I Can See Through Everything-Chapter 553

In the depths of a massive gorge, a caravan was slowly making its way forward.

“Everyone, stay alert. Once we pass through this gorge, we’ll enter the Gale Plains.

The Gale Plains are battered by fierce winds year-round.

Above, astral winds rampage. Even Golden Core cultivators struggle to fly—they must proceed on foot.

What’s worse, Wind Beasts and Sand Pirates are known to roam the plains.

If we encounter either, I ask that everyone stand together and resist the threat. Do not panic or scatter.

Otherwise, should anything happen, our Merchant Guild bears no responsibility for your rescue.”

As they neared the end of the gorge, a brawny man clad in armor and mounted on a spirit horse with crimson scales called out loudly.

After issuing his warning, he approached a carriage and spoke with great politeness.

“If any unexpected situation arises once we enter the Gale Plains, according to our prior agreement, I hope you all will lend a hand.”

“But of course. It’s rare that Commander Wang allowed us to travel with the convoy. Naturally, we’ll look out for each other.”

An elderly man seated in the carriage, with two children—one boy and one girl, both around seven or eight—beside him, replied with a smile.

“Then I leave it in your hands.”

With the elder’s reassurance, the armored man finally returned to his position with a sense of relief.

He had agreed to let those people travel with the convoy precisely because of their cultivation levels.

Though the caravan had crossed the Gale Plains many times before, there was no guarantee of absolute safety.

Having a few more experts around was always an added layer of security.

“Tch. That guy’s got quite the scheme—wants us to play bodyguard for free.”

After the armored man left, a thin, sharp-eyed young man in the carriage snorted coldly.

“Come now, we’re traveling the same road. Let’s not fuss over such things,” the elder said with a gentle sigh. “I’ve heard the Sand Pirates in the Gale Plains have grown even more rampant of late.

If we traveled on our own, we’d face far more danger. But together, we stand a better chance.”

“Hmph. Old Qiao, you agreed to help. I didn’t. Don’t drag me into it.

If things go south, I’m out of here. I don’t believe the Gale Plains are as terrifying as they say.”

The thin youth’s tone was frosty.

The elder known as Old Qiao opened his mouth but had no good response.

He looked at the others in the carriage. Seeing their indifferent expressions, he could only sigh.

Holding the two frightened children close, worry crept into his heart.

He couldn’t shake the feeling that something ominous was approaching.

His gaze drifted toward the corner of the carriage, where a plain-looking young man sat, eyes closed, holding a gray lynx-like cat.

This youth seemed utterly unremarkable, his cultivation just that of a First Transformation of a Lower-Grade Golden Core.

Yet Old Qiao couldn’t help feeling that something was off about him.

It all started a few days prior, when their caravan had been ambushed by a mid-stage Fifth Transformation Golden Core beast.

The assault had resulted in several casualties, and even the passengers in their carriage had been shaken to the core.

But Old Qiao had caught an unusual glimpse—amid the chaos, the young man had worn a look of fear, yet deep within his eyes lay a strange calm.

From that moment on, he’d sensed something unusual.

Unfortunately, the beast had quickly been dealt with by the Merchant Guild guards, and none of them had needed to act.

In the days that followed, though Old Qiao had kept an eye on the youth, he hadn’t discovered anything further.

He couldn’t decide whether that fear had been genuine or just a convincing act.

“Old Qiao’s watching again. So I slipped up during that last beast attack, huh?”

In the corner, Lu Qing was resting with his eyes shut, but he still sensed the faint but persistent gaze on him, and he inwardly sighed.

At the moment, he was in an entirely different guise.

Even his Divine Soul Aura had changed drastically.

Now, even Nangong Yuanwu or Mo Hongyun standing in front of him might not recognize his identity.

Yet to his surprise, a mere Third Transformation Golden Core elder had somehow sniffed out a hint of his true nature.

That ambush a few days ago had caught him mid-meditation.

When the beast struck, he had played along and feigned panic.

But Old Qiao, it seemed, was far more perceptive than expected.

“Still not a good enough performance,” Lu Qing reflected wryly.

As the saying goes, with age comes cunning—and Old Qiao was clearly a veteran of the road.

Just the slightest flaw, and he had picked up on it.

With a sigh, Lu Qing let the matter drop and returned to his meditation.

As long as Old Qiao didn’t act on his suspicions, it wasn’t a concern.

He had hidden his cultivation and infiltrated the caravan both to travel and conceal his identity. He didn’t want trouble.

“But I didn’t expect so much to have happened in just two or three years of closed-door cultivation.”

Lu Qing recalled the information he’d heard in a city not long ago.

He had originally emerged from seclusion to experience a bit of worldly life, to bask in the bustle of the mortal realm.

Instead, he’d overheard gossip in a tavern about conflict between the Gongshu Clan and the Nangong Clan.

Apparently, ever since Gongshu Yu had died at Nangong Yuanwu’s hands, tensions between the two clans had soared.

However, because Nangong Yuanwu still held the lives of two Nascent Soul cultivators from the Gongshu Clan in his hands, they had hesitated to act rashly.

Instead of declaring war, they had tried to negotiate.

But not long after, everything changed due to one act.

Gongshu Yu’s mother—a direct descendant of the Gongshu line—had been unable to bear the grief of her son’s death.

In her agony, she had paid a tremendous sum to place a bounty on Nangong Yuanwu’s head through the Netherworld Palace.

The Netherworld Palace—an immensely powerful and mysterious dark organization.

It was said that they didn’t just operate within the Tianyuan Great World. Their reach extended into many other worlds and even other Immortal Realms.

Their presence was vast and not bound to any one place.

The Netherworld Palace never interfered in local conflicts of the various worlds.

They existed solely in the shadows, dealing in intelligence and assassination.

Such a terrifying organization naturally had no scruples.

Hiring them to carry out an assassination required an astronomical price, but once they accepted a target, they almost never failed.

Even Nascent Soul cultivators were rarely able to survive their assassins.

It was said that if you could pay their price, they would assassinate anyone—Sect Masters of top-tier sects, Clan Chiefs of the Thirty-Six High Clans, even Demon Sovereigns of the Demon Race.

Of course, the price for killing such figures was unimaginably high.

Even the wealth of a mighty clan like the Thirty-Six High Clans might not suffice.

But while killing a Clan Chief might be out of reach, the cost to take out a First Tribulation Nascent Soul cultivator was something Gongshu Yu’s mother could just barely afford.

So, after she issued the bounty, within three days, Nangong Yuanwu had been attacked.

He nearly died.

Had it not been for a Nangong Clan Ancestor who happened to be nearby and intervened at the last moment…

He might already have perished—body and soul alike.

Yet even so, Nangong Yuanwu had reportedly suffered a total collapse of his Divine Soul and was now a cripple.

The assassination triggered an explosion of fury throughout the Nangong Clan.

A bounty had been placed on a key clan member through the Netherworld Palace—how could such an affront be tolerated?

If they didn’t retaliate, others would think the Nangong Clan was weak and easy to bully.

So the moment it happened, they responded with utmost force.

Not only did they immediately declare war on the Gongshu Clan, they also beheaded the two Nascent Soul experts who had once accompanied Gongshu Yu and sent their severed heads to the Gongshu Clan.

As for the Gongshu Clan, the incident left them in complete turmoil.

Among the Thirty-Six High Clans, there had always been an unspoken rule:

No matter how fierce the competition, one must never place a bounty through the Netherworld Palace on a rival clan’s important members.

Such actions could easily spiral into catastrophe.

Gongshu Yu’s mother had crossed that line, turning the Gongshu Clan from justified to guilty in the eyes of their peers.

Not only had they lost two Nascent Soul powerhouses, but their reputation suffered a major blow.

Yet they had no choice but to fight back against the Nangong Clan’s offensive.

Otherwise, their clan’s morale would collapse, and their standing as one of the Thirty-Six High Clans would be in jeopardy.

And so, the conflict between the two great houses escalated with increasing intensity.

In the end, even the Righteous Path Alliance had to step in and mediate.

It was said that the clan leaders and elders of both sides were currently locked in negotiations within the alliance, endlessly wrangling over terms.

What the final outcome would be—no one could say.

When Lu Qing had heard all this while passing through that city, he had been stunned.

He hadn’t expected the Tianyuan Great World to house such a terrifying force hidden in the shadows as the Netherworld Palace.

Its strength was such that neither the Demon Race nor the Righteous Path could do anything to them.

He had seen assassination organizations before—like the Seven Kill Tower or Wujian Tower in his home world—but compared to the Netherworld Palace, they were mere children playing house.

This realization gave Lu Qing a distinct sense of unease.

The Netherworld Palace was far too terrifying, a force that spanned many great worlds and even Immortal Realms.

Its depths were unfathomable.

Who knew what kind of dreadful secret arts they might possess that could divine his existence?

That was why he had left that city the moment he learned of them.

Using the shapeless transformation technique granted by his Perfect Golden Core, he altered his appearance, aura, and even the fluctuations of his Divine Soul.

He then adopted several different identities and traveled far from the Nangong Clan’s territory.

As for Nangong Yuanwu, while Lu Qing felt sympathy for him…

He had no intention of revealing himself out of some momentary sentimentality.

After all, he didn’t know whether that deranged woman from the Gongshu Clan had added his name to the bounty list when she went after Nangong Yuanwu.

If she had, then showing his face now would be like handing himself over on a silver platter.

For all these reasons, Lu Qing had taken on the guise of an ordinary Golden Core rogue cultivator and joined a merchant caravan, wandering the lands.

The caravan moved at a steady pace and eventually reached the end of the gorge.

Even before fully exiting, they could already hear the howling winds ahead.

It sounded like ghosts wailing and beasts roaring—chilling the heart.

“So this is the Gale Plains?”

Standing at the mouth of the gorge, they looked out at the shrieking winds and sky full of yellow sand.

Everyone felt a twinge of fear.

Even the Golden Core cultivators in the carriages looked visibly unsettled.

Under such natural might, no matter how advanced their cultivation, they felt unease.

Lu Qing sensed the fierce wind ahead and was quietly amazed.

This Tianyuan Great World truly was wondrous. Just the astral winds above the Gale Plains were unimaginably powerful.

If weaker Golden Core cultivators charged in recklessly…

They might have their flesh torn open, their blood scattered across the skies.

No wonder none of the Golden Core cultivators in the carriages were flying, but instead traveling with the caravan.

It turned out that such a natural hazard barred the way forward.

“Everyone, please be patient. In no more than half an hour, the wind will weaken. Once that happens, we’ll proceed into the Gale Plains.”

At the front of the convoy, the armored man held an octagonal artifact resembling a bagua compass and seemed to be making calculations.

After a moment, he called out to the others.

No one objected to his instructions.

Faced with the terrifying scene before them, no one dared rush in. They could only wait patiently.

Fortunately, the man’s prediction was accurate.

After about one incense stick’s time, the howling winds ahead began to ease.

By the half-hour mark, the sandstorms subsided.

The plains, which had been so obscured that one could barely see ten paces ahead, slowly became clearer.

“Alright, we can enter now. But remember—this break in the wind won’t last long.

It will start blowing again soon.

Whatever you do, don’t wander off. If you get separated, it’ll be nearly impossible to regroup.”

The armored man barked out the warning.

His words made the smaller merchants tighten with tension.

They immediately focused all their attention, reminding themselves not to fall behind.

The caravan began to move onto the plains.

Though called a “plain,” it resembled more a desert.

The ground was thick with yellow sand that came up to one’s ankles.

If not for the sparse vegetation dotting the area, it would have looked like a lifeless wasteland.

Fortunately, the wagons were inscribed with formation arrays and didn’t sink into the sand easily.

Led by the armored man and his guards, the caravan pressed onward.

As they ventured deeper into the Gale Plains, about two hours later, the wind began to pick up again.

It grew stronger by the minute, sending the sand into flight once more.

From the distance came faint echoes of beastly roars.

At the front of the convoy, the armored man’s expression shifted the moment he heard them.