I Can See Through Everything-Chapter 519

"Senior, why are you back again?"

A young boy stared in astonishment at Lu Qing, who had just returned.

Earlier, he had exchanged some basic knowledge about Canglan City for a fine magical artifact from Lu Qing and was still reveling in his luck.

Seeing Lu Qing return, the boy was first stunned, then grew uneasy.

Could it be that this senior had realized, after wandering around, that everything he'd been told was common knowledge in the city and now suspected he'd been deceived?

"Se—Senior, d-do you want your artifact back?" the boy stammered.

"Hmm?" Lu Qing paused in surprise.

But upon seeing the fear on the boy’s face, he immediately understood what was going on.

He chuckled. "Don’t worry, I’m not here to reclaim the artifact. I just wanted to ask about something else."

Hearing that Lu Qing wasn’t here to take back the artifact or accuse him of anything, the boy let out a huge sigh of relief.

"I don’t know what else Senior wishes to ask, but whatever it is, I shall answer truthfully," the boy said hastily.

"I want to know—within Canglan City, what kind of professions earn spirit stones quickly?"

The boy froze for a moment before realization dawned on him.

He wasn’t surprised by the question.

Most of the powerful foreign cultivators who came to the Xiao Cang Realm did so with the goal of entering the Tianyuan Great World.

But gaining access to the Tianyuan Great World was no simple task.

The spirit stone fee alone was no small amount.

He had seen several such seniors who spent years accumulating spirit stones in Canglan City just to afford the passage.

"If Senior wishes to earn spirit stones in Canglan City, may I ask what your areas of expertise are?" the boy inquired thoughtfully.

"Just tell me what avenues are available for earning spirit stones," Lu Qing replied calmly, without revealing his own strengths.

"There are plenty of ways. Canglan City is one of the most prosperous cities in the Xiao Cang Realm, filled with opportunities.

Whether it’s alchemy, artifact crafting, or talisman-making—there are profitable ventures in every field.

The key is whether Senior excels in any of the myriad arts of cultivation.

If not, there are still other options.

Given your cultivation at the Golden Core Realm, you could join one of the city’s influential merchant guilds as a guest elder.

You could also accept escort missions, which often offer generous rewards..."

As the boy continued to speak, Lu Qing gradually gained a clear understanding of the money-making avenues available in Canglan City.

Simply put, if one was skilled in alchemy, artifact crafting, or talisman creation, they could sell their creations for spirit stones.

If one lacked such skills, they could still rely on personal strength to join a powerful faction as a guest elder or take on escort missions for payment. S̈

If one wasn't concerned about reputation, they could even take on work as a guard or escort.

In the end, everything depended on strength.

With enough strength, earning spirit stones was easy.

Without it, opportunities were nothing but illusions.

Having grasped the overall picture, Lu Qing looked at the boy with a half-smile. "Why didn’t you mention any of this earlier?"

The boy shivered, cold sweat trickling down his back. "Senior didn’t ask before. I thought you would head straight for the Tianyuan Great World, so I didn’t bring it up. I had no intention of deceiving you, Senior!"

"Enough, no need to panic. I was only teasing."

Seeing the boy’s fearful look, Lu Qing didn’t press the matter further.

"But now, I want you to guide me around the city and explain the various powers and factions here.

If you do well, I might reward you with another magical artifact."

"Understood, Senior."

Though the boy felt bitter inside, he dared not disobey Lu Qing.

This man was a Golden Core True Being. Snuffing out his life would be as easy as lifting a finger.

Though fighting was prohibited in Canglan City, the boy wouldn’t risk his life on that rule.

As for Lu Qing’s promised reward—he dared not hope for it anymore.

All he wished was to satisfy this senior and avoid trouble.

For the next while, the boy—whose name was Zhang Feng—accompanied Lu Qing on a slow tour around the city, pointing out the distribution of various factions and powers.

"Senior, this Treasure Pavilion specializes in selling all manner of rare treasures and is one of the city's most prominent forces.

Rumor has it that its backing comes from a powerful figure cultivating in the Tianyuan Great World.

In addition to selling rare treasures, the Treasure Pavilion also purchases them.

If you acquire anything valuable in the future, you may sell it here.

The Treasure Pavilion has a solid reputation. Their prices are fair, and they’re never known to cheat their customers."

After half an hour of wandering, Zhang Feng gestured toward a grand tower they were passing and explained.

"Treasure Pavilion, huh?"

Lu Qing looked up at the tall building, deep in thought.

He could sense a powerful formation hidden within the tower.

If activated, it might be strong enough to trouble even a Nascent Soul cultivator.

They wandered a bit more. Listening to Zhang Feng's explanations, Lu Qing gradually formed a plan.

He halted the boy. "That’s enough. You’ve done well today. Take this talisman as a reward."

He took out a jade talisman and handed it to Zhang Feng.

It was a low-grade talisman he had casually crafted back in his homeland.

"Senior, I cannot. I already received a magical artifact from you before," Zhang Feng said quickly, waving his hands in refusal.

"It’s fine. This trinket is of no use to me anyway."

Lu Qing flicked the talisman into Zhang Feng’s hands, then drifted off into the crowd.

Zhang Feng was left standing there, clutching the talisman in stunned silence.

"Ah Qing, have you thought of what to do yet?"

Xiaoli, nestled against Lu Qing’s chest, sent him a soul message.

She had overheard everything Zhang Feng had said earlier.

"I have a few ideas, but I need to think it over some more. First, let’s find a place to stay," Lu Qing replied.

He soon found an inn and booked an upper room.

To do so, he had to spend his last mid-grade spirit stone.

At that point, all of Lu Qing’s low- and mid-grade spirit stones were spent.

Only a few precious high-grade spirit stones remained.

But high-grade spirit stones were extremely rare and held great value even for Nascent Soul cultivators.

They were seldom used as currency in the Xiao Cang Realm.

Such a resource, Lu Qing would never spend lightly.

"So this is the superior room?"

Upon entering the room with Xiaoli and the others, Lu Qing immediately felt his spirit stir.

The room was suffused with spiritual energy—pure and undisturbed.

In the corner, a stick of sandalwood incense was lit. The gentle clarity it released calmed the mind and brought peace to the spirit, as though one could glimpse flashes of enlightenment.

Moreover, everything in the room—from the tea set to the meditation cushions—was of exceptional quality, all superior-grade items.

"This upper room is connected to a formation that links with the spiritual veins underground, drawing upon the earth's spiritual energy to assist guests in their cultivation.

This sandalwood incense is a type of spiritual incense that soothes the mind and helps one enter meditation more easily."

After examining the room, Lu Qing quickly uncovered the hidden marvels.

He couldn't help but marvel.

No wonder this upper room was so expensive—ten low-grade spirit stones per day.

Just the spiritual energy in this room was several times denser than the cave-dwelling he once had on the Sacred Mountain in his homeland.

Let alone the fact that every item here was of magical artifact grade.

In truth, this room alone, if placed in his homeland, would be an unparalleled cultivation abode over which countless Golden Core Realm cultivators would fight to the death.

What’s more, he could tell that anyone able to run an inn or tavern in Canglan City must have powerful backing.

Otherwise, without connections, how could one possibly set up a formation that tapped into the spiritual veins beneath the city?

"Ah Qing, the spiritual energy here is so rich! If we stayed here for half a year or more, I might even break through!" Xiaoli jumped from Lu Qing’s arms, delighting in the dense spiritual energy surrounding them.

"Half a year? If we don’t think of a way to earn some spirit stones soon, we might not even be able to stay ten days," Lu Qing said with a wry smile.

He couldn't touch his high-grade spirit stones. The last mid-grade spirit stone he had was already spent on the deposit for this room.

Even if they didn’t eat or drink, they’d only be able to afford ten days here.

"Right! So, Ah Qing, have you figured out how we’ll make spirit stones?"

Xiaoli quickly came back to her senses and asked anxiously.

They certainly couldn’t rely on Wuxing or herself.

As spiritual beasts in a city full of human cultivators, they had to stay hidden and cautious.

Who knew when some unscrupulous person might get the wrong idea and target them?

After all, a spiritual beast's flesh, bloodline, and inner core were treasures to some.

"Hmm. I’m thinking of relying on the path of talisman-making to earn some spirit stones."

After hearing Zhang Feng’s earlier explanations, Lu Qing had already made up his mind.

Guarding caravans or escort missions—he wasn’t even considering them.

Such tasks inevitably involved conflict and battle.

He was new to this place, unfamiliar with the spells, divine abilities, or the many powerful cultivators here.

If he unwittingly provoked a formidable opponent and ended up in serious trouble, he’d have nowhere to cry about it.

So, another path suited him better.

That was to sell medicinal pills, magical artifacts, or talismans.

Fortunately, he held the legacies of the Divine Rune Sect and the Li Huo Sect among others, mastering artifact refinement, pill-making, and talisman inscription—a jack of all trades in cultivation arts.

However, both alchemy and artifact refinement required large amounts of spiritual materials—too costly for someone as broke as Lu Qing currently was.

Therefore, those two options were off the table for now.

That left only one viable path: talisman-making.

In general, even crafting a powerful talisman still consumed a lot of materials.

But Lu Qing’s inheritance from the Divine Rune Sect was quite unique.

It followed a philosophy of learning from all things in nature.

As such, he had his own interpretations of the talisman arts.

For him, the talisman medium didn’t need to be elaborate.

His approach was to follow nature’s patterns and inscribe accordingly.

Even an ordinary leaf or blade of grass, if carved with proper runes that aligned with its natural textures, could draw upon the power of heaven and earth to unleash astounding effects.

While Lu Qing hadn’t yet reached the legendary level where "everything—leaf or grass—becomes a talisman," his current skill meant he had very minimal material requirements for crafting talismans.

A decent jade imbued with spiritual essence was all he needed to inscribe a fairly potent talisman.

Back on the Sacred Mountain, the talismans he placed in the Hall of Merit had all been crafted from such spiritual jade.

And as it happened, while he didn’t bring much else with him on this trip, he did bring quite a lot of spiritual jade.

After all, unlike spirit stones, spiritual jade was relatively easy to find in his homeland.

And with his standing on the Sacred Mountain, collecting it had been even easier.

So now Lu Qing wondered—could he perhaps sell his handmade jade talismans in exchange for spirit stones?

"Sell talismans? That could work! Ah Qing, the talismans you make are amazing—they must be worth a lot!" Xiaoli exclaimed at once.

"That remains to be seen. Don’t forget where we are. This Xiao Cang Realm is connected to the Tianyuan Great World. I’m sure there are many skilled talisman-makers here."

Lu Qing didn’t get overconfident.

Though he had inherited the legacy of the Divine Rune Sect and was inexplicably empowered by his Soul Talisman techniques, and though the talismans he crafted usually had greater power than ordinary ones—

Still, this was the Tianyuan Great World, one of the most prosperous regions in the entire Yuanhao Great World.

Countless powerful sects and brilliant cultivators dwelled here.

He didn’t believe there were no talisman arts more profound than those of the Divine Rune Sect.

So while he planned to sell talismans, he didn’t assume they’d be better than the ones sold by the major merchant guilds.

His biggest advantage lay in his low production costs, which would make it easier to profit.

Of course, this was all speculation.

He needed to test it himself to find out.

With that in mind, Lu Qing took out a piece of pre-refined spiritual jade and began inscribing it.

A quarter-hour later, the jade shimmered. A talisman had been completed.

A powerful aura radiated from it, and faint traces of lightning flickered in and out of sight.

Even a Golden Core Realm cultivator, if weaker in cultivation, might shudder before it.

Lu Qing looked at the talisman hovering before him with some satisfaction.

Back in his homeland, crafting this [Thunderclap Talisman] usually took him half an hour.

Now it only took fifteen minutes.

Over the past five years of piloting the Void Flying Boat with unwavering focus, his mental strength had improved significantly.

As a result, his efficiency in talisman crafting had also risen dramatically.

With a single thought, Lu Qing suppressed the talisman’s aura.

The room also had formations to mask one’s presence, preventing any disturbances to others.

So even though the talisman’s aura had surged during the process, no one outside noticed.

"Let’s go, Xiaoli, Wuxing—we’re heading out."

After storing the freshly-made talisman, Lu Qing called out.

Once Xiaoli and Wuxing had hidden themselves inside his robes, he activated the room’s protective formation and stepped outside.

Not long after, Lu Qing stood once more on the city street.

He came to a halt before a towering building.

Gazing up at the treasure pavilion radiating waves of powerful formation energy, Lu Qing smiled faintly.

"Treasure Pavilion, I hope you won’t disappoint me."