"Brother Yuan, do you think the divination is true? Or is this merely a coincidence?" Chu Liuxiang asked him when they returned.
"I want to believe it's merely a coincidence, but…" A bittersweet smile appeared on his face when he recalled what the handsome man in his dream told him.
"I don't know. I just have a bad feeling about the situation."
Chu Liuxiang shrugged and said, "Well, even if there is a calamity, I'm sure you'll protect us, Brother Yuan."
Yuan smiled and said, "Of course. That is my number one priority."
The following day, Yuan woke up early in the morning again.
"You've been waking up early lately, Yuan." Meixiu suddenly stopped cultivating and said to him.
"I'm meeting up with a friend that I made recently," he said.
"The one who gave you the zither?"
Meixiu returned to cultivating the next moment.
After cleaning his face, Yuan grabbed his zither and went to meet up with Azure behind the immortal caves.
"Have you heard about the approaching calamity?" Yuan suddenly asked Azure at the end of their session.
"Yes, it's always a hot topic within the family, especially as of recently. Did something happen?"
"Well, the crystal is beginning to turn red, which means the calamity is near… really near."
"Red? That's not good… I hope it's nothing too bad and that it goes away quickly."
"Don't worry, if anything happens, I will do something about it."
Azure chuckled and said, "You sound very confident. It's called a calamity for a reason. If a single person can end it, that would make everyone feel silly for worrying so much about it."
"But since you said that, I will rely on you to protect me when it happens, okay? I am not very strong when it comes to fighting. In fact, you can even call me a weakling."
"Of course. You're my friend. I will do my best to protect you and everyone else— that's why I am trying to become stronger— so that I can protect those dear to me."
"Then it's a promise, Yuan. If anything happens to me, I will haunt you for the rest of your life." Azure spoke in a joking tone.
"I deserve it if that's the case." Yuan laughed.
Sometime later, Yuan said his goodbyes to Azure before going to the training hall with the others, where he would spend the rest of the day training with Wang Ming and the others.
This routine would continue for the next four days, and during this time, Yuan would grow more friendly with Azure, even spending more time with her.
Whenever he was with Azure, his mind would feel at ease, almost like she had this magical aura around her.
"Hey, Yuan," Azure suddenly spoke as she laid on the soft ground beside him.
"Do you have a girlfriend?"
"A girlfriend… as in a partner? I do not," he calmly responded.
"Then… do you want me to become your girlfriend?"
Yuan subconsciously turned to look at her with his eyebrows raised.
"I know we haven't known each other for long, but I haven't had this much fun in a long time, nor do I have any friends who can connect with me like you do. We also have a lot of things in common. If you ask me, I wouldn't mind spending the rest of my life with someone like you."
"This is… too sudden. And I won't be staying in the Jaded Garden forever."
"Eh? You're going to leave? When? Why?" Azure sat up in a surprised manner.
"I only came here to learn more about the cultivation world, but I somehow ended up as a trial disciple for the faction. I had planned on staying here for a week to experience life as a disciple inside a faction, and once again, I ended up staying longer than intended."
"I have already decided on making my own faction, and I will be doing that once I leave this place in a few days."
"You're going to be leaving in a few days?! That's too sudden! There are still so many songs we can play together! I want to spend more time with you, Yuan!" Azure said in a dispirited voice.
"I also want to spend more time with you, Azure, but I am afraid that if I stay here any longer, I will no longer be able to leave…" Yuan sighed.
"Then don't leave! Stay with me! I love you, Yuan!"
Yuan was left speechless by Azure's sudden confession, and he recalled how he would have many partners in his past life, but none of them sailed smoothly— at least according to his recent dreams.
"Or is it because you don't really like me? If that's the case…"
"What? That's not it! I like you, I really do, but—"
However, before Yuan could finish his sentence, the ground suddenly began shaking.
It started out as a minor earthquake, but it would grow stronger with every moment until it became a full-fledged earthquake.
"W-What's going on?!"
Yuan had a really bad feeling about this sudden earthquake, and the calamity was the first thing that appeared inside his mind.
"Let's finish our conversation later, Azure," Yuan said to her.
However, as though she couldn't even feel the earthquake, Azure spoke, "Yuan… I love you, I really do."
After saying such words, Azure turned around and ran back to her immortal cave, even leaving behind her zither.
Once Azure left the scene, Yuan also returned to his immortal cave, taking with him Azure's zither.
When he returned to his immortal cave, he found Meixiu and the others standing outside the immortal caves, silently looking towards the sky with dazed faces.
"Are you guys okay?!" Yuan asked them.
"Y-Yes… But the sky…" Meixiu mumbled.
"The sky? What happened to the sky?" Yuan asked, as he wasn't able to see the sky with his divine sense.
"The sky is red, Young Master Yuan," Sebastian responded in a serious voice.
"What? Red? How is that possible?" Yuan exclaimed.