Qin Ruqing and Tang Zifeng decided on their next goal (the troublemaking route) and began studying the scroll.

“Tang Zifeng is indeed a professional. After studying the jade at both ends of the scroll, he said, ‘These two pieces of jade should be some kind of imprint, corresponding to something in spatial arrays. As for whether they can open all doors, theoretically, it should be feasible because the principles of activating spatial arrays are the same. The Immortal Family Office shouldn’t have the resources to set a unique imprint for every single place.'”

Qin Ruqing nodded thoughtfully. “That makes sense… Can you explain it in simpler terms?”

Tang Zifeng hesitated, then said, “…It means, the difference lies in the material outside the scroll. What actually works are the things inside the jade. If you extract those things from inside the jade, you should be able to open all doors. Essentially, it’s what you called, a universal key.”

“Extracting things from inside sounds mystical,” Qin Ruqing took the scroll again, “Is there something inside these jade pieces? How do we extract it?”

Tang Zifeng looked at her and smiled mysteriously, “Others may not be able to extract it, but you should. With your fire.”

Qin Ruqing slapped her forehead, “Oh, you mean using my fire for refining.”

With Tang Zifeng’s confirmation, she immediately started knocking the jade stones embedded at both ends of the scroll against a nearby stone, seemingly not caring about damaging the scroll.

After a while, the jade stones were knocked off.

Qin Ruqing took them in her hands, inspected them, and then summoned the Golden Lotus Fire to envelop them.

Luwei and Qirong approached, curious to see what she would refine.

Qin Ruqing merged the Heavenly Fire and her innate flame of the Golden Lotus, burning for a while.

Surprisingly, the jade stones weren’t much damaged, except for some blackening on the surface.

Qin Ruqing looked intrigued, sensing something was happening.

She then increased the intensity of the fire.

The petals of the Golden Lotus began to tremble and expand like an illusion, gradually unfolding completely from a slightly closed state to fully blooming.

The increased heat started affecting the surrounding temperature.

Qirong and Lu Wei looked uncomfortable, while Tang Zifeng kept his gaze fixed on the flames, looking serious.

Qin Ruqing’s flames were indeed extraordinary.

Under such temperature, the two jade stones finally began to melt slowly.

Seeing this, Qin Ruqing smiled with satisfaction.

As long as they could melt, it was good enough.

She asked, “How much should I refine them?”

Tang Zifeng told her to continue burning them for now.

Qin Ruqing nodded and continued the process.

She kept burning until the jade blocks turned into two drops of green jade liquid.

The jade liquid then solidified into a powder.

Tang Zifeng spoke up, “That’s enough.”

Qin Ruqing gathered the Golden Lotus back into her palm.

When the flames disappeared, she found a small glittering powder of jade substance in her palm.

Although the original jade was green, the powder now looked translucent and sparkling.

Qin Ruqing stared at the small pile of glittering powder for a while, thinking it would be suitable as an embellishment for eyeshadow.

“What is this?” she asked.

Tang Zifeng leaned over, studying it seriously for a moment, “This is a powder ground from spatial stones, with a marking function.

Generally, both ends of large teleportation arrays need to use this.

“…words suddenly stopped as he remembered Qin Ruqing’s earlier request for a simpler explanation. He changed his approach and said, ‘In short, it’s useful. Once I refine it with spatial crystal stones, I can create a simple key to open spatial barriers, which is what you call…'”

Qin Ruqing gave him a starry-eyed look, catching Tang Zifeng off guard.

His voice instinctively lowered, “…which is what you call, a universal key.”

Qin Ruqing gave him a thumbs up. “Very, very good, Brother Tang, you’re like my own little magical helper.”

She patted Tang Zifeng on the shoulder heavily, then moved aside from the smoothest round stone she was sitting on, brushing it off with her small hand. “Come on, Master Tang, take a seat!”

Who could resist Qin Ruqing’s sweet words?

Tang Zifeng ended up sitting down obediently, eager to help her refine the key—even though the spaceship they had just taken had only been flying for two hours and he had been planning to rest.

Qin Ruqing wasted no time in preparing for the next treasure hunt, while Lin Yijun hurried back to the vicinity of the canyon.

She found a secluded spot to treat her injuries, creating an illusion that would make it “difficult” for those family teams to find her.

“Sister Yijun, we finally found you!”

Lin Yijun weakly leaned against her clan member behind her, her lips pale without a trace of color, but her expression anxious. “How is the situation outside? Was there success in capturing and killing the Thundercloud Beast?”

The person looked disheveled, flicking their sleeve and saying, “Don’t mention it. We thought we were quite lucky today. After you were injured by the Thundercloud Beast, it was ready to leave. But guess what? It suddenly turned back halfway and charged straight towards the formation.”

Lin Yijun nodded, her eyes flickering.

The Thundercloud Beast actually turned back.

It was clear whose handiwork this was.

She had been monitoring the entire situation since very early on.

The person continued, “We thought the heavens were on our side. Today seemed likely to be a success. Everything went smoothly at first—we successfully captured the Thundercloud Beast, triggered the spiritual weapon to injure it, and even caused the surrounding canyon rocks to bury it. All we had to do was wait for it to exhaust its strength so we could completely trap it and extract the Mysterious Heart Liquid. But somehow, it got stimulated and went berserk, and even when we infused the maximum aura of the Heavenly Demon Suppression Array, it didn’t work.”

“Just a few breaths later, it broke free.”

Lin Yijun asked with concern, “Did anyone get hurt?”

The person shook their head. “No, strangely enough. After breaking free, the Thundercloud Beast didn’t even glance at us. It just ran in one direction. We sent people to follow it from afar and found out it actually had a child! The little Thundercloud Beast seemed heavily injured by someone, driving the big Thundercloud Beast crazy. It roared madly for three hours and ordered its underlings to search every corner of the surrounding forest, but they couldn’t find the culprit.”

Lin Yijun pondered for a moment, furrowing her brows. “The big Thundercloud Beast is already in the Golden Core stage, so theoretically, the Mysterious Heart Liquid is useless to it. So, it must be for its child. That would explain it. Now, the little Thundercloud Beast is injured…”

“Sister Yijun is very likely to have lost the Mysterious Heart Elixir,” Lin Yijun said, covering her mouth.

She continued angrily, “Someone has clearly beaten us to it!”

The newcomer remained silent, looking meaningfully at Lin Yijun.

Lin Yijun’s face flushed with embarrassment and frustration, exacerbated by her weakness and anxiety, causing her to cough twice.

“Are you suspecting me? If it were me, why would I go through such a convoluted plan? Why not keep the information quiet and quietly take the Mysterious Heart Elixir from the Small Thunder Beast?”

“In this plan, I provided the diagram for the Fu Tian Descending Demon Formation. If it weren’t for the materials from the Qin family, I covered most of the expenses myself.

I even took on the task of luring the Thunder Beast, a Golden Core stage monster.

I’m just in the Foundation Building stage; even with many treasures, under such a huge gap in strength, I could easily lose my life. Isn’t my current severe injury proof enough?”

“Do you think I got struck by the Thunder Beast just to gain your trust? Would I really fake being injured for that?”

The Lin family members began to defend their young lady.

“Don’t be ridiculous! Our Lin family has been busy with this matter from beginning to end. We thought we had done everything we could, and now that the mission has failed, we’re being blamed!”

The person pondered for a moment and realized the truth.

Leaving aside everything else, pretending to be injured in front of a Golden Core stage Thunder Beast was not a game—it could easily lead to death!

Having believed Lin Yijun’s words, the person hesitated for a moment before saying, “I trust Sister Yijun’s integrity. However, with so many prestigious families involved this time, and Sister Yijun conveniently absent, we need to verify. How about I examine Sister Yijun’s injuries to silence the gossip from other families?”

The Lin family behind them grew even more furious.

Examining injuries—how was that any different from insulting her?

However, Lin Yijun raised her hand to silence their protests and reached out directly, saying, “Brother Qian, please check my pulse.”

Brother Qian did not refuse; after all, that was the reason he came.

He carefully placed his hands on Lin Yijun’s pulse and began to feel it.

He found Lin Yijun’s breath precarious, not only suffering severe internal injuries but also with a strong fire burning within.

After a while, he withdrew his hand, visibly relieved. “Sister Yijun indeed has severe injuries. Moreover, why does she have so much fiery qi inside her body? This isn’t just ordinary fire poison. Sister Yijun, you need to be careful. If this qi remains in your body for a long time, it will harm your cultivation.”

Lin Yijun coughed twice, almost unable to resist a sneering smile.

Of course, these injuries were courtesy of Qin Ruqing.

Her terrifying golden flame, whatever fire it was, despite its collected heat, had already trapped them all the way there, accumulating in their bodies a burning qi not much different from fire poison.

She took another prepared pill to simulate her previous injuries.

Now, even her own mother wouldn’t be able to tell that she was faking it.

After the examination, Brother Qian started chatting casually with Lin Yijun, speculating on who might have taken the Mysterious Heart Elixir from the Small Thunder Beast’s place.

“Those prestigious family. Their team naturally becomes a prime suspect,” Brother Qian exclaimed with a sudden realization. “Speaking of which, the Qin family from Nanling contributed so many spiritual tools, yet they never showed up in the subsequent plans. Are they here to donate? Their suspicion seems quite substantial!”

Lin Yijun’s hand clenched tightly, then quickly relaxed.

She had hoped these suspicions would fall on the Qin family, which could clear her own name.

However, Qin Ruqing’s casually uttered threat, “Encounter you once, kill you once,” still weighed heavily on her mind.

Lin Yijun didn’t doubt its sincerity.

If such rumors leaked from the Small Floating Island, Elder Qin might think she was responsible and attempt to kill her for real…

Lin Yijun shook her head immediately and explained, “That’s unlikely. I’ve met the Qin family members before, except for Tang Zifeng, their average strength isn’t impressive.

As for Tang Zifeng, despite being a member of the Tang family, he isn’t with his own team but instead with the Qin family, a contradictory arrangement.

Can such a team configuration really kill a Small Thunder Beast with at least a Foundation Building cultivation?”

Brother Qian pondered and agreed, but asked, “Then why did they contribute so many spiritual tools? The Qin family alone contributed nearly two hundred.”

Lin Yijun unexpectedly chuckled, “What else could it be? Money. The Qin family made a trip to Xiling and earned a fortune in spirit stones. When you’re profiting, you wouldn’t be stingy.”

Brother Qian ground his teeth bitterly; indeed, the Qin family was wealthy, and their wealth came from the people of Xiling.

Not wanting it wouldn’t work, who wouldn’t want something from the Qin family?

With a sigh, Brother Qian stood up.

He had learned all he needed to know and bid farewell.

After he left, Lin Yijun inexplicably snorted heavily at the air.

Was she ridiculing the prestigious families’ cautious probing, or was she scoffing at Qin Ruqing?

Someone behind her spoke, “Miss, why are you still covering for the Qin family?”

Lin Yijun replied irritably, “What else can I do? The Small Floating Island hasn’t ended yet. We can’t just leave like this. As long as I do something unfavorable to the Qin family in the Small Floating Island, with her strength, she could easily kill us.”

“Then… what about the Mysterious Heart Elixir? Are we just going to hand it over?”

Lin Yijun stared at a spot, squinting slightly, “We can’t snatch it now, but once we’re out of the Small Floating Island..”

“To be honest, I’m curious. Isn’t that Elder Qin afraid my Lin family might snatch her Mysterious Heart Liquid? Even if she’s powerful, my family has the advantage of location and numbers. If we set up an ambush, what could she do?”

No one behind her replied.

In short, making a move against Elder Qin wasn’t a trivial matter.

Not only was her personal strength formidable, but her Qin family and the cooperation with the Celestial Bureau were also major headaches.

Whether to act or not would ultimately have to be discussed and decided upon by the family.

Qin Ruqing had no idea that the little lamb she willingly let go was already plotting against her.

Or perhaps, she had anticipated it long ago and didn’t care.

At this moment, she held universal key that Tang Zifeng had refined.

“Finally done! With this, we can open

“Let’s begin our search for treasures!”

Qirong had been searching with her for quite some time and couldn’t contain her excitement any longer.

She leaned in eagerly, asking, “Sister, which direction shall we start from?”

Qin Ruqing closed her eyes for a moment, secretly checking her treasure-seeking device to confirm the directions after pinpointing a few locations.

Opening her eyes, she pointed in a direction.

“Let’s head this way.”

Thus, the Clown Flying Boat resumed its journey with the four onboard.