I Can See Through Everything - Chapter 448

Chapter 448: Hanshui Palace, Challenge

“This vast state seems to be the area where the Hanshui Palace is located, the Northern State?”

Lu Qing sensed the laws of the heavens and earth around him, and a thought suddenly struck him.

He had once received a map from Lin Zhirui that marked the various powers of the world.

This map also included the states home to the four great secret places that had gradually reappeared before the public’s eyes over the past two years.

However, Lu Qing had been traveling with Xiaoyan on this trip on a whim, not paying much attention to their destination.

Now, sensing the strangeness of this place, he realized they had arrived in the state home to the Hanshui Palace, one of the four great secret places.

Rumor has it that most of the Hanshui Palace’s disciples practice icy-attributed techniques.

He hadn’t expected the state they occupied to be so peculiar.

Of course, Lu Qing only sighed in admiration, without any further thoughts.

He hadn’t intended to interact with anyone from the three great secret places this time.

After all, he knew that since he had destroyed Xuankong Mountain, the attitudes of the remaining three secret places towards him were likely to be complicated.

After all, the four secret places weren’t always on good terms, and some even had grudges against each other.

For example, Qingyang Temple and Xuankong Mountain had always disliked each other.

But Lu Qing had completely destroyed Xuankong Mountain, even the secret realm itself.

This was truly terrifying for the other secret places.

They couldn’t imagine how Lu Qing had accomplished this.

Lu Qing therefore suspected that if he were to appear before any of the other secret places, countless people would be on edge.

So, why bother inviting dislike?

Since Xiaoyan liked the place, Lu Qing decided to stay a while longer.

He immediately took Xiaoyan and the others on a tour.

A few days later, they arrived at a massive city.

“Hanshui City?”

Lu Qing whispered, observing the massive ancient characters on the city gate.

According to Lin Zhirui’s information, Hanshui City was also an ancient city with a very long history.

However, it was now controlled by the Hanshui Palace.

“How beautiful!”

Xiaoyan exclaimed, looking up at the massive city before her.

She was wearing a beautiful fur coat, looking adorable and icy.

Even Lu Qing wore a robe.

Although his cultivation had already reached a state where he was immune to cold and heat, and even icebergs and magma could hardly hurt him in the slightest,

he and Xiaoyan still followed the local customs and wore thick clothes during their trip.

As for Xiaoli, who disliked the cold, he had already snuggled into Lu Qing’s arms and fell asleep.

Even the Five Elements had become as thick as a thumb, curled up into a ball, and hid in Xiaoyan’s hood.

Hearing Xiaoyan’s exclamation, Lu Qing smiled.

Yes, this city is indeed beautiful.

Because of the cold, all kinds of ice sculptures are carved on the city gates and walls.

All of them are lifelike and vivid.

This makes the entire city wall look both exquisite and majestic.

After admiring for a while, Lu Qing took Xiaoyan into the city.

Entering Hanshui City, the scenery inside was even more pleasing to the eye.

There were exquisite and beautiful ice sculptures everywhere. The entire Hanshui City was like a huge work of art.

“This city is blessed with the power of an ancient formation, but the people of Hanshui Palace don’t seem to know how to utilize it?”

Lu Qing walked around the city with Xiaoyan, his mind reflecting on the city’s twinkling lights.

With the inheritance of the Divine Talisman Sect, Lu Qing’s mastery of formations was quite profound.

He sensed that this ancient city, like the Holy City of Zhongzhou, must have been built with formations in mind.

Now, with the resurgence of heaven and earth, the ancient formation, dormant for tens of thousands of years, was faintly awakening.

But what puzzled him was

that the formation within the city seemed to operate independently, without any human control, failing to regulate and utilize its power.

As a result, the spiritual energy within the city was not much richer than outside.

The efficiency of utilizing the formation’s power was far inferior to the formation he had set up in Jiuli Village.

Furthermore, the pedestrians on the street gave him a strange feeling.

Many were hurried, their faces tense.

More importantly, he could sense it in his spiritual senses.

Throughout Hanshui City, there were many powerful auras.

There were many Xiantian Realm warriors, and even some in the Foundation Establishment Realm.

This puzzled him.

Although the world had changed and the spiritual energy had revived over the past two or three years, many warriors in the world had achieved breakthroughs.

Xiantian Realm warriors were not as rare as they used to be.

But the number of warriors in Hanshui City was

indeed quite a bit more. It was even more than what he had seen in the Xuankong Mountain Secret Realm.

Was the Hanshui Palace’s heritage so profound?

“Or is something big going to happen in Hanshui City?”

Lu Qing was puzzled. After showing Xiaoyan around for a while, they found a quite busy restaurant, asked for a private room, ordered some local specialties, and sat down.

While Xiaoyan and the others ate happily, Lu Qing listened to the conversations of the other guests in the restaurant.

The reason why he chose this restaurant was because he sensed that there were many powerful auras here.

There were also some Xiantian realm cultivators eating and drinking there.

Sure enough, after listening for a while, he got the information he wanted.

“Do you think that villain will really come today?”

In a private room next door, there was a table of guests chatting.

One of them, a big man with a strong aura and who looked like he had the Xiantian realm cultivation, suddenly said.

“Be careful with your words, what villain? That’s the leader of the Changhen Sect! It is said that he has now passed the thunder tribulation and achieved the realm of the Supreme Golden Core.

If he hears you speak rudely, he will kill you at will, and no one will dare to say anything!”

The big man was warned by his companions at the same table just as he opened his mouth.

The big man paused, he hesitated for a moment, and finally did not dare to do it again.

Instead, he addressed her with a respectful address: “Will the Changhen Sect’s leader really come today?”

“He’s already publicly challenged Hanshui Palace. If he doesn’t come, won’t he be ridiculed by the world?”

“Yes, that day he came flying through the air, soaring above Hanshui Palace, issuing the challenge. What a proud and confident person he was.

If he doesn’t come today, it would be quite surprising.”

“So, what do you think? If the Changhen Sect’s leader comes, will the Palace Master accept the challenge?” the burly man continued.

“That’s hard to say. I heard that the Changhen Sect’s leader survived a thunderstorm on Changhen Mountain a month ago, achieving the supreme and miraculous realm of Jindan Zhenren, possessing unfathomable supernatural powers.

You saw him that day, riding the wind.

His terrifying power could have suppressed an entire city.

Although the Palace Master is powerful, he may not be able to withstand it,”

the burly man’s companion analyzed.

His aura was equally strong, revealing a cultivation level of the minor success in the innate realm.

Upon hearing their companion’s words, the guests at that table fell silent.

They recalled the terrifying aura emanated by the Changhen Sect’s leader when he arrived to challenge them.

Being in the innate realm, they felt only a tremor in their hearts, with almost no other thoughts besides fear.

After a while, someone asked in confusion, “Don’t you find it strange? The Changhen Sect is, at best, just a small sect.

How could their leader be so powerful? The world has only been revived for a short time. He

has already survived the thunder tribulation and achieved the realm of Jindan Zhenren!

Even the Saint Masters of the Holy Mountain only survived the thunder tribulation a little over a year ago, right?”

“Who knows? Perhaps the Changhen Sect’s leader obtained some treasure, but has been hiding it, biding his time.

Only after the world revived did he find the opportunity to refine the treasure and soar into the sky,” someone speculated.

“Hearing you say that, it seems like I’ve indeed heard rumors these past few days.

It’s said that over two years ago, when the third Heavenly Dao Sound rang out, streams of light flew out of Zhongzhou and flew to all the other states.

One of these streams landed right in the Changhen Mountains.

However, many people went looking for it at the time, but found nothing.

Do you think the leader of the Changhen Sect got that light?”

“Who could know about such a thing? Do you dare to ask the leader of the Changhen Sect?”

The others paused, then shook their heads. You’re

kidding! Who would dare to ask a Jindan Zhenren about his treasure? That would be like hanging himself, saying he was too tired to live.

After passing over this incident, someone else asked, “But what grudge does the Changhen Sect’s leader have against the Hanshui Palace that he’s so high-profile as to issue a surprise challenge?

Could it be, as he claims, that the Hanshui Palace murdered his wife and took his son?

That’s impossible. The Four Secret Grounds are so powerful! If they truly harbored such a deep grudge, how could the Changhen Sect have survived to this day?”

“It’s hard to say. The Changhen Sect’s leader is now a Jindan True Immortal, so he wouldn’t lie.

And the Hanshui Palace didn’t refute the claim at the time, seemingly acquiescing.”

“If that’s true, Hanshui City is going to be in turmoil today.

One of the Four Secret Grounds is being challenged in front of the entire world

. If they lose this battle, the legend of the Four Secret Grounds will be shattered.”

Someone gloated, clearly someone who enjoyed the excitement.

“A Jindan Realm expert is challenging the Hanshui Palace?”

Lu Qing listened to the conversation at the table and finally understood why so many powerful individuals had gathered in the city.

It turned out that a powerful Jindan realm expert was planning to publicly challenge the Hanshui Palace today.

Most of these experts were probably there to watch the excitement.

After all, for tens of thousands of years, the Four Secret Lands had held an unparalleled status throughout the world.

Now that someone dared to challenge them, it naturally attracted the attention of many powerful individuals.

It was only because he had been traveling with Xiaoyan recently that he had been unaware of this.

“However, the leader of a small sect has reached the Jindan realm in such a short time.

Even if he has obtained the Origin Qi, isn’t it a bit too incredible?”

Lu Qing felt a sense of wonder.

He naturally knew what the guests had mentioned about the opportunity flow.

It must be the Origin Qi that appeared in Zhongzhou when the third Heavenly Dao Sound was heard.

Although most of that Origin Qi was intercepted by the powerful individuals who stayed in the Holy City at that time,

a small amount still flew out of Zhongzhou, scattered in the outer states, and was obtained by other beings.

Even with the acquisition of Origin Qi, achieving the Golden Core Realm in such a short time was still highly unusual.

After all, before the transformations of heaven and earth and the resurgence of spiritual energy,

beyond the Four Great Secret Sites, there were also unique locations like the Holy Mountain.

Other places could only cultivate to the Perfection of the Innate Realm.

Otherwise, Senior Li Weitian wouldn’t have risked his life to break through the barriers, ultimately dying in sorrow. In other words, logically speaking, the Changhen Sect’s leader had   cultivated from the Innate Realm to the Golden Core Realm

in just two or three years.   This speed of cultivation was simply astonishing .   Master, you know, had also refined Origin Qi, but despite his cultivation talent, he was still only at Perfection of the Foundation Establishment Realm.   Though only one step away from the Golden Core Realm, he had yet to sense the opportunity for a breakthrough.   Suddenly, Lu Qing became very interested in the Changhen Sect’s leader.   Curious, Lu Qing began to eat and drink.   The food in Hanshui City was quite good,   especially the barbecue, which was truly exceptional.   The meat slices, cut into large and thin slices and marinated, sizzled when lightly grilled.   Dipped in the restaurant’s special dry seasoning, the aroma filled the air with delicious flavor.   Not only did Xiaoyan’s mouth become greasy, but even Xiaoli, who always loved fish, ate quite a bit.   As for Wuxing, it was even more exaggerated, swallowing the meat piece by piece.   This forced Lu Qing to ask the restaurant to continuously supply meat so that they could eat enough.   Fortunately, he requested a private room, otherwise, Xiaoli and Wuxing’s eating habits would have attracted a lot of attention.

After all, while many people in the world enjoy raising rare and exotic animals, many nobles in the city enjoy traveling with all sorts of exotic pets.

But such a spiritually gifted pet is still extremely rare.

While eating and drinking, Lu Qing continued to listen to the conversation next door.

From this, he learned a lot of details about the challenge.

For example, the leader of the Changhen Sect had issued a declaration of war seven days ago.

The official day of the challenge was today.

Precisely because of the short timeframe, the powerful individuals gathered in the city were from the nearby states.

Even if experts from further afield received the news, it would be difficult for them to arrive.

Otherwise, the number of powerful individuals in the city would be several times greater.

Another thing is that the leader of the Changhen Sect, in his early years before he founded the sect, did have a wife. It was said that she was stunningly beautiful, comparable to the beauties on the so-called beauty list.

But since some point, the leader’s wife has disappeared.

It’s said that she died in childbirth, and neither mother nor child survived.

The poor leader of the Changhen Sect had his hair turned white overnight.

After more than ten years of silence, he founded the Changhen Sect, and decades have passed since then.

But now it seems that there was another hidden story behind the death of his wife and children.

Lu Qing ate and drank while listening to the gossip of the people next door, and he was quite content.

The main thing was that the people next door didn’t seem to have any intention of hiding anything. If they spoke loudly, I’m afraid that people outside the restaurant could hear them. Even if he didn’t know how to use his strength, he could still hear them clearly.

Just as Lu Qing was eating and drinking, his expression suddenly changed.

The next moment, a loud voice resounded throughout the city:

“Bitch, I’m here, are you ready to die?”

(End of this chapter)