This Sword Cultivator is Somewhat Dependable

After the matter with Lin Yao had settled, Lu Qingshan finally experienced a brief period of peace that lasted about seven or eight days.

During this short span of time, Lu Qingshan had become more familiar with his own strength.

Based on his vast experience in gaming from a previous life, Lu Qingshan rapidly integrated his own skill system.

It is worth mentioning that, just five days after meeting Qi Yuan, Lu Qingshan received a Spirit Message from Lin Yao.

Under Qi Yuan's introduction, she had already passed through the Teleportation Array to leave Zhenjiang Prefecture, ready to head to the Heavenly Secret Pavilion located in the Central Heavenly Realm.

—The Heavenly Secret Pavilion was very interested in Lin Yao's abilities and had already prepared to admit her into their sect.

Even in his previous life's experiences in "Nine Heavens," such mysterious abilities as the Phantom Body Divine Vein were something he had only heard about, never witnessed personally.

Lu Qingshan was very much looking forward to the day Lin Yao would fully awaken her Phantom Body Divine Vein.

...

Just as Lu Qingshan felt he could no longer stay idle and was preparing to get involved in something, he finally received a Spirit Message from Xu Hao.

"There's a major operation at the tower, gathering everyone. Come to the Zhenjiang Tower immediately, no delays,"

Lu Qingshan's pupils constricted.

The winds of change were blowing!

...

Lu Qingshan made his familiar way to the underground headquarters of the Zhenjiang Tower.

On the square.

By the time he arrived, the place had already gathered many cultivators.

What was strange, however, was that it was clearly discernable that the cultivators on the field were divided into two distinct groups of unequal numbers.

In situations where cultivators gathered like this, casually using Divine Sense to probe others was considered a reckless behavior that could offend people.

Hence, Lu Qingshan could only scan the entire venue with his eyes, searching for the Tiger Squad.

Your journey continues with empire

"Lu Qingshan, over here!" Before Lu Qingshan saw the Tiger Squad, it was Su Shu, who had been paying attention to the newcomers, who spotted him first and called out to him from a distance.

Lu Qingshan quickly rejoined his team.

Glancing at the other group of cultivators on the opposite side, who were significantly fewer in number than his own, Lu Qingshan had an idea.

These people must be the reinforcements from Qing State's main tower, as Qi Yuan had mentioned.

It was evident that the aura of these cultivators was far superior to those on his own side.

With a casual sweep of his Heavenly Eye Technique, Lu Qingshan instantly confirmed his speculation.

All these cultivators from Qing State's main tower were at the Golden Core Stage.

Most were in the early stages of Golden Core, but there were also five cultivators in the Golden Core middle stage.

...

After a while, as everyone waited and more cultivators gradually arrived, the three directors of Zhenjiang Tower finally showed up late.

The Tower Master of Zhenjiang Tower was an old cultivator with white hair and a frame as skinny as dead wood.

But if someone underestimated him based on his old and frail appearance, they would surely experience the terrifying explosive power contained within his withered body.

With a brief probe using the Heavenly Eye Technique, although Lu Qingshan could not obtain much useful information due to the difference in cultivation levels, he at least understood that the elder before him was a Nascent Soul stage Body Cultivator!

This was a prime example of appearances being deceptive.

Who would have thought that this seemingly fragile old man was in fact a powerful Body Cultivator?

As for the two deputy tower masters of Zhenjiang Tower, one was Lu Qingshan's old acquaintance, Dantai Qingrun, a Golden Core late stage Sword Cultivator, a young female cultivator with a slender figure and a frosty expression.

The other deputy tower master was a middle-aged male cultivator dressed in a black Taoist robe, a Golden Core Dharma Cultivator who could arrange for Nascent Soul formation at any time.

Chu He, the Tower Master of Zhenjiang, surveyed all the cultivators present with an eagle-like gaze. Under his scruitinising eyes, everyone felt a chill in their hearts and quickly fell silent.

"This operation mobilized all cultivators from our Zhenjiang Tower, as well as five guard squads dispatched from the main tower of Qing State, and this time it will be personally led by me and two vice tower masters,"

This scale of mission, for Zhenjiang Tower, is the first of its kind in a century!

The importance of this mission, you should also be able to glimpse a part of it," Chu He said gravely.

At this point, everyone's expression turned serious.

"Although we are acting simultaneously, each squad has different tasks, and the targets are also far apart.

The details will be distributed to you by the leading tower masters; I won't go into it further."

"Now let's proceed with personnel assignment, Zi Rat Squad, Chen Dragon Squad, ..." Chu He listed seven squad names from the Zhenjiang Tower guards, then gestured toward three cultivator teams from the main tower of Qing State: "Additionally you, led by me,"

"Yes!" The named squad cultivators responded respectfully and quickly gathered in front of Chu He.

Next, the two vice tower masters each took a portion of the cultivator squads.

Lu Qingshan's Tiger Squad naturally fell under Dantai Qingrun's command.

...

As the captain, Xu Hao took the mission Jade Slip from Dantai Qingrun, inserted his Divine Sense into it to retrieve the information, then coughed lightly and began, "Our mission this time is to assist in capturing alive two Golden Core Cultivators from Xuan Ming Valley, as for our partners."

Xu Hao glanced at the only squad from the main tower of Qing State under Dantai Qingrun's command, he said, "It's them, Jiazi Squad, and...Vice Tower Master Dantai."

This was indeed a stroke of great fortune.

Everyone thought this to themselves.

Dantai Qingrun personally took to the field, along with six Golden Core Cultivators from the main tower of Qing State.

With such a lineup, the task they were in charge of was surely the most arduous and important among the cultivator squads under Dantai Qingrun.

"According to the intelligence from Black Ice Platform, the reason for taking action against Xuan Ming Valley is that hidden within the valley is a large Corpse Pool used for refining Corpse Puppets.

Xuan Ming Valley, a Third Grade sect, is considered quite powerful within the Zhenjiang Prefecture district, home to two Golden Core Cultivators."

Xu Hao passed the Jade Slip around, while succinctly introducing, "First is Sect Master Xuan Ming, a Golden Core Late Stage Nether Cultivator with extremely mysterious methods.

Sect Master Xuan Ming rarely makes moves in public, or rather, whenever he does make a move, it is certain to be lethal, thus there isn't much information about him.

This person will be handled by Vice Tower Master Dantai, so we only need to understand a little about him."

The cultivators of Tiger Squad nodded silently, memorizing the specific details of Sect Master Xuan Ming.

Although it was unlikely they would act against Sect Master Xuan Ming, nothing was absolute. In combat, who knew what could happen, so keeping his information in mind was absolutely beneficial.

"The other is Sect Master Xuan You, Golden Core Late Stage Body Cultivator, known for his killings and notorious reputation, also the openly public figure in charge in Xuan Ming Valley.

Sect Master Xuan You will be handled by Jiazi Squad."

The image of Sect Master Xuan You shown in the Jade Slip depicted a bald, burly cultivator, his face expressionless yet overall emitting a stern aura.

"Besides these two Golden Core Late Stage cultivators, there is a significant talent gap among the cultivators of Xuan Ming Valley.

The remaining cultivators rank no higher than Foundation Establishment Stage. Our task is to block all these other cultivators, supporting Vice Tower Master Dantai and Jiazi Squad, preventing interference from these lesser cultivators."

Xu Hao also instructed on some precautionary measures, then changed the topic, adding, "Our mission this time seems very challenging..."

—indeed, having only six of them block dozens of Foundation Establishment Cultivators from Xuan Ming Valley was indeed a daunting task.

"But there is good news, these Foundation Establishment Cultivators, unlike the two Golden Core Cultivators, do not need to be captured alive, so we can fight without restraint."

In battles between cultivators, killing is much easier than capturing alive.

If being able to kill only requires being slightly stronger than the opponent,

then capturing alive requires one to be a whole level stronger than the enemy.

Lu Qingshan even breathed a sigh of relief.

Only with killing could he gain experience, for him, capturing cultivators alive was truly a thankless task.