The Kaoshan Sect's main hall was not large, its furnishings simple: a long table, several wooden chairs, a landscape painting hanging on the wall, and coarse tea with a few plates of dried fruit set upon the table.
The autumn afternoon sunlight slanted through the paper windows, dyeing the room's light soft and warm.
Wang Yuan took a seat behind the long table and raised a hand, gesturing for the two of them to sit as they pleased.
Liu Canglan withdrew beneath the corridor outside the door and casually shut it. Only three people remained in the hall.
Luo Qingyi and Yan Wushuang sat down across the table from him. The long table separated the three of them by no more than five feet.
Yet within those five feet, two gazes fell upon Wang Yuan at once, each surging with complex emotions that could not be put into words.
A year ago, at the Yunzhou Martial Gathering.
That gathering had been held at the Training Ground of the True Martial Platform. The six great powers had each sent their elite younger disciples. It was ostensibly a friendly exchange, but in truth, each side was secretly measuring the depth of the others' rising generation.
Luo Qingyi remembered it clearly. She had led three junior sisters from Tingyu Tower to the event, cutting through every obstacle in her path to reach the finals.
But her opponent in the final had been that obscure youth from the Kaoshan Sect.
At the time, he had only been eighteen or nineteen, several years younger than her. His cultivation had merely been at Bone Forging Early Stage, not even having touched the threshold of Bone Forging Mid Stage.
Later, in the final, she and several other prodigies, including Yan Wushuang, had faced Wang Yuan together.
They