The vermilion gate creaked open, and Mo Yun saw Huang Shan's familiar figure.
She still wore a pale yellow dress. Her skin was as white as mutton-fat jade, her brows and eyes as lovely as a painting, with a delicate nose and cherry lips. Her cool expression gave her an aloof air that warned strangers away.
But Mo Yun knew she was not aloof, only a little socially anxious. Beneath that exterior, her heart was gentle yet resilient.
Meanwhile, excitement welled uncontrollably in Huang Shan's cool eyes. Even her right hand, which held the Willow-Leaf Sword, trembled slightly.
She clearly had not expected Mo Yun to return so suddenly.
She did not know why, but during the months he had been away, his figure had surfaced in her mind from time to time.
She did not know whether it was affection, admiration, or some other feeling.
In any case, seeing Mo Yun suddenly appear before her made her happy.
She even wondered whether she was hallucinating or still dreaming.
When Huang Shan failed to react for a long while, Mo Yun smiled. "What? It hasn't even been a year, and you don't recognize me anymore?"
Only then did Huang Shan come to her senses. She hurriedly shook her head. "N-no, that's not it. I just didn't know what to say."
Knowing her temperament, Mo Yun thought nothing more of it and walked straight into her courtyard.
Soon, Huang Shan cleared the stone table in the center of the courtyard and brewed him a pot of fine tea.
Mo Yun took a gentle sip and asked with a smile, "How have you been? You must have been training hard. You've already reached middle dark force."
He sensed that Huang Shan's cultivation had broken through to middle dark force and was slightly