Chapter 638

Chapter 638

I Can See Through Everything

While immersed in the Great Dao Chapter, Lu Qing was suddenly roused by a faint fluctuation in the aura of heaven and earth.

The change wasn’t overwhelming, but it was strikingly clear.

Even the protective array of the Golden Core-level cultivation chamber within the inn couldn’t fully shield it.

Over the past year, Lu Qing had roamed the world with Xiao Li, witnessing marvelous sceneries and attuning himself to the rhythms of heaven and earth. His sensitivity to such fluctuations had grown exceptionally acute.

So, he immediately snapped out of his cultivation state.

“This fluctuation... spatial turbulence? Has the Ice Soul Valley begun to emerge?”

Lu Qing reacted at once.

“Ah Qing!”

Perched on his shoulder, Xiao Li, with its innate spatial abilities, was even more attuned to the fluctuation and instantly alerted him.

“Mm, let’s go have a look.”

With Xiao Li in tow, Lu Qing exited the cultivation chamber.

To his surprise, the inn was deserted. Everyone in Earthfire City seemed to be rushing out of town.

“Ah, you’re finally out, sir! The Ice Soul Valley is about to emerge! All the cultivators in the city are heading there!”

A clerk from the back hall emerged and explained upon seeing Lu Qing.

“You’re not going, little brother?” Lu Qing asked.

“I wouldn’t dare,” the clerk laughed. “When the Ice Soul Valley appears, for a hundred miles around, a fierce blizzard known as the Snowstorm’s Astral Winds sweeps through. Even the outermost layer is deadly to Foundation Establishment cultivators. I’m just a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator—I'd be frozen solid before I even got close. I’d just be throwing my life away.”

“I see. Sounds like you know quite a bit about the Ice Soul Valley, then?”

Lu Qing grew interested and didn’t hurry to leave, choosing instead to ask more.

“Not really. Just bits and pieces I’ve heard since I was a kid,” the clerk said with a bashful smile.

Clearly, he had grown up in Earthfire City.

“Then tell me, little brother, what are the most precious treasures produced in the Ice Soul Valley?”

“The most precious, huh?” The clerk thought for a moment. “I do know a little. The elders in the city often say there are six kinds of treasures in the Ice Soul Valley considered the rarest: one fire, two jades, and three spirit herbs.”

“The ‘one fire’ refers to the Coldflame Icefire. It’s a very peculiar kind of strange fire. Though it’s flame, it’s not hot—it’s freezing cold and can freeze anything in its path. Terrifying stuff.

“But if a cultivator with an affinity for ice or water can refine it into their life-bound spiritual flame, they’ll receive enormous benefits.

“It can reshape the body, improve innate talent, and drastically accelerate cultivation. Even in combat, it becomes a formidable divine technique.

“But the Coldflame Icefire is extremely rare. The Ice Soul Valley appears once every fifty years, and in the past ten thousand years, the fire has only appeared three times. The last time was three thousand years ago. It’s considered the rarest and most prized treasure of the valley.”

“As for the ‘two jades,’ they are Cold Marrow Jade and Ice Soul Jade. Both contain profound ice-related laws, filled with spiritual essence, and have the effects of calming the mind and suppressing inner demons—true wondrous treasures.”

“Then there are the ‘three spirit herbs’: Snow Soul Ginseng, Ice Bloom Flower, and Nine-Leaf Ice Lotus. All three are top-grade spirit herbs and extremely valuable.”

“These six treasures were identified by countless cultivators over many cycles of the Ice Soul Valley’s appearance. If any of them emerge, even Nascent Soul cultivators would be moved.”

“But they don’t appear every time the valley emerges. It all depends on fate.”

“Six treasures, huh…” Listening to the clerk’s detailed explanation, Lu Qing now had a clear idea of the Ice Soul Valley’s most prized offerings.

“Thank you, little brother. Here, these spirit stones are for you.”

Lu Qing casually tossed him a few low-grade spirit stones. The clerk blinked, then caught them quickly.

Upon seeing what they were, his face lit up with joy. “Thank you, sir!”

He hadn’t misjudged this guest—truly generous! Just a few spirit stones nearly equaled his monthly wage.

Lu Qing left the inn and headed out of the city with Xiao Li.

There was no need to ask directions. The fluctuation in the aura of heaven and earth had become increasingly intense. All he needed to do was follow its pull.

Once out of Earthfire City, Lu Qing transformed into a streak of light and flew east.

On this journey, the aura he emanated suggested he was now at the mid-stage of the Golden Core Realm.

At this level, the Snowstorm’s Astral Winds of the Frost Continent was still formidable, but flight posed no problem.

Soon, Lu Qing arrived a hundred miles east of the city and immediately sensed a sharp increase in the intensity of the Snowstorm’s Astral Winds.

Even a Foundation Establishment cultivator, if caught in it, would have their body frozen and their essence drained.

No wonder the clerk wasn’t tempted by the promise of fortune—this gale wasn’t something a Qi Refining cultivator could survive.

Just brushing against it might turn one into an ice statue, shattered to pieces.

Naturally, such winds were meaningless to Lu Qing.

With a flicker of his mind, a surge of sword intent radiated from within, warding off all the icy winds.

He accelerated, plunging straight into the storm.

After some time, he suddenly sensed a brightness ahead. The wind and snow parted.

But what caught his attention was not the clearing itself, but what lay beyond.

In the sky up ahead, a colossal illusory valley of ice and snow floated in midair, flickering in and out of reality, on the verge of full manifestation.

Dozens of miles in front of it, numerous powerful figures hovered in the sky, waiting silently for the valley to fully emerge.

“This Ice Soul Valley… it’s manifesting from the void? Not a physical valley on the ground?”

Lu Qing was truly stunned.

At last, he understood why this valley, which appeared every fifty years, hadn’t been claimed by any major power.

It wasn’t of the physical world at all. It lay hidden in the void above.

And judging by the spatial fluctuations it now emitted, no force could hope to seal or control such a phenomenon.

Lu Qing gradually slowed down and found a spot on the edge of the gathering, about several dozen miles from the valley illusion.

Naturally, his arrival didn’t go unnoticed.

Several nearby cultivators felt the sharp sword intent emanating from him and instantly grew cautious.

Sword cultivators were renowned for their combat prowess. A mid-stage Golden Core cultivator with such pure sword intent could contend with late-stage Golden Core experts.

Except for the three Nascent Soul cultivators floating in the foremost positions, all the other Golden Core cultivators now treated Lu Qing as a formidable competitor.

Lu Qing paid them no mind.

With a simple scan, he had already assessed everyone’s cultivation.

Besides the three Nascent Soul experts up front, the rest were all Golden Core cultivators.

This puzzled him somewhat.

According to the clerk, the treasures of the Ice Soul Valley were so extraordinary that more Nascent Soul cultivators should be here.

Why were there only three?

What Lu Qing didn’t know was that while the valley appeared every fifty years and did release treasures each time, the six supreme treasures mentioned earlier were so rare they might only appear once in dozens of cycles.

Such low odds diminished their allure for Nascent Soul cultivators.

Three had shown up this time—that was already a lot.

There had even been cycles where no Nascent Soul cultivators came, only Golden Core ones.

Lu Qing glanced at the Nascent Soul experts a bit longer but didn’t dwell on it.

At his current level, early-stage Nascent Soul cultivators and Golden Core experts alike could no longer threaten him.

He focused his attention on the illusory valley still floating in the void.

Over the past year, as he traveled with Xiao Li and immersed himself in the rhythms of the world, Lu Qing had gained profound insights.

But never had he encountered such an intense fluctuation in heaven and earth’s aura. Even his divine soul stirred in resonance.

He had a strong feeling: if he could thoroughly comprehend this phenomenon, he would reap tremendous benefits.

Without hesitation, Lu Qing summoned a cloud of auspicious qi, sat cross-legged upon it, and began to meditate.

His actions drew more glances from the surrounding cultivators.

But seeing that he only sat to observe the spatial fluctuations, they quickly lost interest.

Some even chuckled inwardly.

Every time the Ice Soul Valley appeared, there were always first-timers who thought they could gain some enlightenment from the spatial upheaval.

But comprehending the changes in heaven and earth? Not even Nascent Soul experts could easily manage that.

And this one was just a mid-stage Golden Core—how laughable.

Yet none of them knew that Lu Qing’s heart was filled with delight.

“So that’s how it is. Manifesting from void to substance—this transition of heaven and earth’s aura…”

As Lu Qing immersed himself in the shifting energies around him, wave upon wave of realization surged through his mind.

At the same time, deep within his brow acupoint, the Soul Talisman hidden inside the Earth Spirit Pearl began to tremble, as if resonating with his insights.

Lu Qing’s Soul Talisman was a legacy of the Divine Rune Sect, an ancient and mysterious sect from his homeworld.

Their rune-path teachings were incredibly profound, especially their belief in learning from the myriad phenomena of nature—an enlightened concept far ahead of its time.

Even with his current cultivation, Lu Qing still believed it was a path that could lead to the heavens.

He had never neglected his studies in this path.

Especially in the past year, roaming the lands and observing heaven and earth, he had essentially been cultivating the Path of Runes all along.

In the vast Tianyuan Great World, the movements of heaven and earth and the shifting of landscapes were endlessly intricate.

Lu Qing, guided by the Divine Rune Sect’s methods, absorbed and studied it all—his understanding of the Path of Runes had advanced by leaps and bounds.

His Soul Talisman, which had already reached the Middle Yang Talisman stage, was now approaching perfection, and his soul force had grown immensely.

Now, as he comprehended the transition of this illusory ice valley from void to reality, his soul was once again stirred.

His Soul Talisman showed signs of breaking through to the peak of the Yang Talisman stage.

According to the Divine Rune Sect’s teachings, the Yang Talisman stage corresponded to the Golden Core Realm.

Once a cultivator reached the peak of Yang Talisman, their power would rival the strongest Golden Core experts—those at the Ninth Transformation of the realm.

If Lu Qing could truly master this current insight and push his Soul Talisman to completion, his strength would rise yet again.

“This Divine Rune Sect legacy—though it hails from a remote world, its enlightened approach makes it as potent as any Daoist lineage or the Wu Clan’s path of the flesh.”

“Whoever devised this method… what a peerless visionary!”

“If they had been born here, in the Tianyuan Great World where the Dao flourishes, they would surely have become a peerless sovereign, unmatched across the ages!”

The more Lu Qing cultivated the Divine Rune Sect’s legacy, the more he revered the genius who created it.

Though born in an insignificant world, their insights rivaled the highest teachings of this vast realm.

After a while, he calmed his awe and continued his meditation on the shifting aura of heaven and earth.

While Lu Qing sat in silent contemplation, over a dozen more Golden Core cultivators arrived, braving the biting winds to reach this place.

Upon seeing the three Nascent Soul experts floating silently in the lead, they all immediately curbed their presence and quietly found places to wait for the Ice Soul Valley’s full manifestation.

Boom!

About half a quarter of an hour later—

A thunderous sound erupted from the void ahead.

The aura of heaven and earth surged violently.

The illusory valley that had been floating in the sky now began to shed its illusion and slowly take on substance.

Seated atop his auspicious cloud, Lu Qing was absorbing this unprecedented transformation.

As he watched the massive valley solidify from illusion to form, his eyes sparkled.

Deep in his mind, he finally grasped the elusive thread of insight that had been stirring within him.

A wave of comprehension rose in his heart.

And in that moment, the Soul Talisman within his brow acupoint, which had long been dormant inside the Earth Spirit Pearl, suddenly surged forth.

It shoved aside the Five Elements Pearls and claimed the central position within the acupoint.

Radiating like a miniature sun, the Soul Talisman burst into brilliant light.

At long last, the Soul Talisman had reached the peak of the Yang Talisman stage.