I Can See Through Everything-Chapter 531

I Can See Through Everything-Chapter 531

Chapter 531
"How could I dare trouble Senior Lu to deliver it in person? I should have gone to retrieve it myself."
Seeing Lu Qing hand over the storage pouch, Ziyuan spoke with a hint of alarm.
"No trouble at all. I’ve just finished a round of secluded cultivation and came out to stretch my legs." Lu Qing smiled.
"By the way, Miss Ziyuan, I noticed a trace of worry between your brows earlier. Have you encountered some difficulty?"
"You noticed, Senior?"
Ziyuan was slightly surprised, but quickly came to her senses. After all, Lu Qing was a cultivator at the Golden Core Realm. Such perception was hardly unexpected.
After a moment of hesitation, Ziyuan said somewhat uncertainly, "Actually, the Pavilion Master told us not to bring this matter to your attention, for fear of disturbing your cultivation. But since you’ve come out of seclusion, you ought to know, so we can take precautions."
"Oh? So this matter concerns me too?" Lu Qing raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, Senior," Ziyuan replied. "Ever since our Treasure Pavilion began selling the talismans you crafted, they’ve become extremely popular and caused quite a stir throughout Canglan City.
Because of this, many other merchant guilds and factions have started paying close attention.
Lately, there’ve been numerous spies from outside forces trying to infiltrate and gather information.
Though our Deputy Pavilion Masters have blocked their attempts, the atmosphere within the pavilion has been affected. Many have become restless and uneasy."
"I see. So those other factions have finally started to act."
Lu Qing nodded slightly upon hearing this.
"Senior doesn’t seem surprised?" Ziyuan couldn’t help but ask, seeing Lu Qing’s calm demeanor.
"There’s nothing surprising about it," Lu Qing said with a smile. "The new talismans we released are low-priced and have taken over a large share of the talisman market.
There’s no way the other factions would just sit by and let us seize the market.
If they didn’t act, that would be what’s truly strange.
By the way, what does the Pavilion Master say about all this?"
"The Pavilion Master told us not to worry—she already has a countermeasure. All we have to do is stay inside and not wander around.
She also explicitly said not to trouble you with this, Senior," Ziyuan replied.
"If she already has a plan, then I’m relieved. Well then, since the talismans have been handed over, I should return to my cultivation cave."
With that, Lu Qing turned and prepared to head back.
"You’re leaving so soon, Senior?" Ziyuan was taken aback.
Hadn’t Lu Qing just said he’d come out for a walk?
"Yes. I was planning to wander about a bit, but now doesn’t seem like the right time. I might as well return to cultivation."
Ziyuan stood stunned as she watched Lu Qing leave. The more she saw of him, the harder he was to fathom.
...
Back in his cave, Lu Qing activated the defensive formation, ready to resume his cultivation.
As for the turmoil outside, he had no intention of getting involved.
Since the Treasure Pavilion wanted to dominate the market with his talismans, it was only natural they bear the risks as well.
Besides, based on the information he’d gathered, the Pavilion Master of the Treasure Pavilion was no ordinary person.
Such a minor storm shouldn’t be too much for her to handle.
Still, even so, Lu Qing decided to make some preparations.
Even though the Xiao Cang Realm was only a small world, it still teemed with powerful cultivators.
Most Nascent Soul cultivators had already gone on to cultivate in the Tianyuan Great World.
But Lu Qing didn’t believe for a moment that some major powers in this realm didn’t have a Nascent Soul expert holding the fort.
If conflict did break out, he needed to be sure he could protect himself.
After pondering for a while, Lu Qing took stock of his trump cards.
His greatest strength now came from his Perfect Golden Core, which granted him far superior power compared to others of the same realm.
Next were the two divine abilities he had mastered, along with several spiritual artifacts in his possession.
He also had powerful techniques he had cultivated, such as the Minor Heaven-Shattering Sword and the Five-Colored Glazed Law Palm.
These divine abilities and techniques had grown significantly in power alongside his cultivation.
With such trump cards, he had no fear even facing late-stage Golden Core cultivators.
But to go up against a Nascent Soul expert with just these—highly unlikely.
The gap between Golden Core and Nascent Soul was simply too vast.
Even his Perfect Golden Core, wondrous as it was, could not bridge that gap without sufficient cultivation.
Back when he was in the Starry Sky, he had only escaped from a mysterious Nascent Soul powerhouse thanks to that person underestimating him—and the surprise spatial traversal ability of the Void Flying Boat. ṜἈ₦Ɵ฿ƐS
Otherwise, he might not have made it out alive.
Now, in the Xiao Cang Realm, the Void Flying Boat’s ability to traverse space was restricted. It could no longer activate as quickly as before.
Given the reaction speed of a Nascent Soul cultivator’s divine soul, even the Void Flying Boat wouldn’t guarantee a clean escape.
"Since I’ve reached the Fourth Transformation of the Golden Core Realm, my cultivation won’t advance again in the short term.
I must prepare a more secure trump card."
Lu Qing began to think about what means he could rely on to protect himself even against a Nascent Soul cultivator.
Techniques, divine abilities, treasures, formations, talismans...
He went over all his assets one by one—until suddenly, his eyes lit up.
"Formations and talismans… If I can comprehend and deduce that thing, it just might work!"
Without further ado, he sat down cross-legged and activated his unique divine ability, entering a deep state of contemplation.
The object of his focus was none other than the teleportation formation inheritance he had obtained in the Starry Sky City.
With his cultivation breakthrough, Lu Qing’s divine ability had grown even stronger.
Not only could he now analyze high-level artifacts faster, but his deduction speed had also increased significantly.
He had already mostly grasped the teleportation formation, but full comprehension still eluded him.
The teleportation formation in Starry Sky City had been set up by a Nascent Soul cultivator who was an expert in spatial laws—it was profoundly intricate, almost unfathomable.
Only someone like Lu Qing, with his unique divine ability and extraordinary cultivation path, could even attempt to unravel its mysteries.
Any other Golden Core cultivator wouldn’t have been able to glean even a single insight.
After all, the Dao of Spatial Transmission was beyond the reach of most Nascent Soul cultivators—let alone someone at the Golden Core stage.
...
Time passed as Lu Qing remained in cultivation.
Meanwhile, Canglan City had begun to stir.
Those merchant guilds and factions that had initially chosen to wait and see—hoping the Treasure Pavilion would run out of stock or raise their talisman prices—were now shocked.
Day after day, the new talismans continued to sell by the hundreds.
And yet, there was no sign of the Treasure Pavilion running out of supply, let alone raising prices.
Watching the endless stream of talismans being sold each day, the other factions could no longer sit still.
If this continued, the entire talisman market in Canglan City would soon be monopolized by the Treasure Pavilion!
Where would that leave them?
"We can’t just sit and wait any longer!"
Inside the Myriad Phenomena Pavilion, a burly, red-faced elder’s expression darkened.
"If this goes on, the entire talisman market of Canglan City will be devoured by the Treasure Pavilion!"
"This makes no sense. They’ve probably sold nearly ten thousand talismans by now. How could they possibly have prepared such a huge stockpile in advance?"
Myriad Phenomena Pavilion’s talisman master, Master Zhuo, was baffled.
In his estimation, the Treasure Pavilion would be doing well to have prepared one or two thousand talismans ahead of time.
But now they had sold nearly ten thousand—and still showed no signs of running out.
To him, this was simply impossible.
After all, over ten thousand talismans—even if all of them were only Foundation Establishment-level—would require an astronomical amount of time to produce.
Even for a talisman master like himself, it would take decades, even centuries, to craft so many.
And what kind of talisman master would be willing to waste decades or centuries refining low-grade talismans that would only degrade their reputation?
Only a true madman would do such a thing.
As if talisman masters didn’t need to cultivate themselves!
Moreover, that Pavilion Master of the Treasure Pavilion didn’t strike him as someone capable of laying low and scheming for years.
If she had possessed such a trump card, she would’ve played it long ago.
So no matter how hard Master Zhuo thought about it, he simply couldn’t make sense of the situation.
The red-faced elder was equally puzzled, but he knew one thing—they couldn’t just sit around and do nothing.
The Treasure Pavilion’s influence was growing stronger by the day, all thanks to their new talismans.
There were even signs that their reputation was beginning to spread to other major cities.
Some of their people had already noticed that cultivators from other cities were traveling vast distances to Canglan City just to buy the new talismans.
If things continued like this, their Myriad Phenomena Pavilion would be completely trampled under the Treasure Pavilion's rise.
"Steward Shen, have you still not discovered the origins of the Treasure Pavilion’s talisman master?" the red-faced elder asked.
"We’ve found that the talisman master likely arrived in Canglan City not long ago, having used a teleportation array to enter from the outside world.
But this person is extremely low-profile. Since joining the Treasure Pavilion, they’ve been almost completely secluded, staying in their own cultivation cave the entire time.
Our spies have never even gotten close before being detected and thrown out by the Treasure Pavilion’s people," the pale-faced middle-aged man, Steward Shen, ed.
"Arrived not long ago? Then how did the Treasure Pavilion suddenly manage to produce so many talismans and dominate the market?" the red-faced elder exclaimed in shock.
"I don’t know, but I did spend a great sum to obtain one piece of information from inside the Treasure Pavilion.
They say that the talismans currently being sold are freshly refined each day by that mysterious talisman master, right from within their cave.
That’s supposedly how they’ve managed to maintain a continuous supply."
Steward Shen’s answer immediately caused Master Zhuo to blurt out,
"Impossible! The Treasure Pavilion sells at least several hundred talismans a day.
Even for a talisman master, producing that many in a single day is unthinkable. This must be false information put out by the Treasure Pavilion!"
The red-faced elder agreed—it was too implausible.
Though he didn’t specialize in talisman crafting, his cultivation level gave him enough insight.
Crafting hundreds of talismans per day, some even at the Golden Core level?
Even a high and mighty talisman grandmaster, mysterious and unfathomable, might not be capable of such a feat.
"I too find it unbelievable," Steward Shen said. "But aside from that, the Treasure Pavilion hasn’t leaked any other information. We simply haven’t been able to uncover the truth."
When he had first gotten this news, his instinctive reaction was that it couldn’t be true.
That’s why he hadn’t ed it immediately to the Deputy Pavilion Master—he had planned to investigate further first.
And now, as expected, the Deputy Pavilion Master and the others also found the story absurd.
"Regardless, this matter is undoubtedly tied to that mysterious talisman master," the red-faced elder said. "If we could capture him, perhaps the Treasure Pavilion’s entire offensive would collapse on its own."
"But Deputy Pavilion Master," Steward Shen said cautiously, "according to the information we’ve gathered, that person has remained completely reclusive within the Treasure Pavilion.
Aside from their own cave, they never go out, nor do they interact with anyone.
To apprehend them, we’d have to storm the Treasure Pavilion itself.
And if we did that, I’m afraid the City Lord wouldn’t sit idly by."
The red-faced elder's proposal was difficult to execute.
To seize someone directly—not only would they have to bypass the powerful formations protecting the Treasure Pavilion, which even a Nascent Soul cultivator might struggle to break through quickly—but such a blatant breach of protocol between merchant guilds would never be tolerated without solid justification.
The authorities of Canglan City would certainly intervene.
What’s more, there were long-standing rumors that the Pavilion Master of the Treasure Pavilion had ties to a certain influential figure from the Tianyuan Great World.
If they stuck to regular business competition, that was one thing.
But if they overstepped, they might incur the wrath of that major figure.
And if that happened, it wouldn’t just be Myriad Phenomena Pavilion that suffered—perhaps even the entire Canglan City couldn’t bear the consequences.
"So this won’t work, and that won’t either. Are we just supposed to sit here and watch that woman monopolize the talisman market and step all over our Myriad Phenomena Pavilion?" the red-faced elder fumed.
Steward Shen dared not speak further.
Deputy Pavilion Master Hong had a notoriously bad temper—one wrong word, and he’d likely be punished.
Fortunately, while hot-tempered, the red-faced elder wasn’t irrational.
After venting his anger for a while, he began to calm down.
"It’s a pity that Big Brother recently entered seclusion after sensing something. If he were here, given his relationship with the City Lord, he might have found a way to suppress the Treasure Pavilion."
The red-faced elder sighed in frustration.
He really wasn’t suited for handling all the mundane affairs of Myriad Phenomena Pavilion.
These twists and turns were far too bothersome.
If only his older brother were here—he’d surely have a way to break through the impasse.
Steward Shen and Master Zhuo remained silent.
They too agreed with that sentiment.
If the Pavilion Master were present, they wouldn’t be in this difficult position.
Just then, Steward Shen’s expression suddenly changed.
He reached into his robes and pulled out a jade communication talisman.
After scanning the message within, a look of joy spread across his face.
"Deputy Pavilion Master, perhaps we don’t need to worry so much after all."
"Oh? What do you mean?"
"Because someone else is even more anxious than we are. Tianji Workshop has finally lost its patience."

.
!
Chapter 531