I Can See Through Everything-Chapter 559

"As expected. Even with all my trump cards, I'm still no match for a Nascent Soul cultivator in a head-on clash."

Lu Qing had more or less figured out the extent of his current strength.

Although he hadn’t used every last trick in his arsenal during the battle with that Nascent Soul-stage Wind Beast, he guessed that even if he had gone all out, he likely still couldn’t have truly slain it.

That Wind Beast had only just entered the Nascent Soul stage. It was barely intelligent and lacked in every aspect aside from brute strength—yet Lu Qing still couldn’t defeat it head-on.

If he were to face an actual Nascent Soul master—one who had cultivated for countless years, was cunning beyond belief, and had perfect control over their power—or worse, a sinister and crafty Nascent Soul demonic cultivator…

Then he would probably suffer a crushing defeat. Whether or not he could even escape with his life would be uncertain.

"Looks like I still need to keep a low profile and focus on steadily building my strength."

After some reflection, Lu Qing came to this conclusion.

This battle had been immensely valuable for him.

Not only had he gained a better understanding of his own power, but his swordsmanship had also been refined through actual combat.

His control over the Minor Heaven-Shattering Sword had grown more fluent and natural.

He even began to vaguely sense the threshold of truly comprehending the ultimate inheritance in his mind—Heaven-Shattering Sword Qi.

Indeed, nothing honed one's abilities better than real combat.

"Aqing, where should we go next? Are we rejoining that caravan?" Xiaoli asked.

"Of course not." Lu Qing shook his head.

He had never intended to return to Old Qiao and the others.

He’d only stayed behind to cover their retreat—his plan had always been to leave afterward.

Now that his cultivation had been exposed, there was no point in staying with the caravan any longer.

"Once I spend a day in seclusion to digest the gains from this battle, we'll set off right away," Lu Qing said.

When he left, he’d gone in the opposite direction of the caravan. By now, he had crossed the Gale Plains and entered a mountain range on the other side.

Naturally, Xiaoli and Wuxing had no objections to Lu Qing’s decision.

So the next day, after completing his seclusion and restoring himself to peak condition, Lu Qing set off again with his two companions.

But before departing, he used the endlessly changing, formless transformation ability of the Perfect Golden Core to alter his appearance once more—this time into that of an honest-looking young man.

Even Xiaoli’s fur was transformed with a Talisman of Transformation, changing from its previous gray to a mix of black, orange, and white.

As for Wuxing, there was no need to disguise him.

The little one usually hid in Lu Qing’s sleeve pocket and rarely appeared in front of outsiders, so changing his appearance wasn’t necessary.

With the two little companions in tow, Lu Qing used his movement techniques to travel swiftly through the mountains.

After being ambushed by a monstrous bird in mid-air previously, Lu Qing now rarely flew unless absolutely necessary.

After all, he was unfamiliar with the Tianyuan Great World. If he accidentally flew over some powerful being’s territory, he could end up in serious trouble. ꭆÀΝǑʙÊŜ

After leaving the Gale Plains, they entered a vast mountain range.

Lu Qing traveled continuously for several hours without rest.

Suddenly, Xiaoli popped out from his arms.

"Aqing! I sense the aura of a treasure!"

"Hmm?" Lu Qing paused, surprised. "A treasure?"

"Yes! I’m sure of it. Not far to the left—there’s something over there that’s drawing me in!" Xiaoli said with certainty.

"A treasure, huh…"

Lu Qing began to ponder.

He recalled Xiaoli’s unique ability to sense treasures—it always seemed to have an extraordinary reaction to valuable items.

Even Yan had once said that the Black Night Spirit Lynx race was especially gifted when it came to treasure-seeking.

If something could still be deemed a “treasure” in Xiaoli’s eyes at its current cultivation level, then it must be something truly rare.

After a moment’s thought, Lu Qing made up his mind.

"If there’s a treasure, we might as well go take a look."

This was a remote part of the deep mountains, rarely visited by people. There was a chance they could stumble upon something exceptional.

Without delay, Lu Qing followed Xiaoli’s guidance and flew toward the left.

Soon, they reached a mountain valley.

"Aqing, it’s right up there!" Xiaoli pointed with its paw.

Lu Qing looked up and saw a squat, unusual plant growing out of a crevice on a steep cliff face, its roots tightly gripping the rock.

More importantly, at the top of this plant was a deep red fruit, about half the size of a fist.

The moment he saw that crimson fruit, Lu Qing’s heart gave a sudden jolt.

Although the fruit gave off no powerful spiritual essence due to its natural concealment, his instincts told him this was no ordinary item.

At once, he activated his spiritual power.

A rich purple glow of spiritual energy appeared around the red fruit, and several strips of information floated into view.

[Dragonblood Vermilion Fruit: A superior spiritual herb. A powerful spiritual fruit imbued with dragon bloodline essence, nearing full ripeness.]

[This vermilion fruit tree was once nourished by the blood of a dragon, causing it to mutate and evolve into a Dragonblood Vermilion Fruit Tree.]

[It takes five hundred years for a single fruit to mature, and each contains the refined essence of dragon blood.]

[When consumed by a human cultivator, it can extend lifespan and cultivation. When consumed by a spirit beast, there is a certain chance of triggering a bloodline transformation.]

…

"Dragonblood Vermilion Fruit… A superior spiritual herb?"

When Lu Qing finished reading the information, his face lit up with joy.

Xiaoli’s sense had been right again—this crimson fruit was indeed a rare treasure.

Even in the Tianyuan Great World, superior spiritual herbs were uncommon.

As for supreme-grade spiritual herbs, they were practically once-in-a-lifetime finds.

Even Nascent Soul experts would fight over such a thing.

More importantly, this Dragonblood Vermilion Fruit had a chance of transforming a spirit beast’s bloodline.

It might be of great use to Xiaoli and the others.

"Aqing, should we pick the fruit now?" Xiaoli asked eagerly, staring at the blood-red fruit with greedy eyes.

Its innate sensing ability told it that the tremendous medicinal power within this fruit would benefit it greatly.

Wuxing was no different.

His tail swished back and forth, and his slit-pupiled eyes were practically glowing.

"Not yet. It’s not fully ripe. We’ll wait a few more days," Lu Qing said.

He had seen the words "nearing full ripeness" in the information strip and decided not to rush.

Instead, he used his flying sword to carve out a stone cave in a cliff face opposite the fruit.

He also set up a Concealment Array to mask their presence. Then, he and the two little ones moved in to temporarily reside there.

While cultivating, they would wait for the Dragonblood Vermilion Fruit to fully ripen.

Three days passed.

At midday, just as Lu Qing was meditating with his eyes closed, a powerful surge of spiritual essence suddenly rippled through the air outside.

"Aqing, has the fruit ripened?" Xiaoli and Wuxing were both jolted awake by the fluctuation.

"It should have," Lu Qing said, withdrawing the array and walking to the cave entrance.

He looked across to the cliff wall and saw that the Dragonblood Vermilion Fruit—previously still and ordinary-looking—was now undergoing a shocking transformation.

A powerful suction force was forming within the fruit, continuously drawing in the surrounding Heaven and Earth’s Spiritual Energy.

In the span of several dozen li, spiritual energy rapidly converged toward the Dragonblood Vermilion Fruit, forming a tremendous spiritual energy vortex around it.

At the same time, a faint medicinal fragrance began to waft out of the valley.

The disturbance immediately set off a frenzy among spirit beasts and demonic beasts within a hundred li radius.

Those closer—especially the ones that caught the scent—went completely wild and charged toward the valley like mad.

“What an incredible spiritual herb!”

Lu Qing caught a whiff of the fragrance as well and immediately felt invigorated;even the circulation of his internal spiritual power sped up slightly.

He couldn’t help but praise it aloud.

Considering how pure his spiritual power was at his current cultivation level—even superior to those at peak Golden Core stage—this trace of medicinal fragrance still managed to stir his energy.

That alone proved the fruit’s extraordinary nature.

“Aqing! A whole bunch of creatures are coming to steal the fruit!”

At that moment, Xiaoli sensed the approaching spirit and demonic beasts outside the valley.

Among them were several powerful beings with auras reaching the Golden Core Realm.

“No matter. As long as none of them are at the Nascent Soul level, no one is taking that fruit,” Lu Qing said confidently.

Still, he made preparations.

With a flick of his fingers, he sent out a series of jade talismans, embedding them throughout the valley.

Soon after, the valley echoed with beastly roars. Dozens of spirit and demonic beasts of varying shapes and sizes charged in.

Just those that had reached the Golden Core Realm numbered seven or eight.

As they entered, the creatures spotted the strange phenomenon on the cliffside.

When their eyes landed on the blood-red fruit, they became visibly greedy.

Without hesitation, they began lunging toward it.

Even during their ascent, battles broke out among them.

Weaker beasts were instantly torn to shreds.

The valley quickly filled with the stench of blood.

Among them, a golden eagle-like beast had the fastest speed.

In the blink of an eye, it soared to the front, eyes gleaming with triumph as it aimed to swallow the fruit whole.

The others behind it were anxious but powerless to catch up.

The golden eagle was mere inches from snatching the Dragonblood Vermilion Fruit—

When suddenly, a gray blur appeared before it.

A paw lashed out, and before the golden eagle could react, its head was smashed to pieces.

It didn’t even have time to screech before its body plummeted from the sky.

The abrupt reversal stunned all the beasts.

Especially the Golden Core-level ones—they froze mid-air, too frightened to move.

All of them stared in shock at the falling corpse of the golden eagle.

Bang!

When the body hit the valley floor and twitched a few times before its life aura vanished, the beasts knew it was truly dead.

Their gazes all shifted to the one that had killed it.

There stood a small, cat-like spirit beast with a body covered in black, orange, and white fur.

Though it looked like nothing more than a striped feline, none of the other beasts dared take it lightly.

On the contrary, their eyes brimmed with dread, staring fixedly at it.

That fear wasn’t just because the little thing had easily slain one of their fastest and strongest.

It was because the aura it now radiated was utterly terrifying.

“My stuff, and you think you can take it?”

At that moment, Xiaoli’s entire body exuded a fearsome aura, its eyes glinting with killing intent.

Aqing had warned it—the fruit was still ripening, and any disturbance could drastically reduce its medicinal potency.

Just now, it had come within a hair's breadth of being eaten by that stupid bird. How could Xiaoli not be furious?

Sensing the murderous energy radiating from Xiaoli, the remaining spirit and demonic beasts all shuddered.

But as the rich fragrance of the ripening fruit intensified, their fear slowly receded, replaced by overwhelming greed.

Hostility surged in their eyes as they glared at Xiaoli.

“Hm? Something’s not right.”

Lu Qing furrowed his brow as he observed the beasts’ behavior.

He knew well that in the world of spirit beasts, strength was law.

If they encountered a creature vastly stronger than themselves, they rarely dared to challenge it.

Yet these beasts, after witnessing Xiaoli instantly kill one of their own equal in power, still refused to back down. Instead, their greed only grew.

This abnormality made Lu Qing feel something was off.

“Is it the scent of the Dragonblood Vermilion Fruit?” he muttered, thoughtful.

Even so, he didn’t step in. Instead, he gave Wuxing a command to assist if needed.

He intended to use this situation to temper the two little ones.

Since leaving their home world, Xiaoli and Wuxing had improved greatly in cultivation.

But they’d rarely faced real combat.

After all, most of the enemies Lu Qing encountered were too formidable for them to handle.

This was a rare opportunity—so he chose to sit back and let them train.

“Still want to fight me?”

Xiaoli, seeing the hostility in their eyes, grew even more enraged.

Just then, a powerful surge of energy erupted from behind it.

The Dragonblood Vermilion Fruit had suddenly absorbed all surrounding spiritual energy.

Then, it began glowing with a crimson, gem-like light.

An immensely rich medicinal aroma burst forth, flooding the entire valley in an instant.

“Xiaoli, careful! The fruit’s fully ripe. They’re going to go berserk.”

Lu Qing’s voice rang out in Xiaoli’s mind.

And just as he said, the beasts in the valley completely lost their minds upon inhaling the dense fragrance.

All fear of Xiaoli evaporated.

Roaring madly, they charged to tear the “obstruction” to pieces.

“Perfect timing!”

Xiaoli’s eyes sharpened—and in the next instant, its body vanished.

The beasts hesitated in confusion for a split second—then a miserable shriek rang out.

One of the demonic beasts had been cleaved into several pieces before anyone realized what had happened.

With that, the slaughter led by Xiaoli began in full.