Elder Fanhua took Qiao Ruohe by the hand and leaped out of the archway.
They burst out of the water together.
The serene Qihua Abode was already bathed in clear skies, with birds singing and flowers blooming.
Hundreds of female disciples lined up among the flowers, bowing in waiting.
"Welcome Master back from seclusion."
Seeing that her master's spiritual power was no longer what it used to be, the senior Second Senior Sister stepped forward and bowed, saying, "Congratulations, Master, on breaking through to the Transformation Stage."
Upon hearing this, the disciples were overjoyed.
Spirit Controlling, Out-of-Body, and Transformation were the three major stages of cultivation.
Most of the disciples were still at the initial Spirit Controlling Stage.
Even the second-tier Out-of-Body Stage was one in a hundred across the five major sects.
A third-tier Transformation Stage cultivator was even rarer in the entire cultivation world.
Hearing that their master's cultivation had greatly increased, they felt they had an even stronger backing, and they all congratulated their master one after another.
Only Lin Qingxuan stared at Qiao Ruohe without a word.
Elder Fanhua raised a hand, and the entire Blooming Flowers Valley fell silent.
Even the insects contending for nectar among the ten thousand flowers stopped their buzzing.
Several close disciples guessed that their master was about to announce something major.
The whisper spread, causing all the maidens to listen attentively.
"Starting today, he is your Eldest Senior Brother."
Floating nine zhang above the lake, Elder Fanhua gestured toward Qiao Ruohe beside her and said to the disciples.
As soon as these words were spoken, Lin Qingxuan was struck with astonishment.
The disciples were even more dumbfounded, staring at each other in blank dismay.
In the Divine Wood Palace's two valleys and two forests, the disciples under the Sect Leader and the other three elders included both men and women.
Only the Blooming Flowers Valley accepted exclusively female disciples.
Yet now, their master was making a man the Eldest Senior Brother of them all, something truly unprecedented.
"Master, do not be deceived by this scoundrel! He is an accomplice of that thief with the black-robed fire magic!" Lin Qingxuan stood at the front of the crowd and said anxiously.
"Qingxuan, I already know about what happened between you and him. It must be a misunderstanding that has yet to be cleared up."
Elder Fanhua grabbed Qiao Ruohe's lapel and flew down, landing at the edge of the Qianjing Lake cliff, and said to her chief disciple:
"Qiao Ruohe is my newly accepted disciple. I have something to discuss with you in detail shortly."
At Fanhua's command, the sister disciples all bowed in unison to Qiao Ruohe and said, "Greetings, Eldest Senior Brother."
Qiao Ruohe looked at the hundreds of junior sister disciples bowing and congratulating him in unison.
His heart was a mixture of complex emotions, and a bitter smile was hard to wipe from his face.
Though he could hardly believe he had inexplicably become the Eldest Senior Brother of the Blooming Flowers Valley, he knew that when he later paid his respects to the Master, he might be able to use this identity to directly ask for the Soul-Returning Immortal Pill.
Then he could find an excuse to leave the sect, return to Qiao Family Village to cure his father, and restore his once-peaceful life.
Yet Qiao Ruohe felt a lingering doubt in his heart:
This renowned Divine Wood Palace had originally turned him away.
Why on earth would the valley elder look at him in a different light?
She had taken him as a disciple for no apparent reason, and he had even leaped to become the Eldest Senior Brother of this valley that only accepted female disciples.
Qiao Ruohe lay on the couch in the lamp room of the Immortal Butterfly Garden, the residence assigned to him by his Master.
Tossing and turning, he simply could not figure it out.
On the way to his quarters in the Immortal Butterfly Garden, he had voiced his confusion to the round-faced senior sister who was leading the way.
"Eldest Senior Brother, just rest easy here. Master's cultivation has surpassed two hundred years, and she will not misjudge."
Over two hundred years?
Qiao Ruohe returned to the Immortal Butterfly Garden.
Though he did not know why he was receiving such generous treatment from Fanhua, he wanted to practice some skills to protect himself before she summoned him.
Sitting on the couch, he practiced according to the Man in Black's "Fire-Wielding Manual."
After a few hours, the flame in his palm flickered, refusing to ignite or extinguish properly.
Daylight arrived, and the second day began.
This Immortal Butterfly Garden was located on top of a mountain peak within the Blooming Flowers Valley.
Qiao Ruohe wanted to pay his respects to Elder Fanhua and beg for the Soul-Returning Immortal Pill, but since he did not know the way down the mountain, he could only practice his cultivation while waiting for his master's summons.
As dusk gradually fell, a female disciple brought a food basket to deliver his meal.
He hurriedly asked when his master would summon him, but the female disciple shook her head and said nothing.
The female disciple flew away on her sword; it seemed that relying solely on walking and climbing made it impossible to leave this Immortal Butterfly Garden.
Just like that, day after day passed, and in the blink of an eye, thirteen or fourteen days had gone by.
Qiao Ruohe had worries weighing on his mind, and there were only a little over two months left in the time limit.
Every single day, he would ask the junior sister who brought his food when his master would summon him, but the answer was always the exact same.
There were no walkable paths leading out from here.
Nor did Qiao Ruohe know the art of sword flight.
It seemed Elder Fanhua intended to imprison him in this place until he completed dual cultivation and married Lin Qingxuan.
On the fifteenth day, an immortal fairy flew in from the horizon.
With a troubled expression on her face, she looked toward Qiao Ruohe.