Qin Ruqing chuckled softly; her concealed badge could hide her aura and cultivation, even from someone as skilled as the Fifth Lingyu, let alone these people.

Tang Zifeng remarked gravely, “They won’t spot me either.” Clearly, worrying about Qin Ruqing was unnecessary.

Ahead, after Lin Yijun silenced the group with a whip crack, she smiled and spoke, “Friends, please be patient. After much thought over these days, I have a rough plan in mind that I’d like to discuss with everyone.”

A young man with a thick strand of Buddhist beads around his neck spoke up, “Please tell us more.”

Lin Yijun glanced at him, surveyed him up and down, and said, “Ah, a Buddhist from the Western Regions, my apologies.”

She didn’t inquire how someone from the Western Regions had managed to join them; after all, there were many ways to gain entry.

Raising her voice, she continued, “Perfect. My plan requires someone skilled in formations…”

She began explaining in detail.

Back in the tree, Qirong looked up at Qin Ruqing and asked, “How did a Buddhist end up here?”

Qin Ruqing kept her gaze forward. “They hitched a ride from the Western Regions. Many monks there specialize in formations and talismans.”

Qirong’s mouth twitched, clearly wanting to ask something else.

Beside him, Tang Zifeng remarked, “Qirong wants to know how they managed to get a spot. After all, even our Tang family is reluctant to give up spots, and the Yang family, at most, can only spare two.”

Qirong finally nodded in agreement.

“Because of the limited spots in Small Floating Island, the major prestigious families are more concerned.

Their younger generations have higher cultivation levels, making them more competitive for entry.

On the other hand, smaller families might have only one or two spots, usually filled by lower-level cultivators who often end up risking their lives without gaining much.

So, if an outsider family comes and offers a hefty sum to buy a spot, do you think they would refuse?

After all, the resources spent on purchasing these spots could potentially match what they would gain inside Small Floating Island.”

Qirong’s face lit up with realization, then turned into determination as he clenched his fists. “So, all our efforts to secure a spot were rather foolish!”

At the mention of foolishness, Qin Ruqing frowned. “What efforts did you put in? Wasn’t it me strategizing, and Tang personally negotiating with the Tang family?”

Qirong sheepishly smiled, “Yeah, you’re right.”

“And besides, why would anyone pay a fortune when they can get a spot for free?”

Spending money to curry favor in either of these ways didn’t sit well with Qin Ruqing.

She preferred others to bring her spiritual stones as a way to ask her for favors.

Lu Wei listened intently to Lin Yijun’s words. “She said she wants everyone to collaborate on setting up a Sky-Descending Demon-Sealing Array to weaken the Thunder Beast’s strength to the Foundation Establishment stage, then use artifacts to assist in killing it.”

“A Sky-Descending Demon-Sealing Array? What’s that?” muttered Qin Ruqing.

“It’s a powerful array that can significantly weaken demonic beasts. However, it’s costly to set up, requiring expensive materials. Ordinary people wouldn’t easily use it.”

“A Golden Core stage demonic beast, huh? Would this array work? Even if it could, the conditions required to activate it probably aren’t simple,” Tang Zifeng added with a nod.

“This array requires a cultivator at the Foundation Establishment stage or someone with equivalent combat power to activate it. Once activated, to enhance its spiritual power, at least a hundred spiritual artifacts need to be shattered. Then, to increase its damage, at least a hundred intact spiritual artifacts need to be added. This ensures that when trapping the demonic beast, the artifacts can self-destruct, using their explosive force to weaken or even kill the beast.”

“Good grief! This is basically capturing demonic beasts by burning money! The power of several hundred self-destructing artifacts can indeed weaken a Golden Core stage demonic beast, but how much would that cost!” Qin Ruqing exclaimed.

Qin Ruqing considered herself quite lavish, but meeting someone who could spend and still create such extravagance left her awestruck. “What kind of family is this?”

Lu Wei raised a crucial question, “Do they even have that many spiritual artifacts?”

“At least two hundred, and that’s just the minimum requirement. Ideally, the more, the better for ensuring effectiveness,” Qin Ruqing chuckled softly. “Look, they’re just pulling it all together!”

Indeed, the people below were astonished after hearing Lin Yijun’s idea. “To weaken the demonic beast using self-destructing artifacts… How much would that cost!”

Most of them were artifact cultivators, and their spiritual artifacts were as precious as their lives.

How could they bear to sacrifice them?

Lin Yijun knew she had proposed the idea herself and needed to set an example for the others to follow.

She spread out a black velvet cloth on the ground and started pulling out spiritual artifacts.

Each piece was carefully placed, forming a small pile.

These artifacts weren’t ordinary; it seemed Fairy Yijun had high standards for their appearance, evident in shimmering with many rare gemstones. This magnificent and stunning visual display stunned everyone present.

Seeing their expressions, Lin Yijun felt a sense of satisfaction.

She smiled and raised her voice, “Everyone, I’m not one to just talk. Since this idea is mine, I’ll contribute significantly. I’ll provide the array diagram for the Sky-Descending Demon-Sealing Array, and on top of that, here are eighty-eight spiritual artifacts, all of them.”

Everyone was in awe that Lin Yijun alone produced eighty-eight spiritual artifacts.

This already covered more than half of the minimum requirement of two hundred artifacts.

Qin Ruqing chuckled from her perch in the tree, “A rich lady indeed.”

Qirong tilted his head, “Sister, what’s a rich lady?”

“It means having lots of spiritual stones.”

“Oh,” Qirong nodded. “So, sister, you’re a rich lady then?”

Qin Ruqing covered her mouth and laughed softly, “Haha, that’s not something you just say.”

With Lin Yijun’s impressive display of eighty-eight spiritual artifacts, the psychological defenses of the others were significantly weakened.

They started to think that gathering over two hundred artifacts might not be such an unreachable goal after all, especially since they were artifact cultivators with few spiritual stones but many artifacts.

Lin Yijun continued to encourage, “Everyone, these is Mysterious Heart Liquid! They assist in improving the chances of forming a Core. Surely, these are worth more than a few hundred artifacts.”

“Furthermore, if you manage to obtain these, they’ll be distributed according to everyone’s contributions. If someone doesn’t participate, they won’t be entitled to any.” Her tone was filled with regret.

Qirong exclaimed in surprise, “Sister, she’s promising things that don’t exist!”

Qin Ruqing also found it amusing, “Well spotted, Qirong. A leader who can promise the impossible isn’t a good one. Lin Yijun is quite skilled at this.”

“Not being able to promise the impossible means not being a good leader. Lin Yijun is quite good at this. Those people should be unable to help themselves.” Qin Ruqing muttered twice, her eyes twinkling, very wonderful.

Indeed, the small pile on the black velvet cloth turned into a large pile.

Lin Yijun counted the items and frowned for a while. “Everyone, there are only a little more than a hundred ninety items here, far from the bottom line of two hundred, not to mention that for insurance purposes, we should aim for three hundred.”

Those present tightened their purses, showing signs of financial strain. “Miss Yijun, your family is prosperous, and you may not understand our difficulties. We’ve already contributed all the artifacts we can. We can’t possibly part with our most precious treasures… Like your Nine-Segment Whip, could you bear to part with that?”

Lin Yijun was also in a difficult spot.

The Nine-Segment Whip was definitely not something she could give up.

She could tell these people were truly unable to contribute much more.

But what could be done? They couldn’t even gather two hundred items, let alone three hundred.

Perched on a tree branch, Qin Ruqing watched her distressed friend and couldn’t help but smile.

“How can we let our beautiful sister here be disappointed?”

“Let’s go down. It’s our turn to perform!”

In the quiet murmur of poverty, a light and melodious voice suddenly sounded like a spirit bird. “Miss Yijun, don’t worry. I have some artifacts here that should be of use.”

Everyone looked up towards the voice and widened their eyes in surprise.

A glamorous golden lotus slowly rotated through the woods, exuding an inexplicable aura.

But what truly stole everyone’s breath away was the red-robed female cultivator descending gracefully on the lotus.

Her eyes were as clear as autumn water, her lips gently curved.

Despite wearing the most common attire of the Western Ridge, she radiated an otherworldly grace, gathering all the beauty of heaven and earth.

Where did this celestial maiden come from? They had never seen anyone like her!

Lin Yijun stared at Qin Ruqing for a while, then suddenly exclaimed in astonishment, “Are you… Elder Qin?”

Elder Qin, no, Qin Ruqing nodded lightly after gracefully leaping down.

Without saying much, she directly pulled out a storage pouch and tossed it into the pile of artifacts.

“There aren’t many, but it should be useful.”

At this point, Lin Yijun was already quite satisfied that someone else was stepping up.

Even if it wasn’t a large amount, she believed they could now reach the requirement of two hundred artifacts.

She said, “Elder Qin’s gesture touches us deeply. I wonder how many artifacts are in this storage pouch?”

Qin Ruqing casually waved her hand, “Not many, just about a hundred or so.”

Everyone: “?”