“Is it you? You… you actually followed us here!”

Qin Ruqing lied through her teeth, “Huh? What do you mean ‘followed you here’? We naturally discovered the trail of the Little Thundercloud Beast ourselves and came here on purpose!”

Lin Yijun sneered, “Impossible! The Little Thundercloud Beast lives inside the waterfall, and its trail is covered by its father, the Thundercloud Beast. When we found the Little Thundercloud Beast, we even helped hide its traces. How could you possibly find it!”

Qin Ruqing replied, “Hey, you got injured and didn’t heal yourself. Your group carried you like you were rushing home to drink chicken soup, running straight in this direction. Isn’t that the clue that led us to find your trail? What’s wrong with that?”

Lin Yijun couldn’t believe someone could lie so brazenly with a straight face.

No matter what you say, you still followed us here!

Seeing Lin Yijun’s face turn red with anger, Qin Ruqing didn’t bother to explain further.

This person thought that covering the Little Thundercloud Beast’s trail was enough, but what about the obvious clues they left behind?

If I could find you, it means your hiding job wasn’t thorough, and your plan wasn’t foolproof!

Qin Ruqing raised her hand, and six golden lights appeared in her palm.

With a flick of her wrist, the lights spread out like bullets, hitting the wrists of the six people, causing the magic instruments in their hands to fall.

The golden lights then turned into chains, binding each of them.

As the instruments fell, the formation was immediately disrupted.

The Little Thundercloud Beast, feeling the restraints on its body disappear, tried to escape back into the waterfall.

But golden flames began to burn slowly on Qin Ruqing’s body.

She spun around and blocked the Little Thundercloud Beast’s path, then said to Tang Zifeng:

“Tang Zifeng, the Golden Core-stage beast might break through the formation at any time. Take my third sister and Qirong into the waterfall to find the Mysterious Heart Liquid. I’ll hold off this Little Thundercloud Beast! Hurry!”

Tang Zifeng refused firmly, “No way, this Little Thundercloud Beast is at the late Foundation Establishment stage. I can’t leave you alone to deal with it!”

Lu Wei also didn’t feel assured about leaving Qin Ruqing.

Although her power had increased significantly, she had never fought a beast of this level before and might face unexpected dangers.

She immediately said, “Brother Tang, you stay here and watch over Little Sister and Lin Yijun. I’ll go into the waterfall with Qirong!”

This was indeed the best plan.

Tang Zifeng nodded.

Lu Wei and Qirong exchanged glances, then quickly leaped onto the rocks around the waterfall and swiftly disappeared into the waterfall.

Tang Zifeng wanted to help Qin Ruqing, but she stopped him, “Tang Zifeng, you can’t steal my spotlight! When the main heroine is performing, the guys shouldn’t interfere. Just watch!”

With that, her fist wrapped in golden flames clashed with the Little Thundercloud Beast.

Beasts naturally had strong physical bodies.

Even though it barely moved, Qin Ruqing felt her hand go numb from the impact. Annoyed, she shouted, “Oh great, I’m a mage turned into a melee fighter now, and I’m not good at it!”

Tang Zifeng stopped in his tracks, watching her grimace in pain, shaking his head with a smile.

He could never understand what was going on in Qin Ruqing’s mind.

But he obediently followed her orders.

Since Qin Ruqing told him not to steal her spotlight, he really stayed put and found a tree to lean against, not worried about her getting hurt.

Tang Zifeng leaned against a tree, keeping an eye on Lin Yijun and her group to prevent any tricks while closely watching the red-clad female cultivator battling the beast.

Lin Yijun and her group were equally shocked as they watched Qin Ruqing.

They had thought she was just a pampered girl at home with an empty reputation, but unexpectedly, she could truly fight on equal footing with a late Foundation Establishment stage beast.

They saw her surrounded by a mysterious golden flame.

The fire trailed from her limbs, hair, and the hem of her skirt, creating golden streaks that moved like ribbons as she danced gracefully.

It didn’t look like a fight, but more like a dance.

The Little Thundercloud Beast was obviously wary of this flame.

After a few physical clashes with her, the parts of its body that touched the fire showed burns and open wounds.

Lin Yijun and her group couldn’t believe their eyes.

Could someone their age really do this?

What kind of cultivation level did Qin Ruqing have?

How did she manage to get into Small Floating Island?

Could she be a secret old monster sent by the Qin family to infiltrate their Xiling Secret realm?

Qin Ruqing had no idea she was being thought of as an old monster.

She rubbed her fist.

The move she just used was called “Attachment,” one of the skills after her Tao body evolved.

It allowed her to attach her innate flame to her body, enhancing her physical fitness and defensive capabilities to some extent.

With this skill, she could transform from a fragile mage into a tough, somewhat melee-capable battle mage.

This “Attachment” skill was like a lower-level version of her innate divine ability, “Lotus Fire Possession.”

Her innate divine ability greatly enhanced her overall combat power.

For instance, if she was at the mid Foundation Establishment stage, using her divine ability could elevate her to the late Foundation Establishment stage.

However, Qin Ruqing didn’t plan to use this divine ability for now.

Using it would make it too easy to defeat the Small Thundercloud Beast quickly, which would be no fun.

She still had many skills to test out and wanted to try them all.

Clearly, just using the downgraded divine ability wasn’t enough.

While “Attachment” improved her melee abilities, it couldn’t match the physical strength of a beast.

Qin Ruqing exchanged three blows with the Thundercloud Beast.

She managed to deflect the first two hits, but the third one struck her squarely, causing her to cough up blood and be flung into the air.

She spun a few times before stabilizing herself mid-air on a golden lotus.

Seeing this, the Lin family members relaxed.

It turned out that even a skilled Qin family girl couldn’t fight a late Foundation Establishment stage beast head-on.

Seeing Qin Ruqing injured made them feel that things were more logical.

Tang Zifeng, leaning against the tree, straightened up slightly, his eyes fixed on Qin Ruqing.

His body tensed, tempted to help, but her words, “Don’t steal my spotlight,” echoed in his mind, making him hold back.

He believed in her.

Qin Ruqing floated on the golden lotus right in front of the waterfall.

She didn’t care about being injured at all.

How could she experiment with her skills without getting hurt?

After all, her opponent was a real late Foundation Establishment stage beast.

However, the injury was barely a scratch. Even before her Tao body evolved, an injury like this was trivial.

The Little Thundercloud Beast saw that Qin Ruqing was still blocking its path back to the waterfall.

Its body showed signs of hesitation and fear as it faced her.

The Little Thundercloud Beast had suffered multiple burns, its beautiful purple fur singed and blistered.

Its whiskers stood on end in anger, and its developing fangs began to crackle with lightning.

Qin Ruqing rubbed her chest and deftly dodged several lightning strikes while standing on her golden lotus.

The missed strikes hit the water, causing it to splash everywhere.

Some of the electrically charged water droplets hit her, making her hiss in pain.

No wonder this little beast chose to live near the waterfall—water conducts electricity, enhancing its combat abilities.

The beast fired four consecutive lightning blasts.

Though it missed Qin Ruqing, the splashing water hit the Lin family members she had trapped on the shore, causing them to scream as their hair stood on end.

Annoyed by their noise disrupting his focus on Qin Ruqing’s battle, Tang Zifeng used a spell to move them to a spot out of reach of the splashing water.

The group finally quieted down.

The Little Thundercloud Beast was panting heavily, clearly drained from using four consecutive powerful attacks.

Qin Ruqing smiled at it. “Finished? Now it’s my turn!”

Her eyes sparkled with a flash of green as her hands began forming intricate seals.

“Zi, Yin, Mao, Chou.” Her red lips curved into a smile as she softly said, “Explode.”

The Little Thundercloud Beast’s instincts screamed danger.

It stared at Qin Ruqing, trying to anticipate her attack, but nothing seemed to happen.

Just as it was about to mock her, a searing pain erupted from its abdomen.

With a loud bang, the beast howled in agony.

Its fangs reflexively charged with lightning, but it couldn’t aim properly and blasted the nearby mountain wall instead.

Qin Ruqing saw a gaping wound in the beast’s lower left abdomen, blood gushing out, and nodded in satisfaction.

“The explosion of the parasitic seed can break through the flesh defenses of a late Foundation Establishment stage beast and cause significant damage.

The power of this parasitic seed explosion exceeded my expectations. It was my first time using it, so I wasn’t quite familiar with the placement. If I had planted it in a vital spot or directly in its mouth, the effect would have been even better!”

This was another skill Qin Ruqing had gained after her Dao Physique advanced: Flame Seed Parasite and Explosion.

The Flame Seed Parasite required direct physical contact with the target.

That’s why she, a mage, had initially engaged in close combat.

It wasn’t recklessness but a calculated move to set up her next skill.

Despite the short duration of the fight, the Thundercloud Beast realized it was no match for this human female cultivator.

She didn’t even see it as an opponent but rather as practice.

The Little Thundercloud Beast’s once sleek purple fur was almost entirely burnt off, leaving it looking pathetic except for its still-impressive fangs.

Humiliated, it howled in rage and glared at Qin Ruqing before turning to flee.

With its home blocked and unable to win the fight, it decided to run.

It needed to find its father—the Big Thundercloud Beast, a protective father who had raised it.

Tang Zifeng saw it trying to escape and moved to intercept, but Qin Ruqing stopped him, “Don’t! It’s filled with rage right now. If you try to block it, it’ll unleash its full power in anger.”

“Stop him!” Qin Ruqing shouted, as her red figure darted past Tang Zifeng.

The golden flames that trailed behind her moved even faster, transforming into chains that wrapped around the Little Thundercloud Beast’s belly.

With a swift motion of her arms, she swung the beast in a wide arc, slamming it into the waterfall.

The enormous beast hit the water with a tremendous splash, coughing and sputtering as it flailed, trying to climb back to the shore.

It was clear it wasn’t a strong swimmer.