The morning sunlight filtered through the lush branches and leaves, spilling into the thatched cottage's small courtyard in the forest clearing and driving away the night's chill.
Mo Lin, Zi Yan, Yao Yao, and Tun Tun, who had just shaken his fur dry and was pestering Yao Yao for breakfast, sat around a crude wooden table. On it were clear tea brewed by Yao Yao herself and several simple wild pastries. The atmosphere was peaceful, with a subtle hint of harmony.
Mo Lin lifted his rough clay cup and took a sip of tea, but his gaze drifted involuntarily toward the Great Zhou Imperial Mausoleum. His thoughts raced. According to the original course of events, Zhou Yuan should have been undergoing the imperial mausoleum ancestor worship at this moment, sent into that space by Senior Cang Yuan, where he would meet Yao Yao, obtain the opportunity to open his meridians, and formally take a master...
But our appearance changed all that, Mo Lin thought.
Senior Cang Yuan had clearly seen how extraordinary Zi Yan and he were, especially their ability to leave this place silently without alerting the outside world. Thus, he had decisively entrusted Yao Yao to them and drawn away potential enemies in advance.
That meant Zhou Yuan had most likely... come up empty-handed? Not only would he fail to meet Yao Yao, he might even lose his chance to open his meridians?
An exceedingly faint sense of karmic connection wound around Mo Lin's heart like a strand of spider silk.
He vaguely sensed that because of his intervention, Zhou Yuan seemed to have... been deprived of an opportunity that should have belonged to him. If this karma was not properly resolved, it might cause unnecessary trouble in the future.
*I may have taken his opportunity, but I