"--Buzz!"
A metallic tremor sounded beside his ear.
Zheng Qing sat in the Dean's Office of Edge Academy, looking subtly toward the front side—where the Vortex was located. At that moment, at the edge of his vision and beyond the void, countless slender threads suddenly stretched taut. One end extended deep into the void, toward the future that represented infinite possibilities; the other converged upon the past, at the instant Vortex Brigitte had been swallowed by the silver Pocket Watch.
The moment he saw those threads,
Zheng Qing understood that they were the manifested form of the Vortex's karmic threads—just as those Ancient Ones deep in the Starry Sky had appeared before him in female forms, these karmic threads had likewise manifested in a form he could comprehend and accept.
As the slender threads drew taut, two scenes appeared before Zheng Qing.
One showed the present, where those karmic threads remained connected to the silver Pocket Watch and nothing had changed.
The other showed some moment in the future, where those karmic threads had been "woven" into a ball of thread by invisible great power, floating in the void beside a gleaming yellow copper coin.
The metallic vibration Zheng Qing heard was the sound made by that copper coin trembling in the void.
It seemed to be urging him:
"--Would you like to accept this transaction?"
Pale red spell-light rose, and Zheng Qing abruptly vanished from the Dean's Office before appearing in Old Man Ruo Yu's office. Almost at the same moment he appeared, Professor Yao, Professor Emma, Rat Immortal, and Madam Shi Hui arrived one after another. A few seconds later, the Yellow Flower Cat, with a small yellow croaker clenched in its teeth, also sauntered into the office.
Including the little green snake hanging from Zheng Qing's ear