"Xiao Ling," said Qiao Ruohe.
"Senior Brother, I am the newest female disciple to join the sect. The senior sisters all call me Younger Sister, so you should call me that too."
Qiao Ruohe nodded and asked, "Younger Sister, has the Master sent for me?"
Seeing Xiao Ling shake her head, he asked anxiously once more:
"Half a month has already passed, why hasn't the Master summoned me yet?"
"Senior Brother, are you really in such a rush for the Dual Cultivation ceremony with the Eldest Senior Sister?" Xiao Ling asked.
Qiao Ruohe was only worried that with one month of the three months already gone, his father's life could only be sustained for two more months. Taken aback by her words and finding them utterly baffling, he asked:
"What Dual Cultivation ceremony?"
"It's the wedding where you and the Eldest Senior Sister are to become Dao companions and cultivate together."
"So soon?" Qiao Ruohe blurted out.
Seeing that he did not seem anxious about this matter after all, Xiao Ling lost the urgency in her tone.
"Senior Brother, the Master and the Sect Leader have discussed holding the Dual Cultivation ceremony for you and the Eldest Senior Sister. Although the exact hour has not yet been chosen, it is expected to take place within the next month or two."
Hearing this, Qiao Ruohe grew suspicious inside:
*'What is going on? Elder Fanhua took me as a disciple, locked me up here in the Immortal Butterfly Garden, and refuses to see me, yet she wants to arrange a marriage for me?'*
The more he thought about it, the more confused and anxious he became. What on earth was on him that made a sect elder hold him in such high regard?
Seeing him lost in thought, Xiao Ling drew closer to see what was the matter with him. Unexpectedly, he suddenly snapped his gaze back and stared right at her. Impulsively, he grabbed her by both arms and said:
"Younger Sister, I want to ask you a favor."
Startled, Xiao Ling stared at him with wide eyes. She had sneaked into the Immortal Butterfly Garden precisely because she had a favor to ask of him. She had never expected him to speak first.
"Senior Brother, to be honest, I also have a favor to ask."
The two looked at each other, gazing into one another's eyes. Suddenly, their solemn faces broke into involuntary smiles.
"You speak first," they said almost in unison.
The urgency in Qiao Ruohe's heart dissipated by seventy or eighty percent in that brief moment.
The favor Younger Sister wanted to ask of him was a manual for practicing spells. Qiao Ruohe instantly thought of the *Spirit Controlling Notes* and the *Fire Spell Manuscript*. Could this young girl know that he had met The Man in Black? Seeing her eager expression, and having memorized ten-tenths of the text in those two manuals, he immediately took out both volumes and handed them to Xiao Ling.
When Xiao Ling saw the fire spell manual, her eyes widened. Glancing left and right to make sure no one else was around, she whispered in a low voice:
"Senior Brother, secretly studying manuals from other sects is a grave crime. We must never let the Master and the senior sisters find out."
With that, Xiao Ling pushed the two manuals back toward him.
Qiao Ruohe took back the two secret texts and asked, "Are these not the ones you want?"
"The manual I want to ask Senior Brother for is the one the Master had the Third Senior Sister bring to you," Xiao Ling shook her head and said.
Only then did he realize that she wanted the green booklet adorned with those unsightly illustrations. That so-called manual was bizarre and completely useless to him—not even one-tenth as good as the secret text left by The Man in Black. Yet by practicing the fire spells, in just half a month—which felt like three months—he had already mastered the Fireball Technique within it, making tremendous progress.
He immediately returned to the room, fetched the booklet from his bundle, and handed it to Xiao Ling.
When Xiao Ling received the green manual, a look of great joy appeared on her face. As she looked at Qiao Ruohe, she could hardly believe that he had simply given it to her like that, without asking any questions.
After putting away the booklet, filled with gratitude, she asked, "Senior Brother, what do you need Younger Sister to do?"
"I ask Younger Sister to use her flying sword to take me away from the Immortal Butterfly Garden. I want to go to Qianjing Lake, where the Master is in secluded cultivation, to find some medicinal pills."
Qiao Ruohe vaguely remembered that Elder Fanhua's cultivation dwelling at the bottom of the lake contained several pill furnaces that had only recently gone out. On the tables behind those furnaces, there were even various colored porcelain bottles scattered about. Remembering what The Man in Black had said—*"The Soul-Returning Immortal Pill is at Qianjing Lake in Qihua Abode"*—he figured it must refer to that secret chamber behind the arched doorway.
"But taking pills without permission incurs the torment of having one's skin peeled and soul extracted." Xiao Ling paused slightly. "Senior Brother, have you thought this through? Do you really want to go?"
Qiao Ruohe had no acquaintances to speak of in this immortal sect. If not for the young woman before him pulling off a deception to shield him, he would hardly have been able to survive the fire at the bottom of Blooming Flowers Valley. Looking at Younger Sister Xiao Ling, she felt as dear and familiar as his own younger sister back home. And so, he poured out the entire purpose of his trip to her, finally finding someone he could confide in.
Xiao Ling listened spellbound, mesmerized by the way he spoke so passionately. When she first saw him, she had thought him no different from any ordinary man of the streets. Now, clad in the blue robe of a Divine Wood Palace cultivator, he possessed a certain dashing air. Moreover, when he spoke of bringing the immortal pill back home no matter what, Xiao Ling's heart was deeply touched; she too had come to the Divine Wood Palace to cultivate immortality bearing the life-or-death mission of her family.
Perhaps out of a shared sense of misfortune, or perhaps moved by his generosity in giving her the book, she blurted out without hesitation: "Senior Brother, I will go with you to get the medicinal pills."
With that, she summoned her flying sword, stepped onto it, and invited the Senior Brother to join her. Overjoyed, Qiao Ruohe leaped onto the flying sword, ready to fly with her to Qihua Abode.
Suddenly, a figure came riding the wind, snatched the booklet from Xiao Ling's arms, and fled on a flying sword in the opposite direction of Qihua Abode.
Qiao Ruohe initially thought The Man in Black had returned. But this book-snatcher was tall and dressed in gold, looking nothing like The Man in Black.
At this moment, Xiao Ling was frantic with anxiety. She had promised to take the Senior Brother to Qihua Abode to fetch the pills, but now the crucial manual had been snatched away, and she had no idea where to fly.
"Catch him and take back the manual."
Those seven words spoken by the Senior Brother resolved the dilemma in her heart. With a nod, she steered her flying sword to pursue the golden figure.
Feeling the Younger Sister's flying sword surging forward so violently that it almost threw him off, Qiao Ruohe strictly observed propriety and kept three to five paces away from her. He exerted all his strength, spreading his arms wide and using his spiritual power to maintain his balance.
Sensing this, Xiao Ling extended her right hand backward, holding a wooden sword in her palm. "Senior Brother, hold on tight."
Qiao Ruohe grabbed the wooden sword, and she accelerated the flow of her sword-energy. Flying past Blooming Flowers Valley, the two arrived in a strange grove of trees.
The place was devoid of all life, with every tree withered and bare. A gust of wind stirred up blue dust that stung the eyes, and there were no green leaves to block out the sky. One could see straight through the withered woods to the gathering dark clouds above.
Day had turned to night.
The robust man who had snatched the manual was also in the withered grove, his path blocked by a dark shadow. When Qiao Ruohe and Xiao Ling arrived behind the man on their flying sword, the dark shadow rode its sword away.
*'It's him.'* Qiao Ruohe recognized him.
Who could the person who intercepted the burly man be if not The Man in Black who had taught him his spells? It turned out that ever since they parted ways at the sea of fire, he had been hiding in the shadows all along, and now, for reasons unknown, he had stepped forward to help once again.
"It's you, Senior Brother Jin," Xiao Ling recognized the robust man blocked by The Man in Black.
Hearing her voice, he turned his head and looked at Xiao Ling; the two seemed to acquainted. Qiao Ruohe recognized him too—wasn't he one of the four who had passed the sect trials, that immensely strong Jin family scion who already possessed cultivation?
He naturally possessed a pure metal attribute. According to logic, he should not have been allowed to enter the Divine Wood Palace, which focused primarily on wood-attribute spells. However, because metal overcomes wood in the Five Elements, the Divine Wood Palace had always maintained friendly ties with metal-attribute sects and immortal cultivation families, thus permitting disciples with pure metal root bones.
The Jin family man made no attempt to conceal it, holding the stolen green booklet tightly in one hand. The look in his eyes as he gazed at Xiao Ling had initially held joy, but upon discovering a man by her side, it instantly bristled with hostility.
Suddenly, a giant golden palm descended from the sky. It was a metal-attribute spell cast by the burly man, crashing down toward the top of Qiao Ruohe's head.