The Hollow receded behind them, its mysteries left to the mist. But what it gifted them would linger forever—in their hearts, in their bonds, and in the strange silence that followed.
The Sect Elders greeted their return with stiff courtesy, their eyes flickering with disbelief at the scene: eighteen cultivators walking in harmony, not rivalry. And at their center, Xiyan.
She was no longer the outlier.
Now, she was the heartbeat.
It didn't take long for rumors to spread.
The girl who had no backing.
The girl once mocked for her weak spiritual roots.
Now bore the Verdant Flame Seed.
More than that, she bore the loyalty of prodigies.
Some said it was manipulation.
Others called it luck.
But those who had walked beside her through the Hollow knew the truth:
Xiyan didn't demand loyalty.
She cultivated it—quietly, patiently, genuinely.
In the days that followed, the Sect Masters convened.
There were offers. Invitations. Even challenges.
One sect promised her a golden peak of her own.
Another offered to expel her old tormentors to appease her.
She refused both.
Instead, she asked for one thing: to form a new cultivation circle, one independent of sect rivalry.
"A circle that prioritizes growth," she said, "not politics."
It was unorthodox.
It was bold.
It was accepted.
Because no one dared deny her now.
Within a week, she was given the Grove of Radiant Stillness—an ancient, dormant training ground abandoned since the war.
She cleaned it herself.
Yue Lan arrived first, dropping her sword to help scrub moss from the stones.
Then Jin Huo, who brought herbal roots and snuck in spirit chickens.
Then quiet Lei Shen, who offered to reinforce the wards.
And slowly, one by one, the others followed.
They weren't disciples.
They weren't subordinates.
They were companions.
They rebuilt the grove together.
They laughed over meals.
They trained without pride.
By the full moon, the grove was alive again.
Lanterns hung from ancient branches.
Petals floated on the evening wind.
And at the heart of it all, Xiyan sat, a scroll in one hand, and Alchemist Yu's fox curled at her feet.
Yue Lan walked past a group of disciples sparring nearby and joined her.
"You realize," she said, "you've created something dangerous."
Xiyan looked up, brow arched.
"A place where power isn't measured by fear, but by trust," Yue Lan said. "They'll fear that more than any technique."
Xiyan's smile was soft.
"Then let them fear."
Yue Lan chuckled and leaned her head against Xiyan's shoulder.
"You're still everyone's darling, you know."
"I'm just me," Xiyan murmured.
"No," Yue Lan corrected. "You're the one we chose."
Outside the grove, an envoy approached—robes red and gold, bearing the emblem of the Imperial Sect.
They came not to threaten.
But to offer a scroll sealed in jade:
An invitation to the Grand Convergence—a summit of the realm's most influential cultivators.
A place for decisions that would shape the world.
At the bottom of the scroll, her name was written in golden ink.
Not as a guest.
But as an equal.
End of Chapter 16