Chapter 588

Chapter 588

I Can See Through Everything

“Fellow Daoist Chen!”

Seeing Lu Qing swallow ten strands of bloodline in one go, Daoist Wubao’s eyes bulged in shock.

He had just personally experienced the baleful aura contained within that strange bloodline—the way it tried to infiltrate and erode the divine soul was genuinely terrifying.

And even when refining just one strand at a time, he had nearly failed to endure it.

Yet Lu Qing had swallowed ten at once. He simply couldn’t imagine how overwhelming the baleful aura's impact must be.

But Daoist Wubao didn’t dare speak another word, fearing he might disturb Lu Qing’s refinement.

Xiaoli, however, wasn’t worried in the slightest.

It knew Ah Qing never did anything he wasn’t confident in.

And refining ten strands of bloodline at once? Even it could barely manage that.

Ah Qing was far stronger than it was, so there was no way he’d have any problems.

Sure enough, just as Xiaoli expected, after swallowing the ten strands, Lu Qing’s expression remained calm and steady, without a trace of discomfort.

About a quarter of an hour later, Lu Qing opened his eyes, a trace of regret in them.

“As expected, the Witch Bloodline Essence refined from Foundation Establishment-grade Blackscale Venomrats has its limits.”

After absorbing ten strands of True Blood, Lu Qing, like Xiaoli, felt that the effects of these bloodlines on him had all but vanished.

In truth, to be more precise, after absorbing six or seven strands, Lu Qing had already sensed that the Foundation Establishment-grade True Blood was no longer effective for him.

The remaining strands were essentially wasted.

“These ten strands probably increased my physical strength by about one-thousandth.”

Still, Lu Qing was somewhat satisfied.

Refining and absorbing these strands had enhanced his physical strength by roughly one-thousandth.

That might sound like a tiny increase, but given the terrifying strength of his current body, it was quite a feat.

Even late-stage Golden Core body cultivators might not match his physical resilience.

Yet just a bit of True Blood extracted from Foundation Establishment-grade Blackscale Venomrats could still boost his already terrifying body by a further one-thousandth.

Honestly, that was already an incredible result.

After all, even Golden Core-level pills specifically for tempering the body were now ineffective for him.

They were far less effective than his own Perfect Golden Core, which provided much better nourishment to the body.

“I wonder if there are any Golden Core-grade Blackscale Venomrats in this forest.” The thought flashed through Lu Qing’s mind.

The Witch Bloodline Essence from Foundation Establishment-grade Blackscale Venomrats was already useless to him.

But if it came from Golden Core-grade ones, perhaps it would make a difference.

“Fellow Daoist Chen, are you alright?”

As Lu Qing was pondering, Daoist Wubao asked, a trace of nervousness in his eyes.

Seeing Lu Qing silent after waking up, he feared something had gone wrong.

“No worries. Thank you for your concern, Daoist,” Lu Qing returned to his senses with a smile. “Alright, let’s continue clearing out the forest.”

“You already refined all that bloodline?” Daoist Wubao asked in astonishment.

“Yes, more or less,” Lu Qing nodded. “Though the bloodline is quite strange, it still has its limits. After refining those earlier strands, the rest won’t be of much use to me.”

Daoist Wubao was stunned.

It wasn’t until Lu Qing had finished collecting the jade talismans on the ground that he finally came back to his senses.

The way he looked at Lu Qing now carried a touch of reverence.

Though Lu Qing hadn’t said much, the clues were obvious enough—Lu Qing’s strength might be far beyond what he had imagined!

In the time that followed, Lu Qing continued sweeping through the forest with Daoist Wubao.

Though the Witch Bloodline Essence in the Foundation Establishment-grade Blackscale Venomrats was now nearly ineffective for both Lu Qing and Xiaoli, it was still a rare treasure.

He wanted to gather as much as possible—whether to give to Xiaoyan or his master, or to auction off for Spirit Stones and treasures, it would all be extremely worthwhile.

Boom!

Another tremor echoed as Lu Qing captured a Blackscale Venomrats, killed it, and stored it away.

“Took us quite a while to find another one. Seems like we’ve nearly caught all the black beasts in this forest.”

Lu Qing looked around.

This was now the third day since they’d begun refining the True Blood.

Over the past few days, they had swept through almost the entire forest.

As their sweep progressed, the Blackscale Venomrats had become increasingly hard to find.

That last one had taken them almost half an hour to track down.

“Indeed, I think we’ve nearly searched the entire forest,” Daoist Wubao agreed with a nod.

Lu Qing pondered for a moment, then said, “In that case, let’s prepare to leave. We’ve captured enough black beasts—no need to waste time on the stragglers.”

Over these past few days, Xiaoli had found over a hundred Blackscale Venomrats.

That number was more than enough for Lu Qing’s purposes.

“Agreed. It’s always good to leave room for future growth—wiping out all the black beasts in this forest wouldn’t be wise anyway.”

Daoist Wubao was of the same mind.

Besides, he now knew from Lu Qing that the strange bloodline had diminishing returns on physical enhancement.

And they had already caught more than enough black beasts in the past few days.

“Let’s set out now, then.”

With the decision made, the two immediately transformed into streams of light and flew southeast.

As they left, Lu Qing glanced back and sighed inwardly.

He had originally thought that such a vast forest would surely harbor Golden Core-grade Blackscale Venomrats.

But after sweeping nearly the entire region, he had found no sign of them.

It seemed that some kind of rule or restriction was suppressing the rats’ advancement in this forest.

The two of them continued flying southeast.

This time, since the forest had already been cleared, their journey was completely peaceful. They encountered no further attacks all the way out.

“We’re finally out.”

As they emerged from the forest, both of them felt a wave of relief.

Though the forest had posed no real threat, being surrounded by the same monotonous scenery for days was still mentally taxing.

What greeted them outside was a vast expanse of grassland.

And in the far distance, the faint outline of mountains could be seen.

“This secret realm really is enormous.”

Lu Qing couldn’t help but marvel.

The forest alone was already as large as several provinces in his home world.

And this grassland was just as vast.

Most shocking of all, even now, they still hadn’t encountered another cultivator.

Yet there were tens of thousands of cultivators from Tianxu City who had entered the secret realm a day before them.

They had been here for days—without meeting a single one.

There was only one explanation.

This secret realm was unimaginably vast.

So vast that even with tens of thousands of cultivators inside, it was like dropping water into the ocean—completely unnoticeable.

“Daoist, where should we go next? Can you divine where the others in the secret realm might be?” Lu Qing asked.

“I’ll give it a try.”

Daoist Wubao once again took out his black tortoise shell and began divining.

“According to the hexagram, if we continue heading southeast, we should encounter others.”

Over a dozen breaths later, Daoist Wubao examined the hexagram on the ground and spoke.

“Still southeast? Could it be those distant mountains?”

Lu Qing gazed toward the shadowy silhouette of the distant mountain range.

“In that case, once you’ve finished recuperating, Daoist, we’ll continue onward.”

Daoist Wubao didn’t object. It had already been quite some time since his last rest, and his spiritual power had been depleted by more than half.

No one knew what dangers might lurk in the grasslands ahead. Maintaining peak condition was the best choice.

He immediately retrieved a mid-grade Spirit Stone and began drawing out its spiritual essence to restore himself.

Lu Qing stood guard beside him.

At that moment, a strange thought surfaced in Lu Qing’s mind.

Since entering the secret realm, due to the extremely thin spiritual energy in the area, they had to periodically draw spiritual essence from Spirit Stones to replenish their power.

In just these few days, they had already consumed several mid-grade Spirit Stones.

For him, such a cost was nothing.

But for many other cultivators who had entered the secret realm, it might be a different story.

Especially since many had spent heavily on treasures and pills before entering, hoping to boost their strength—Spirit Stones would have already been stretched thin.

Who could have foreseen that this secret realm would be so unusual, with such scarce spiritual energy?

Once one’s power was depleted, there was no way to replenish it from the environment.

Under such circumstances, the importance of Spirit Stones would skyrocket.

Those who hadn’t brought enough Spirit Stones might soon find themselves in a dire situation.

In fact, it could even lead to conflict.

“Fellow Daoist Chen, I’m ready.”

While Lu Qing was lost in thought, Daoist Wubao had finished his meditation and returned to peak condition.

“Let’s go, then.”

The two transformed into streams of light again, flying toward the shadowy mountains.

Along the way, they discovered that the grasslands weren’t entirely lifeless.

There were many creatures living within.

However, none were particularly powerful—the strongest barely reached the Foundation Establishment stage.

And without exception, all these creatures had powerful physical bodies but lacked any spiritual energy within.

“As expected, these creatures also contain the Witch Bloodline Essence.”

Hovering midair, Lu Qing held a rabbit-like creature in his hand, reading the informational overlay in his vision as he mused silently.

He had just caught it from the grasslands below.

Upon using his ability, he discovered that this one, too, contained the Witch Bloodline Essence.

But this rabbit was only at the Qi Refining stage. The True Blood within it was extremely weak—completely useless to him.

“Fellow Daoist Chen, what did you find?” Daoist Wubao asked.

He already knew that Lu Qing had a technique that allowed him to investigate the bloodlines of these strange beasts.

“Our guess was right. The creatures on the grasslands also possess that strange bloodline. It seems to be a defining feature of this secret realm.

“But the bloodline is too weak to be of use to us. No need to waste time on them.”

Lu Qing casually tossed the rabbit into the Li Fire Cauldron.

Though its bloodline was useless, rabbits were still good for roasting and eating.

He was curious what a spiritual rabbit from the secret realm would taste like.

With that minor interlude behind them, the two continued their journey.

Along the way, Daoist Wubao had to meditate several more times.

At last, by evening, they reached the edge of the grassland and could clearly see the outline of the mountains.

Indeed, this secret realm had both day and night, no different from the outside world.

“Daoist, we’re about to enter the mountains. Would you like to rest one more time?” Lu Qing asked when they were still dozens of li away.

“That would be wise,” Daoist Wubao nodded.

Although his spiritual power wasn’t heavily depleted, dense forests and deep mountains often meant unpredictable danger.

He didn’t want to run into trouble and find himself low on power.

Thinking this, Daoist Wubao glanced at Lu Qing with a look of awe.

Ever since they had entered the secret realm, they had been traveling together, yet he had never once seen Lu Qing need to rest.

Only after asking did he learn that Lu Qing’s cultivation technique was special—he could draw spiritual essence from Spirit Stones at any time, without the need to pause.

Daoist Wubao knew exactly what that meant.

It signified that Lu Qing had reached a level of perfect control over his power, and could absorb external spiritual energy with terrifying efficiency.

Even in the secret realm’s extreme environment, where power consumption was ten times greater, Lu Qing could restore himself at will.

In other words, as long as he had enough Spirit Stones, he would never run out of spiritual power.

The two landed. As usual, Lu Qing stood guard while Daoist Wubao meditated.

This time, with no other tasks to handle, Lu Qing didn’t set up a formation.

He simply focused intently on monitoring the surroundings.

And during this quiet watch, his expression suddenly shifted as he looked toward the mountains ahead.

At that exact moment, Xiaoli’s voice echoed in his mind.

“Ah Qing, someone’s coming this way.”

“Yes, I feel it too.”

Lu Qing gave a soft reply, then flicked his fingers and sent several jade talismans to surround Daoist Wubao, shielding him.

Then his body rose into the air, eyes fixed on the direction of the incoming aura.

What he saw were more than ten figures, roughly ten li away, heading in their direction—divided into two groups: three or four in the front fleeing, seven or eight chasing behind.

Strangely, all of them were running on foot instead of flying.

“You still want to run? Stop right there and hand over your Spirit Stones, or you’ll die!”

While Lu Qing watched, a burly man among the pursuers shouted a threat.

“In your dreams! If you want our Spirit Stones, catch us first!”

A voice shouted back coldly from the front.

Rather than slowing down, the fleeing figure picked up speed.

“Refuse a toast, then drink punishment!”

Seeing they wouldn’t surrender, the burly man no longer held back.

He suddenly summoned a long-blade artifact, which turned into a streak of light and shot forward!