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Outside the prayer hall, Gongsun Yin heard the monks chanting and felt the gentle drizzle of early spring. Witnessing firsthand the turmoil of emperors rising and falling, he appreciated that Guangling Temple remained untouched in the past few years.
With a gentle smile, he began his ascent to the mountain's peak. The familiar stone steps guided his way until he reached Fengyun Pavilion. The same stone steps led him to the same stone table with the same set up for a game of Go. The game, like so many years ago, was unfinished.
As he sat down, his eyes met his opponent's. They held the same soft beauty as when they first met at Luyuan Academy. He glanced down, noticing his opponent's hand moving her stone piece with the grace and elegance she carried long before they met. The strategy equally as exciting and enticing if his memory served him.
After making her turn, his opponent smiled at him, a familiar mischief hiding in the face he knew so well. His heart beat loudly and his pulse raced, having never quieted or slowed down in all their shared years.
Quietly laughing at himself, he realized nothing needed to change because, as the older monk had said to him in this very spot years ago, "This connection was fate's design".