The day Small Floating Island opened, once every ten years, was a significant day for West Ridge.

Usually, two years before the secret realm opened, the local noble families of West Ridge would start competing for allocation quotas.

“If your family has prospered over the past decade, then our quota should increase. If your family has declined, then naturally, our quota would decrease.”

Once the quotas were decided, turmoil would erupt within the noble families, with the younger generations below Foundation Establishment fighting over the quotas allocated to their families.

By the time the results were decided, the secret realm was nearly ready to open.

Currently, Qin Ruqing and her group stood among the Tang family’s ranks.

Tang Zifeng had managed to secure four quotas from the Tang family, and in order to soften his heart, Clan Leader Tang Chen had even spared no expense to engrave a map of the secret realm for him.

Of course, this map wasn’t a complete map of Small Floating Island; it merely showed the places the Tang family’s members had reached during their explorations over the years, meant solely for internal use within the clan.

Normally, outsiders like Qin Ruqing shouldn’t be able to view such internal family maps.

However, since Tang Zifeng was still surnamed Tang, despite currently carrying the title of being expelled from the family, he still had a connection to the Tang Clan.

Therefore, Tang Chen had given them the map, which didn’t break any rules.

At this moment, Qin Ruqing looked up. Small Floating Island—when she first heard the name, it didn’t seem to hold much significance.

Now, upon seeing it, it turned out to be a floating island after all.

Qin Ruqing gazed at the mountain-like island drifting in the sky, feeling that it completely defied common sense.

If Sir Isaac Newton were to see this, he might just spring out of his coffin on the spot.

“How… how is this island floating?”

Tang Zifeng rarely saw Qin Ruqing so surprised.

Unable to help himself, he explained, “That’s not an island. It just looks like one. In reality, it’s a massive spiritual artifact.”

Qin Ruqing, Qirong, and Lu Wei from the Qin family all exclaimed, “Wow!”

These three outsiders from the Nanling region had never seen such a large spiritual artifact before, which naturally made them react with such surprise.

Tang Zifeng subtly smirked, “Small Floating Island is a mobile secret realm. It doesn’t appear at regular intervals and can even move beyond the territory of West Ridge. This large-scale spiritual artifact was built by the Celestial Bureau.

The three Qin siblings stared even wider.

So, this secret realm could actually walk on legs!

“So, does it also have the ability to open Small Floating Sky?” Qin Ruqing looked up and noticed that besides the largest floating island in the center, there were many smaller islands floating around it like tetrahedrons. “Are these smaller islands part of some formation?”

Tang Zifeng glanced at Qin Ruqing.

She was always sharp, often not needing much explanation—just a hint would suffice.

“Miss Qin is indeed astute,” interjected a handsome young man standing closest to them in the Tang family’s group.

He glanced at Qin Ruqing in a way that made his cheeks flush before lowering his gaze.

Oh my, Qin Ruqing’s eyes twinkled. She unexpectedly moved aside and struck up a conversation with the handsome young man next to her.

After a few small talk sentences, the young man spilled everything about the floating island, along with some insights into artifact refining.

Qin Ruqing exclaimed, “Wow, you’re amazing.”

The young man’s face turned red with excitement, completely disoriented by her praise.

Since they were just waiting anyway, why not chat for a bit?

Qin Ruqing was about to continue when Tang Zifeng pulled her

A woman said softly, “It’s starting.”

Qin Ruqing replied, “Oh.”

She looked up and saw a group flying in from the east, dressed in solemn white robes.

They had a graceful, immortal-like aura. But the style of Xiling was far from such immortality.

Qin Ruqing stared for a while and confirmed they were from the Celestial Bureau.

The Fifth Lingyu’s flamboyant attire made him easily recognizable from afar.

Amidst the plainness of Xiling, he was the epitome of splendor.

“Ah, Tang Zifeng, the Celestial Bureau is quite ethereal today. It’s nothing like the usual Xiling style.”

Tang Zifeng replied expressionlessly, “Because it happens once every ten years.”

Ah, that made sense.

Instead of landing, the Celestial Bureau members flew directly to the Floating Island.

Positioned on five inverted pyramids surrounding the central Floating Island were five experts from the Bureau.

Each held a star-like artifact, injecting spiritual energy upon the Fifth Feather’s command.

Golden light shot from the artifacts into the largest beam of light at the center of the island.

That towering, golden beam of light reaching into the sky was guided by the Fifth Feather.

Qin Ruqing sensed the pure “power” emanating from that beam of light.

Pure and immense power.

No wonder they said idols possessed formidable strength.

At that moment, Qin Ruqing yearned more than ever for such power.

Clearly, she wasn’t the only one moved. Lu Wei, always craving power, couldn’t help but remark, “The Director is truly formidable. What cultivation level is he?”

Speaking ill of the Director was taboo.

Before Qin Ruqing spoke, she cautiously erected a sound barrier, then said, “He’s not quite at the Nasceng stage but almost there.”

Lu Wei looked at Qin Ruqing in disbelief. “How do you know? Did the Director tell you?” The Nascent Realm was a distant realm beyond their reach.

Qin Ruqing shrugged. “I’ve interacted with both the Director of Xiling and Nanling. The Director of Xiling exudes a stronger aura, but our Nanligg Director is already a legitimate Golden Core cultivator, stronger than our Director and he’s likely half a step into Nascent Realm. Plus, he’s younger.”

Lu Wei fell silent, overwhelmed by the magnitude of it all.

Meanwhile, Qin Ruqing gritted her teeth. “No, this time I’ll build my foundation on the Small Floating Island and jump levels!”

She couldn’t keep relying on others’ investments.

To truly become a big shot, she had to become an investor herself!

Tang Zifeng glanced at Qin Ruqing’s excited eyes and quietly scrapped his original plan of refining tools.

Instead, he resolved to continue perfecting powerful spiritual artifacts, abandoning all frivolities.

Once he finished researching the Starfall Bursting Sphere, he’d move on to creating artifacts capable of piercing Nascent Realm.

As their thoughts diverged, the sky suddenly darkened for a moment, contrasting sharply with the bright light on the Floating Island.

When the sky returned to normal, the light on the Floating Island had vanished.

“The Small Floating Island has been pulled over. We can begin entering,” Tang Zifeng said calmly.

Sure enough, many mirrors, each about a person’s height, appeared on the triangular islands floating around the Floating Island.

opened her mouth in a vortex of blue.

Sure enough, the recorder stood at the edge of the Floating Island, looking down on the crowd below. “The Floating Island is open. Life and death are determined by fate. Those unafraid of death may enter, those who cherish life may also enter.”

Jokes aside, anyone selected to stand here today certainly valued their lives and feared no death.

Representatives from various noble families began to move, summoning various flying artifacts to ascend to the Floating Island.

Qin Ruqing and the others rode on Tang Zifeng’s flying vessel.

They noticed it had larger, more stylish wings now, evolving from a giant moth-like creature into a small bird.

Qin Ruqing smiled inwardly at the transformation.

The recorder explained the rules of the hidden realm in more detail: “The traction formation can last up to one year. After that, if anyone remains inside, the Floating Island will drift away, leaving you trapped forever in a foreign dimension.”

“Each person entering the realm will receive an exit jade token. This token is linked to the Floating Island’s formation. Crushing it will instantly teleport you out.”

“If there are no further questions, you may begin entering.”

Of course, there were questions. A voice from one of the noble family teams asked, “What if the jade token accidentally breaks?”

The recorder looked in their direction. “Once the jade token is in your hands, it automatically records your aura. If it breaks accidentally, its recorded aura will trigger the teleportation.”

In other words, to stay longer in the realm, they must safeguard their jade tokens.

After addressing a few more questions, the noble family teams fell silent, and thus, the entry began.

Entry order was based on the rank of the noble families.

The Tang family, currently the top Silver-ranked family in Xiling, naturally went first.

Being among the first to enter gave them a certain advantage, a reality of the cultivation world.

Qin Ruqing and her companions received their jade tokens and stood at the entrance of the eastern Small Floating Island.

The blue vortex emitted a faint suction.

Qin Ruqing had no unnecessary thoughts. In a realm where treasures and opportunities abounded, why hesitate?

She rolled up her sleeves and got ready.

She wouldn’t consider herself defeated until every storage bag on her person was full!

Qin Ruqing turned to Lu Wei and Qirong behind her. “I have the highest cultivation level, so I’ll lead the way.”

Lu Wei and Qirong nodded naturally.

At some point, the youngest Qin Ruqing had become capable of bearing the weight of a small world.

Standing behind her felt reassuring and secure, without worries.

She had planned for every aspect and contingency.

With a flash of blue light, the vortex sucked Qin Ruqing in.

Watching her disappear, Tang Zifeng said, “I’ll bring up the rear. You go ahead.”

In a matter of moments, all four had entered the realm.

Upon entering, they instantly felt a refreshing breath, liberated from the hot and dry environment of Xiling.

It was like the relief of surfacing after being submerged.

Qin Ruqing scanned the environment of the realm. It seemed ordinary, devoid of apparent danger.

Qirong asked, “Sister, where are we going now?”

Qin Ruqing smirked, conjuring a scroll with golden edges in her palm. “Naturally, we’re going where we need to go.”

“Aren’t we searching for treasures first?” Qirong queried.

Qin Ruqing glanced at him,

“You fool, remember, the first priority in treasure hunting within a realm is strength. The most crucial thing right now is to enhance our strength. Once your strength surpasses your competitors, do you think you’ll have trouble finding treasures?”

Qin Ruqing had planned her approach to the realm well in advance.

The first step was to refine the Celestial Fire Seed in the Earth Fire Pool.

Regardless of what kind of Celestial Fire Seed the blind box might contain, her strength would undoubtedly increase.

This would also provide more security while traversing the realm.

Unrolling the scroll, Qin Ruqing studied it for a moment, then raised her eyes to discern the direction. “We go north.”

They walked for a full seven days.

The north indicated on the map was indeed the extreme north, as far as one could go.

During their journey, Qin Ruqing and her companions were surprised to find that the environment in the realm was not static.

It alternated between scorching sunlight that could kill and heavy snowfall like goose feathers.

“In this river?” Tang Zifeng, a native of Xiling, explained calmly, “The Tang family once studied this. The Small Floating Island is an independent mobile spatial gateway, not completely isolated from the outside world. On the contrary, it’s heavily influenced by external factors. The internal environment often changes, mirroring scenes from distant domains like a mirage.”

Unpredictable changes in scenery, reflecting environments from other domains? This significantly increased the difficulty of exploration. This realm had such debuffs.

Fortunately, Qin Ruqing and her group had a map that clearly marked the location of the Earth Fire Pool. They could travel there in a nearly straight line.

By the time the Little Floating Island began to experience polar nights and even auroras (…), Qin Ruqing and her team finally arrived.

However, the sight before them was confusing.

There was no volcanic mountain as indicated on the scroll.

There wasn’t even a small mound.

After a seven-day journey, Qirong sat down heavily on the flying vessel and asked, “Sister, could the map given to you by the Celestial Bureau be fake?”

“Impossible!” Qin Ruqing frowned, clearly also pondering where the problem lay.

If Fifth Lingyu dared to deceive her, then…

She would smash the heads of the Western Ridge team during the Hundred Clans Assembly on behalf of the Southern Ridge team!

After a while, Qin Ruqing stepped forward, rubbed her chin, stared straight ahead as if gazing at the air.

Suddenly, she used a moderately powerful flame technique.

Astonishingly, when the flame technique reached halfway, it was blocked as if it had hit a wall.

It hung in the air for a moment, part of it turned into flame fragments and fell to the ground, while the rest vanished into thin air.

Qin Ruqing walked up to this “wall” and felt forward with her hand.

There was clearly no obstacle, yet her spell was blocked…

Qin Ruqing smirked, her lips curling upward.

There was definitely something mysterious going on here.

The Celestial Bureau had probably sneaked in and “encircled” some areas.

Lu Wei also came over to observe and speculated, “Is this a barrier?”

“No.” Tang Zifeng took out a small disc-like object and inspected it for a while before confirming, “There’s a spatial gateway array here. The principle is quite complicated to explain, but essentially, there are two overlapping spatial gates here. Normal people walking would only encounter the regular spatial gate and wouldn’t detect the existence of this overlapping one.”

“So, how do we get in?”

Qin Ruqing didn’t speak, summoned the scroll again, and after thinking for a moment, slammed it towards the invisible wall.

A magical scene unfolded.

The jade parts at both ends of the scroll suddenly glowed brightly.

They transformed into a golden light that injected into the air, causing it to ripple like water and directly lifting a layer as if lifting a veil.

This time, a completely different scene appeared before everyone’s eyes.

The sky suddenly brightened, despite the recent sight of the aurora.

The terrain remained barren, but ahead, there was clearly a steaming volcano, dramatically increasing the temperature, reminiscent of returning to Xiling.

“It’s really there!” Qirong exclaimed.

The scroll moved and returned to Qin Ruqing’s hands. She twirled it like a pen and put it away.

Right now, she was only thinking about one question.

If every realm, like the Little Floating Island, was controlled by the Celestial Bureau or other celestial families, requiring them to plunder the area before others could enter, then how much wealth had these celestial families accumulated over generations?

Could such a gap, akin to a chasm, be measured solely by a few ranks?

Lu Wei looked at her. “Sister, are we going in?”

Qin Ruqing withdrew her thoughts, her voice resolute. “Let’s go in!”

Damn it, if she didn’t strip the celestial families of their wealth this time, her name wasn’t Qin!