One Night

Lin Xiao wasn't surprised by the question, shrugging as he replied:

"Just have the royal family collect a deposit."

"The royal family has no backing, so they definitely won't do something as shortsighted as killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. Have the royal family state it plainly to them, collect the deposit, and also have them give the sects a warning."

Then he went on to explain:

"After all, if the forces behind these sects actually treated them well, the Three Great Sects wouldn't have ended up in their current state. You can see the nature of their relationship with the backing forces from what happened with Shangyang Sect earlier—no one came out to support them. And this definitely isn't a case unique to Shangyang Sect.

Think about it—if other sects had good relationships with their backers and someone to lean on, they wouldn't have been so hesitant to strike Shangyang Sect when it was down. They would have seized the chance to kick it while it was already fallen."

Hearing this, Liu Yunan suddenly understood:

"So their relationship with the backing forces definitely can't be that close. And if the royal family presses them a bit more, they definitely won't do something that cuts off their own income."

Seeing he had caught on, Lin Xiao smiled and nodded:

"Exactly that."

Now that he had worked through the logic, Liu Yunan was full of confidence:

"Then I'll send a letter to the capital tomorrow!"

After that was settled, Lin Xiao turned to everyone and said:

"Folks, we're about to start the real construction of our floating island! While you're not cultivating, feel free to go dig up dirt or chop down trees. There's a lot to build, and we'll need plenty of materials. I was also thinking—let's build a big kitchen for Fuzi on the island, and a dining hall for all of us."

As he spoke, he pointed at the dining table in front of him:

"This table is running out of room for everyone."

At this, they all set down their bowls and chopsticks and eagerly chimed in:

"Brother Xiao's right! After tomorrow's cultivation, I'll go dig up soil!"

"I'll go chop wood!"

"And I'll help haul things around!"

"I know how to build houses! Brother Xiao, tell me what you want the dining hall and kitchen to look like, and I can help build them!"

"I can too! I can even assist Old Master Lin with making furniture!"

...

Everyone got so fired up that they were itching to roll up their sleeves and get to work on the spot.

Fortunately, Lin Xiao held them back.

"Don't rush, everyone—our floating island is huge, and it's definitely not going to be finished in just a day or two. Let's take it slow, take it slow."

That's what he said, though.

The next day, at the crack of dawn, Lin Xiao—who had been digging for spirit stones in the mine all night without even grabbing breakfast—headed straight to the floating island. There, he found that large piles of soil and timber had already been stacked up in the open space.

Further away, rows of trees and flowers were neatly arranged with their roots carefully wrapped in clumps of dirt.

There was even a simple brick kiln set up out front, already sealed and burning.

It was clear this work had started in the middle of the night.

These brothers, sisters, uncles, aunties, elders, grandpas, and grandmas… honestly…

He hadn't been up there long when he ran into Tietou, who was hauling supplies up.

"Hey! Brother Xiao, you're done cultivating already?"

Seeing Lin Xiao, Tietou set down the things he was carrying from his storage pouch and trotted over to greet him.

Seeing that Tietou was still busy at this hour, Lin Xiao said with some exasperation:

"Didn't I tell you all not to rush? Why didn't you help me talk everyone out of it instead of joining in and working through the night?"

Tietou scratched his head and gave an awkward chuckle:

"Aye well, everyone had nothing better to do anyway. The moment they thought about building up the floating island, they couldn't sit still and wanted to pitch in. This is actually the last trip—everyone else has already gone off to cultivate. Once I finish hauling this load, I'll head off to train right away."

Hearing him say it like it was no big deal, Lin Xiao asked:

"How's your study of artifact forging coming along?"

"Ah?" Caught off guard by the sudden question, Tietou stammered for a moment before answering:

"It's, uh... coming along alright?"

Seeing that he clearly wasn't all that serious about artifact forging anymore, Lin Xiao couldn't help but sigh at the fickleness of a young man's enthusiasm. He gave Tietou's shoulder a pat and, feigning deep sincerity, said:

"Tietou, look—our sect's got Yigao handling alchemy, Elder Liu handling talismans, and Yuanjiao handling formations. All we're missing is an elder for artifact forging. We can't let any of our disciplines fall by the wayside. I've been counting on you to carry that weight..."

Tietou was quite taken aback to hear this… He had always thought his duty was just to lead Tuantuan and the others in patrols. He never imagined Brother Xiao held him in such high regard...

And yet, after his trip to the Green Wilderness Secret Realm, he'd gotten a bit too carried away with having fun. He'd already started slacking off on his artifact forging plans—that just wouldn't do!

"Brother Xiao, don't worry! I swear I'll throw myself into learning artifact forging starting today! I'll make it the most important thing right after cultivation!"

"Good, that's the spirit. You've got to work hard—our sect's future Artifact Forging Hall is counting on you to make it flourish." Lin Xiao nodded with great satisfaction.

Hearing that, Tietou was pumped up like he'd been injected with adrenaline and pounded his own chest with a thump:

"Got it, Brother Xiao! The future of our sect's Artifact Forging Hall rests on my shoulders!"

After Tietou went down to cultivate, Lin Xiao looked at the brick kiln that was burning. After a moment's thought, he just took a portion of the materials from the ground, leaving the rest neatly gathered off to the side.

Then he brought out two ordinary blocks of Condensed Cold Jade.

His sect still had plenty of those in storage, after all. Back then, he had basically scraped nearly all the Condensed Cold Jade out of the three ice caverns in the Frozen Plains Secret Realm.

Sure, it was considered excellent forging material, but the sect didn't have much use for it right now.

And with that much quantity sitting around gathering dust in the warehouse—that just wasn't Lin Xiao's style.

Materials like this only hold their value when they're put to use. As long as he didn't squander them all, it was fine.

This time, Lin Xiao didn't plan on building a book pavilion as small as the ones below.

Now that they had a much bigger area to work with, they needed a proper, imposing library pavilion.

With two blocks of Condensed Cold Jade, plus the spirit stones he'd mined all night, along with all the materials everyone had gathered overnight, Lin Xiao was confident he would be able to synthesize a very impressive book pavilion this time.

Opening the Building Synthesizer, he casually tossed in various materials and spirit stones without hesitation, and even threw a few books in to guide the device in the right direction.

Maybe it was because of the fifty thousand spirit stones he'd dropped the day before to synthesize the Spirit Essence Mountain, but somehow, spending huge sums this time didn't hurt as much.

He was already looking forward to the sight of a grand, towering library pavilion rising up on the floating island.

Just thinking about it was awesome.

The system didn't keep him waiting.

Before long, a notification sounded in his mind:

[Ding—Library pavilion synthesized successfully. Please choose a placement location.]