That night, at the Fang Residence in the Azure Cloud Sect's Headquarters.
Wen Qingfei followed an attendant into the rear courtyard, where Fang Qianyuan had already changed into casual clothes and was waiting for her.
"Qingfei, you're here." Fang Qianyuan calmly regarded the slender, lovely woman in her pink dress and said, "Sit."
Wen Qingfei sat as instructed and called out shyly, "Brother Fang."
Fang Qianyuan asked, "Since you came to Headquarters, why have you been avoiding me?"
Wen Qingfei said, "I... I haven't. I was just... just afraid of disturbing you, Brother Fang."
At this, she lowered her head with a trace of bashfulness.
Although she had already advanced to Earth Rank and was an expert capable of holding sway over a region of the Cultivation World, before Fang Qianyuan she still seemed like a girl who had yet to fully blossom, shy and gently enchanting, her manner entirely natural.
Seeing her like this, Fang Qianyuan could not help recalling that lovely young woman, gentle on the outside but strong within.
After so many years, she had never changed.
Fang Qianyuan sighed softly and said, "Our friendship is no ordinary one. Must you stand on ceremony with me like everyone else? There's no question of disturbing me. However busy I am, I'm hardly so busy that I can't spare the time to see you."
"Looking ahead and glancing back like this isn't how you used to be."
"How I used to be..." Seemingly recalling how she had secretly fallen for Fang Qianyuan as a young girl and boldly confessed her feelings regardless of everything, Wen Qingfei's face took on a hint of sweetness and shyness.
Back then, she truly had not harbored the misgivings she did now. She had simply admired Fang Qianyuan's heroic bearing and talent, and fallen