I Can See Through Everything-Chapter 580

"Nine thousand superior-grade spirit stones!"

"Nine thousand three hundred!"

"Nine thousand five hundred!"

"Ten thousand!"

When a Nascent Soul cultivator finally roared out the bid of ten thousand superior-grade spirit stones through clenched teeth, the entire auction hall fell into a stunned silence.

Not only were the cultivators in the hall below dumbfounded, even the powerful figures within the VIP rooms were inwardly shaken.

There was no helping it—this price was simply too outrageous.

Ten thousand superior-grade spirit stones was equivalent to one hundred million low-grade spirit stones!

Such a sum, even for the most powerful forces in the Tianyuan Great World, could be considered a tremendous fortune.

Spending that much might not cripple them, but it would certainly cost them a significant portion of their foundation.

"As expected, even if our two sects joined forces, we still wouldn't be able to compete with these top-tier powers."

Inside the VIP room of the Qiankun Sect, Qian Lingxiao let out a long sigh, finally giving up.

Their Qiankun Sect could perhaps just barely scrape together one hundred million low-grade spirit stones.

But doing so would require draining the sect’s entire stockpile.

If they dared spend that much, the sect would be left impoverished, struggling just to operate.

Even offering half that sum would put them in a tight spot, forcing their disciples to cultivate under frugal conditions.

And besides, the seller of the Golden Bell only accepted superior-grade spirit stones.

One hundred million low-grade spirit stones they could maybe manage to pull together with effort.

But ten thousand superior-grade spirit stones? That was utterly beyond their reach.

The gap between those two numbers was the same as the gap between their Qiankun Sect and those truly top-tier powers.

The Gongshu Clan’s strength was roughly comparable to theirs, so even if they allied, they might still lose to these deep-pocketed elite sects.

What’s more, ten thousand superior-grade spirit stones might not even be the final price.

Sure enough, after a moment of silence, someone called out a higher bid.

"Eleven thousand superior-grade spirit stones!"

The entire hall stirred again.

This bidder had directly raised the price by another full thousand—equivalent to ten million low-grade spirit stones!

"It seems these great powers are truly willing to gamble their entire foundations."

"Which force is this bold, I wonder?"

"Could it be the Heaven-Shattering Sword Sect, the Tyrant Clan, the Dao Illusory Monastery, or Bilu Palace? Of all the factions that came to Tianxu City this time, those four are the most powerful, right?"

…

The crowd began to murmur and speculate about which top-tier power had made the bid.

After this number was shouted out, there was a long pause before anyone else offered a new price.

Thus, the pace of bidding slowed dramatically, but it became all the more intense.

Eventually, when one powerful figure called out a final price of fifteen thousand superior-grade spirit stones, no one else made another bid.

After a long silence, and several reminders from the auctioneer, Venerable Zhenbao finally struck the gavel.

"Since there are no further bids, this Golden Bell shall go to the honored guest in Heaven Room Number Three!"

The moment his words fell, the previously tense and suffocating auction hall instantly erupted in an uproar.

"It’s finally over. Just now I was so nervous I didn’t even dare breathe!"

"Fifteen thousand superior-grade spirit stones—what kind of force could afford such a price? That’s more than half a sect’s foundation gone, isn’t it?"

"They really went all in! Sure, superior-grade spiritual artifacts are rare, but this price is still insane."

"If a superior-grade artifact costs one hundred fifty million low-grade spirit stones, then how expensive must a supreme-grade artifact be?"

"What are you thinking? Supreme-grade artifacts are the stuff of legends. Across the entire Tianyuan Great World, you could count the number of forces possessing such treasures on one hand.

Those artifacts are capable of suppressing a sect’s fortune for millennia—they’re ultimate treasures.

Who’d be foolish enough to auction one off?

Even if one were to appear, no one would bid honestly. They’d just go to war for it."

"Forget it. The few supreme-grade artifacts owned by our Human Race are said to be in the hands of the most powerful Nascent Soul cultivators.

They’re the trump cards we use to resist the Demon Race, tied to our very survival.

They’d never be casually sold—much less auctioned."

…

While the main hall below buzzed with heated discussion, in the VIP rooms above, some cultivators wore extremely ugly expressions.

"Who was it?! Who dared snatch this from our Tyrant Clan? Was it the Dao Illusory Monastery, Bilu Palace, or the Heaven-Shattering Sword Sect?"

Ba Tian of the Tyrant Clan looked utterly grim.

He hadn’t expected that even after bidding fourteen thousand superior-grade spirit stones, he still wouldn’t win the superior-grade artifact.

That number had been the maximum authorized after he contacted his clan’s ancestor.

Any higher, and even the Tyrant Clan would suffer grievous damage to their foundation and vitality, affecting their future development.

In the end, he could only watch helplessly as the price climbed beyond his reach.

To say Ba Tian wasn’t angry would be a lie.

He had never experienced such humiliation!

Yet no matter how furious he felt, he dared not make a scene here.

After all, this auction hall was filled with numerous Nascent Soul cultivators.

And the City Lord of Tianxu City was rumored to be a terrifying cultivator above the third tribulation of the Nascent Soul Realm.

Even the Tyrant Clan had to show deference to someone like that.

In the end, Ba Tian could only swallow his rage.

"Fifteen thousand superior-grade spirit stones…"

In Earth Room Number Nineteen, Lu Qing also let out a breath of awe.

The price of this superior-grade artifact was truly frightening.

The financial power of these top-tier forces was equally terrifying—they could throw around hundreds of millions of spirit stones without blinking.

"A superior-grade artifact might very well serve as the cornerstone of a sect’s fortune—it’s no wonder they fought so fiercely.

Thankfully, the number of top powers who came to Tianxu City this time wasn’t too high.

Otherwise, this scene would’ve been even more chaotic.

Still, I wonder who ended up with that Golden Bell."

Daoist Wubao also sighed in amazement.

"Whoever it is, it has nothing to do with us. Alright, the show’s over. Time to go." Lu Qing smiled.

Over the next while, Lu Qing reclaimed the spirit stones he had put down in advance, then left the auction hall together with Daoist Wubao.

They departed via a teleportation array.

Thanks to this, aside from the auction staff, no one knew they had been the guests in Earth Room Number Nineteen.

On the matter of discretion, Tianxu City—having hosted countless auctions—had done an excellent job.

After leaving the auction hall, the two even took a longer route to ensure no one followed them before finally returning to their rented cave dwellings.

"Daoist, now that the show’s over, I’ll likely be going into seclusion for a while. Please keep an eye on any developments about the secret realm for me. If anything changes, come notify me immediately."

Before parting to return to their respective caves, Lu Qing said with a smile.

"Don’t worry, Fellow Daoist Chen. Leave it to me!"

Daoist Wubao replied without hesitation, patting his chest in assurance.

He was fully aware of his position—he intended to cling to Lu Qing’s coattails. Running errands like this was the least of his concerns. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Then I’ll trouble you with it."

After entering the cave dwelling, Lu Qing sat cross-legged, but before he could make a move, Xiao Li had already leapt out of his embrace.

“A Qing! A Qing! Quick, take out the treasures we bought and let’s have a look!”

She looked every bit the image of a little treasure hoarder.

“Alright, alright.”

Lu Qing chuckled, then brought out all the items he had purchased earlier for Xiao Li to inspect.

The first thing she did was hug the silver sphere tightly and begin sensing it carefully.

After all, this was something related to that Void Flying Boat.

Xiao Li knew full well just how wondrous and powerful that silver flying boat was.

Without it, they never could have made it to the vast Tianyuan Great World.

After holding it and sensing the artifact’s aura for a while, she finally let go with a satisfied expression and turned to the other two items.

Then, she gave the prayer wheel a disdainful glance before looking toward the final object—a gray pearl.

“A Qing, what’s this pearl?”

Though Xiao Li could sense the treasure’s aura, she didn’t know its true origin.

But she knew Lu Qing possessed a far more wondrous ability that allowed him to discern a treasure’s true nature.

“This one’s not simple.”

“This pearl is called the Chaos Pearl. It’s formed when a massive secret realm or an entire world collapses back into chaos just before extinction.

In a rare twist of fate, it absorbed a massive amount of spatial power and a trace of chaotic energy to become what it is.”

Holding the gray pearl, Lu Qing’s eyes showed a touch of emotion.

He hadn’t expected to get this lucky and pick up such a rare treasure.

The Chaos Pearl had an incredibly strong essence.

If refined properly, it could easily become a spiritual artifact—and one with immense potential.

In the future, it might even be upgraded to a mid-grade or high-grade spiritual artifact.

Even more importantly, the Chaos Pearl had another remarkable use:

It could elevate the quality of an existing spiritual artifact.

Once fused with such an item, it could significantly boost that artifact’s potential.

If the original item wasn’t too high in grade, it might even be upgraded by an entire tier!

In other words, if he fused this Chaos Pearl into the Heaven and Earth One Qi Bag, that bag would likely be instantly upgraded to a mid-grade spiritual artifact.

If he used it on the Li Huo Cauldron, it might gain the potential to become a high-grade spiritual artifact.

“A pearl born from the collapse of a secret realm or world?”

Xiao Li clicked her tongue in astonishment after hearing that.

She’d sensed that the Chaos Pearl was extraordinary, but she hadn’t expected such a grand origin behind this little gray bead.

“So that means we’ll be getting another spiritual artifact?” she asked eagerly.

“No rush. I need to think this through.”

Lu Qing shook his head.

Truthfully, he was conflicted about how best to use the Chaos Pearl.

Should he refine it into a spiritual artifact, or fuse it into an existing artifact he already possessed?

The first option would take a lot of time and require gathering other supporting materials.

And given his current cultivation, forging a spiritual artifact might be beyond him for now.

As for the second option, he still hadn’t decided which artifact to fuse it with.

He currently possessed several key artifacts: the Five Elements Gourd, the Void Flying Boat, the Li Huo Cauldron, the Heaven and Earth One Qi Bag, and the Five Elements Pearl within his brow acupoint.

The Void Flying Boat was out—it was a Dao Artifact.

No matter how powerful the Chaos Pearl was, fusing it into a Dao Artifact likely wouldn’t yield any significant improvement.

The Heaven and Earth One Qi Bag was mostly used as a storage artifact.

Even if it advanced to mid-grade, its combat power wouldn’t surpass that of the Li Huo Cauldron.

That left three serious candidates: the Five Elements Gourd, the Li Huo Cauldron, and the Five Elements Pearl.

The Five Elements Gourd was his life-bound spiritual artifact, intimately connected to him—arguably the most important.

But the Five Elements Pearl was also extraordinary. It housed the Divine Soul Talisman and had been constantly nourishing and protecting his soul.

Its importance wasn’t far behind the gourd.

The problem was, both items were still only at the supreme treasure level and hadn’t evolved due to being tightly bound to him and limited by his current cultivation.

Using the Chaos Pearl on them now might be too soon.

That left the Li Huo Cauldron.

This mid-grade spiritual artifact was the most powerful in Lu Qing’s current arsenal.

If he fused the Chaos Pearl into it, its essence would be greatly enhanced.

It might even reach high-grade spiritual artifact level in the future.

But then he thought of the agreement he’d made with “Yan” when he first refined the Li Huo Cauldron.

One day, he had promised to set it free.

Once “Yan” left, the cauldron’s power would certainly diminish.

He’d need to nurture a new artifact spirit, which would take time and effort.

Though “Yan” had shown signs of complete submission in recent years, it remained an uncertain factor.

And the Chaos Pearl—he only had one. It had to be used with care.

After thinking it through again and again, Lu Qing still couldn’t make a decision.

In the end, he put the Chaos Pearl away, deciding to wait for a more suitable opportunity in the future.

As for the prayer wheel, Lu Qing, like Xiao Li, gave it a glance and then didn’t pay it much attention.

The item wasn’t high-grade, though the strange runes engraved on it were interesting.

Still, Lu Qing wasn’t in the mood to study it right now, so he set it aside as well.

Finally, Lu Qing focused his attention on the silver sphere.

This Void Core was the treasure he valued most at the moment.

After some thought, Lu Qing suddenly formed a hand seal. The Li Huo Cauldron hanging around his neck flew out and landed on the ground, transforming into a half-human height.

Then he turned to Xiao Li and instructed, “Xiao Li, I’m going into the Li Huo Cauldron for a bit. Keep watch outside.”

When he saw her nod, Lu Qing took the Void Core and turned into a stream of light, diving into the cauldron.

He intended to enter the Li Huo Cauldron with his true body.

“Master, you’re…?”

Inside the artifact’s inner space, “Yan” was surprised to see Lu Qing enter in person.

“I’ve got some work to do.”

Lu Qing replied simply, and with a wave of his hand, he summoned the Void Flying Boat.