beiming True Venerable, they had already sensed that what was to follow would undoubtedly not be simple.

Beiming True Venerable continued, "Now that my fellow colleagues have all arrived here, we are about to face a tough battle, and there is no need to conceal the content of the mission anymore."

He wore a solemn expression, paused for a moment, and then, with a gaze sharp as a knife, swept over the cultivators present before speaking in a heavy tone, "This time, our target will be the helmsman of the Netherworld in Qing State, the Void Demon Child!"

His words stirred up a thousand waves, as if a huge rock had been dropped into the hearts of all the cultivators present.

The Void Demon Child was their greatest enemy at Qing State's tower main forces. Now that Beiming True Venerable was suddenly announcing a move against the Void Demon Child, it felt somewhat surreal to the cultivators.

Only Lu Qingshan remained exceptionally calm among the crowd.
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He had roughly guessed what Beiming True Venerable's major action entailed well before this.

After all, Li Venerable was someone he and Dantai Qingrun had personally pursued into the Demon Spirit Tomb to deal with.

However, despite this, the sense of unreality in his heart still existed, albeit for different reasons than the other cultivators.

He felt affected by the change from the Immortal Martial era to the Tianyuan era, already sensing the alterations wrought by his own butterfly effect, although those were still rather ethereal shifts. This time, however, was the first time he personally witnessed a significant deviation in the actual storyline.

The action against the Void Demon Child, in the game, ought to have been an event in the middle of the next version.

Furthermore, the span of time between the current version and the middle of the next version was supposed to be over a decade.

This meant that the move against the Void Demon Child had been brought forward by more than a decade from the original historical timeline.

The emotions in Lu Qingshan's heart were complex.

The storm brought on by the butterfly effect was like a rolling snowball that could only get bigger.

With such changes continuing, he did not know how long the plot he was familiar with could follow its intended course.

This time, it was merely a matter of the storyline advancing on the timeline. But the next time, there could be a complete upheaval in the entire storyline.

Regardless, for Lu Qingshan, increasing his strength was of the utmost urgency.

As long as his strength was formidable, even if he did not know how the plot would unfold, he could adapt to any situation.

But if his strength was insufficient, it would be like during the Corpse Puppet Chaos: even if he knew how the plot was supposed to go, he would still be unable to change anything.

......

"We have located the position of the Void Demon Child, right in the Wilderness Expanse," Beiming True Venerable continued, "That's why we summoned you here to the Iron Fist Sect in Qianzhao Prefecture. As for you coming here in disguise and individually, it was to avoid making loud noises from collective action, which might alert the Netherworld, causing them to flee on short notice."

Qianzhao Prefecture was the territory closest to the Wilderness Expanse, and the Iron Fist Sect was conveniently near the Wilderness Expanse, making it the most suitable place for assembly.

If they were too close, it would be difficult to remain concealed due to the influence of the Netherworld, but they also could not be too far, for convenience of movement.

The Iron Fist Sect was one of the tower main forces' intelligence points in Qianzhao Prefecture.

In fact, in nearly every prefecture of Qing State, the tower main forces had set up their own intelligence points.

After all, for the tower main forces, tracking the movements of other powers was of great importance.

Besides, over the course of hundreds or thousands of years of development, these intelligence points had gradually become local forces.