I Can See Through Everything-Chapter 579

"Finally secured it peacefully."

Hearing Venerable Zhenbao's declaration, a faint smile appeared on Lu Qing's face.

Even Xiaoli couldn't help the excitement that flickered in its eyes.

"Fellow Daoist Chen, your move was truly grand."

Daoist Wubao had only just managed to steady his emotions when he couldn't help but sigh in admiration.

He found himself increasingly unable to understand this Fellow Daoist Chen.

Not only was his cultivation profound and unfathomable, but now he had displayed an astonishing level of wealth.

Such a person—he had never even heard of him before.

"It was merely a small trinket. These few spirit stones are nothing. The real extravagance comes later when those spiritual artifacts go up for auction."

Lu Qing shook his head with a smile.

He knew very well that he had gotten a bargain this time.

Though others couldn't see the true wonders of the Void Core, the fact that even Nascent Soul Realm cultivators couldn’t damage it was enough to spark interest among many powerful figures.

However, since superior-grade spiritual artifacts were still to come in the auction, many chose to hold back, not wanting to waste their spirit stones too early. That was the only reason he’d managed to scoop it up.

Otherwise, acquiring the Void Core might have cost him dearly.

Just then, Lu Qing sensed a fluctuation from outside.

A voice transmission entered his mind: "Honored guest in Earth Room Nineteen, you’ve successfully bid for Item Thirty-Eight. Would you like it delivered to you now or after the auction concludes?"

"It works like that?" Lu Qing was pleasantly surprised. "Then deliver it to me now."

The Void Core was far too important. The sooner he had it in his hands, the sooner he could be at ease.

"Please wait a moment, honored guest."

Not long after the voice transmission faded, there was a knock at the door.

But the door of the VIP room was located at the back and was protected and concealed by a formation.

This was to prevent others from catching a glimpse of the honored guest inside when the door was opened.

The jade token in Lu Qing’s hand was the control key for the formation inside the room. With a flick, he activated it and opened the door.

Two Foundation Establishment Realm attendants, dressed in servant robes, stood respectfully outside.

One of them held that very silver orb in his hands.

"Honored guest, we’ve brought you Item Thirty-Eight. Please take a look."

Lu Qing stepped forward and took the silver orb, activating his spiritual powers to examine it carefully.

After a moment, once the floating lines of text appeared in his vision, he gave a slight nod.

"Good. Everything checks out. Shall I pay now?"

"Yes, honored guest. We ask for your understanding." One of the attendants replied respectfully.

Without delay, Lu Qing retrieved a pouch from his Heaven and Earth One Qi Bag, took out a portion of the spirit stones inside, and handed it over.

"Here are 1,500 mid-grade spirit stones. Please count them and verify the amount."

The two attendants took the pouch and began counting carefully right in front of Lu Qing.

Soon after, they exchanged a glance and nodded.

"The amount is accurate. Thank you, honored guest."

"Think nothing of it."

"Then we shall take our leave. May you continue to win your desired treasures, honored guest."

"Thanks for your kind words."

After the two attendants left, Lu Qing returned to his seat, idly toying with the silver orb.

He soon realized that without using his spiritual powers, even he couldn’t perceive the mysteries of the Void Core.

Only that faint stirring in his heart remained.

But that was because he had already refined the Void Flying Boat. Otherwise, he might not have sensed anything extraordinary at all.

"Fellow Daoist Chen, have you discovered any mysteries in that item?" Daoist Wubao asked curiously.

"It’s not that easy," Lu Qing replied with a laugh. "Even the appraisers of Tianxu City and all those Nascent Soul experts couldn’t unravel its secrets. How could I, a mere cultivator, be more capable than those seniors?

"I just found it rather intriguing and thought I’d acquire it for future study."

With that, he stowed the silver orb into his Heaven and Earth One Qi Bag.

He still didn’t know what would happen once the Void Flying Boat and the core were fused. With so many powerful cultivators present, this wasn’t the time or place.

If leaving now wouldn’t draw too much attention, Lu Qing wouldn’t even have waited for the auction to end.

Time passed, and the auction continued in full swing.

As the treasures became more and more valuable, the starting bids all soared to tens of thousands of spirit stones.

The cultivators in the main hall gradually stopped participating, leaving the bidding to the honored guests in the upper-level rooms.

Lu Qing simply watched without placing any more bids.

There was a set of sword formation artifacts that briefly tempted him—it consisted of nine superior-grade treasure swords.

They would’ve been a perfect fit for the Seven-Star Sword Formation he was currently studying.

But the price was far too high, not much less than a top-tier treasure artifact.

If he tried to win that set, his remaining spirit stones would be nearly wiped out.

After some hesitation, Lu Qing gave up on it.

"Still too poor..."

Lu Qing couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.

His stash of over ten thousand mid-grade spirit stones had once seemed abundant.

But here at this auction, even buying one powerful treasure was uncertain.

Compared to sects, clans, and aristocratic families, his wealth was barely worth mentioning.

"I’d better look into buying some materials and forging my own flying swords."

He had the Li Huo Cauldron in hand, along with the artifact refining techniques of the Li Huo Sect.

As long as he could find the right materials, forging artifacts himself wouldn’t be difficult.

Artifacts crafted by his own hands would also respond better to his control.

Once he fully grasped the Seven-Star Sword Formation, he could try forging a complete set of formation swords himself.

"And now, we come to what everyone has been waiting for—the final item of tonight’s auction."

Just as Lu Qing was absorbed in thought, Venerable Zhenbao below finished auctioning off a lower-grade spiritual artifact and raised his voice.

Immediately, everyone perked up, knowing the main event had finally arrived.

Not just the cultivators in the main hall—even the many Nascent Soul experts in the VIP rooms straightened their backs and grew solemn.

Lu Qing also pulled back his thoughts and turned his gaze to the stage below.

"It seems many of you have already guessed."

Venerable Zhenbao paused before continuing, "That’s right—the next item up for auction is this treasure."

With a wave of his hand, an item appeared, instantly capturing everyone’s attention.

It was a bell-shaped artifact. Its golden body gleamed brilliantly, radiating an eternal aura.

Though it appeared only palm-sized, the waves it emitted caused everyone’s spirits to tremble.

"This treasure is called the Immortal Golden Bell. It once belonged to a senior expert and was entrusted to us here in Tianxu City for auction."

Venerable Zhenbao began recounting the bell’s origin story.

As everyone listened, their expressions grew solemn.

To be called a “senior expert” by Venerable Zhenbao—a Nascent Soul cultivator himself—meant that the bell’s previous owner must have walked an exceedingly long road within the Nascent Soul Realm. Such a figure would be an apex powerhouse.

But that was only fitting. Only someone of such caliber could have the boldness to auction off a superior-grade spiritual artifact.

"This Immortal Golden Bell is a flawless superior-grade spiritual artifact," Venerable Zhenbao continued. "It possesses both offensive and defensive capabilities, making it a formidable treasure in both regards.

"As for its true power, that will depend on which Fellow Daoist wins the bid and experiences it for themselves."

After briefly introducing the bell, Venerable Zhenbao paused to give everyone time to absorb the information.

As expected, after his introduction, the Nascent Soul cultivators in the VIP rooms were all stunned.

"A flawless superior-grade spiritual artifact, both offensive and defensive!"

"It’s not the flawed item we speculated about—it’s flawless?"

"A flawless, dual-purpose superior-grade spiritual artifact—this must be secured at all costs!"

"Contact the clan head immediately! Whatever the price, we must win this treasure!"

The mighty cultivators were all shaken and made swift decisions: they would spare no effort to win the bidding war.

"A flawless superior-grade spiritual artifact... Brother Lingxiao, I’m afraid this one is beyond our reach."

Inside the room where the Qiankun Sect disciples were seated, Gongshu Zheng sighed. "The top powers are going to go mad now."

Qian Lingxiao’s face darkened.

He knew Gongshu Zheng had a point.

If the Immortal Golden Bell was truly as flawless as Venerable Zhenbao claimed, the elite factions would go all out in the bidding.

The spirit stones he and Gongshu Zheng had on hand simply couldn’t compete.

Yet, Qian Lingxiao couldn’t help feeling indignant.

He asked in a low voice, "If I contact my sect, and you contact the Gongshu Clan, could the two of us join forces and win the Immortal Golden Bell?"

"Join forces?" Gongshu Zheng was briefly stunned, then shook his head. "Brother Lingxiao, you jest. If our two factions combined efforts, there might be a chance...

"But do you think your sect leaders and our clan’s patriarchs would agree?

"Even if we won it, who would it belong to?

"Would it ever end up in either of our hands?"

Qian Lingxiao fell silent.

He knew Gongshu Zheng was right.

The two of them shared a close bond and trusted each other. Joining forces to compete for the Immortal Golden Bell wouldn’t be a problem between them.

But between the Qiankun Sect and the Gongshu Clan—there was no such trust.

So what he’d just proposed was nothing more than wishful thinking.

Even if, against all odds, the two sides did manage to secure the Immortal Golden Bell, there was no way such a treasure would land in their hands.

Realizing this, Qian Lingxiao let out a bitter laugh. "You’re right, Brother Zheng. I was being foolish."

"Who could blame you, Brother Lingxiao? A superior-grade spiritual artifact like this is far too tempting," Gongshu Zheng replied with a smile.

Behind them, Ye Qingzhu silently observed everything, her gaze flickering slightly as she listened to their conversation.

"Immortal Golden Bell?"

From the moment Venerable Zhenbao had brought out the artifact, Lu Qing had already activated his spiritual powers and was peering at it.

After a while, as he saw the rich, almost tangible violet glow of spiritual energy radiating from the bell and the lines of information floating into view...

An unusual expression crept into Lu Qing’s eyes.

"This superior-grade spiritual artifact... doesn’t seem ordinary."

As he read the lines of information in his vision, an intrigued smile formed on Lu Qing’s face.

He was starting to look forward to what would happen next.

"Fellow Daoists, please quiet down for a moment."

Seeing that most had likely digested the details, Venerable Zhenbao once again spoke up.

The entire hall fell silent, all eyes locked on him.

"It seems everyone is eager to know the starting price for this treasure."

Venerable Zhenbao smiled under the weight of their anticipation.

"Then this old man won’t keep you guessing.

"The starting price for the Immortal Golden Bell is ten million lower-grade spirit stones.

"However, the senior who consigned this item to us has made it clear—they will only accept upper-grade spirit stones.

"In other words, the actual starting price is one thousand upper-grade spirit stones!

"And each bid must increase by no less than one hundred upper-grade spirit stones!"

Ten million lower-grade spirit stones!

The cultivators in the main hall all trembled at the number.

Though they had expected a superior-grade spiritual artifact to come with a sky-high price...

Still, hearing that number out loud left them shaken.

This amount of spirit stones would equal the total reserves of some mid-tier sects.

Even among first-rate sects, those not adept at wealth accumulation might not have much more than this in total assets.

And that was just the starting price.

Soon, the bidding war among the honored guests in the VIP rooms would push it far higher.

Who knew how astronomical the final price would be?

Meanwhile, the Nascent Soul cultivators in the VIP rooms reacted differently.

"Only accepting upper-grade spirit stones? Is the owner of the Immortal Golden Bell preparing for a breakthrough?"

One of them murmured in a shaken voice.

Another mused thoughtfully, "This likely means the consignor is at least a Four-Tribulation Nascent Soul expert."

"Needing this many upper-grade spirit stones for a breakthrough... could the owner of the Immortal Golden Bell be a rogue cultivator?"

The requirement to pay in upper-grade spirit stones stirred a wave of speculation among the Nascent Soul cultivators.

Some of them wore hesitant expressions.

Upper-grade spirit stones were strategic resources—a key measure of a faction’s foundation.

Mobilizing this many upper-grade spirit stones, even for the most powerful forces in the Tianyuan Great World, was not something to be taken lightly.

More importantly, a top-tier cultivator preparing to break through using such a massive sum of spirit stones was, in itself, news of great consequence.

Still, as they felt the aura exuding from the golden bell...

The hesitating cultivators grew resolute once more.

A flawless superior-grade spiritual artifact was far too rare.

There were only a few across the entire Tianyuan Great World.

If they missed this chance, who knew how long they’d have to wait for another?

Spirit stones could be earned again—but such a treasure was not something one encountered twice in a lifetime.

And so, as Venerable Zhenbao officially declared the start of the bidding...

A frenzy erupted.