Yi Yang stood in the courtyard, looking at the figure before him, both familiar and unfamiliar.
A moon-white dress, raven hair secured with a jade hairpin, and pale amber eyes that still held that clear-sighted air of "nothing escapes me."
"Chief Inspector Yan."
Yi Yang rose and cupped his hands in greeting.
At the words "Chief Inspector Yan," Yan Wuyuan lazily lifted her eyelids, the corners of her mouth curving into something between a smile and a smirk.
She walked to the table without sitting down, instead leaning casually against the edge of the rosewood table. Her relaxed posture was utterly at odds with the marquis manor's strict decorum. "What is this? We haven't seen each other for over half a year, and Lord Yi has become so distant?"
"You jest, Lord Yan."
"I'm quite serious."
She looked at Yi Yang, a hint of amusement in her pale amber eyes.
"When I left Suining Prefecture, you were an old man with hair half black and half white. Now your hair is entirely black, and your face looks much younger. If your aura weren't still that of the man I knew, I would almost have thought I'd mistaken you for someone else."
Yi Yang settled back into his chair and lifted his teacup, saying unconcernedly, "My cultivation advanced a little, and my appearance changed somewhat. That's all."
"A little advancement made you look forty?"
"Haven't you also gone from late True Astral to the Profound Connection Realm, Lord Yan?"
The teacup paused at her lips, and Yan Wuyuan's expression briefly froze.
Yi Yang sipped his tea and continued, "When I left Qing Province, you were still in the late True Astral Realm. Now you've fully fathomed your true self and glimpsed the Profound Mystery, crossing the threshold between True Astral and