"Ma-Master!?" Ji Chao stared in shock at the gaunt Daoist before him and rose to his feet. "Why are you here?"
Daoist Siji stroked his beard and smiled. "Why are you here? That is why I am here."
"Th-then that means..." Ji Chao's face twitched.
"Yes, I calculated the time and place, so I came." Daoist Siji looked at his disciple, whose appearance had changed dramatically, yet he had not mistaken him. He merely smiled at Ji Chao. "My disciple, you must have calculated something as well to come here, yes?"
"...I've been digging here for seven years, Master." Ji Chao felt utterly aggrieved. "I dug for seven whole years, and you showed up right after I dug the thing out. I..."
He looked like he wanted to cry but had no tears. "Master, why didn't you tell me earlier? I... I..."
"Ah... You mustn't think that way, my disciple." Daoist Siji waved a hand and patted Ji Chao's broad shoulder. "All things in this world have their ordained fate. If you had not nearly unearthed the entirety of the Yin Ruins here, how could you have discovered the real thing?"
"Everything was arranged by fate long ago. If you had not arrived seven years early, then when I came here at this moment, all I would have faced would have been a stretch of wasteland. I would never have found the hope left for us—for the Central Plains."
"...That does seem to be the case." After pondering for a moment, Ji Chao slowly nodded. He let out a breath of stale air, his thoughts finally clear. "Your disciple has learned his lesson."
"It is nothing. My disciple, you must know that nothing exists beyond what Heaven has decreed. This old man has immersed himself in this path for many