"Bullshit!
Back when we were dealing with the Four Great Families and the Six Great Clans, wasn't it because you were willing to do it yourself?"
Old Monster Tang glared, his expression full of contempt. "It's true that I advised you, but when did I ever deceive you? Don't you dare slander me!"
"So now I'm the one slandering you?"
Gu Qingfeng laughed. "Even if I was willing back then, wasn't it you, you old bastard, who fanned the flames behind my back? You said something like, 'Since you're already wanted by the Immortal Dynasty and branded an Immortal Dao criminal, you can never shake off that label. So why not do our Yanluo Royal Family a favor by standing up for us against the Dynasty?' And you said, 'When you have too many lice, you stop itching; when you have too many debts, you stop worrying...'"
"I did say that," Old Monster Tang admitted. "But isn't it the truth? Can you dare to say it's not?"
"I never said it wasn't the truth. But back then, I was young and hot-headed, and I couldn't withstand your instigation. What, now you want to play the same trick with me again?
You still want to stir me up to help your Yanluo Royal Family deal with the Immortal Dynasty?"
Gu Qingfeng raised his cup and drank, sighing. "I fell for it once back then; I won't fall for it a second time now."
"You ungrateful brat! If it weren't for you causing Hengshu to disappear without a trace to this day, would the Immortal Dynasty dare bully our Yanluo Royal Family like this?
Ah!
My poor Hengshu!
How could you have been so blind back then to fall for this heartless bastard?"
Old Monster Tang sighed and lamented, shouting, "Hengshu, where are you? Come and see this ungrateful scoundrel! This kid doesn't cherish any old feelings at all!"
Seeing that Gu Qingfeng refused to help the Yanluo Royal Family, Old Monster Tang started acting shamelessly. Gu Qingfeng was utterly speechless.
"Old Monster, that's enough."
Xuanze reprimanded him. "Don't bring up the past anymore, and don't instigate Tianlang to deal with the Immortal Dynasty. Besides, didn't I say that this time, your Yanluo Royal Family will have a noble benefactor to help you? You will be safe and sound."
"Who knows if your divination this time is accurate or not? What if the so-called noble benefactor doesn't show up when the time comes? Wouldn't our Yanluo be finished?"
As he spoke, Old Monster Tang suddenly seemed to realize something. He looked at Gu Qingfeng, sizing him up and down. His gaze was like a mother-in-law looking at a son-in-law, growing more and more favorable, and the smile at the corner of his mouth grew increasingly thick.
Opposite him, Gu Qingfeng felt a bit creeped out by Old Monster Tang's stare. "I say, Old Monster Tang, if you have something to say, just say it. Don't look at me with that kind of expression. It's unsettling."
"Earlier, I once performed a divination for our Yanluo Royal Family, and Xuanze did one too. Both our divination hexagrams indicated that this time, the Yanluo Royal Family would have a noble benefactor to help them. This benefactor might just be you, kid, and..."
"Stop!"
Before Old Monster Tang could finish, Gu Qingfeng immediately cut him off. "I say, Old Monster Tang, have you had enough?
Don't play these tricks with me. I've never believed in this divination stuff."
"This isn't about whether you believe it or not. Just because you don't believe it doesn't mean divination isn't accurate. It's like fate—lots of people don't believe in fate, but fate is still there. It definitely won't fail to descend upon you just because you don't believe in it."
Old Monster Tang moved closer to Gu Qingfeng and chuckled. "Look, back in the Ancient Era, when the Immortal Dynasty wanted to deal with our Yanluo Royal Family, Xuanze performed a divination for us, saying a noble benefactor would help. Not long after, you showed up, and you indeed helped our Yanluo Royal Family survive the crisis safely. This time, when our Yanluo is in trouble again, you showed up right on cue. I'm thinking that this time's noble benefactor must still be you!"
"Don't give me that crap about fate and divination. I don't buy it!"
Gu Qingfeng said disdainfully, "Old Monster Tang, let me tell you something: don't mistake coincidence for fate."
"Heh heh."
Old Monster Tang didn't mind at all. "Kid Gu, let me offer you some advice too. Eight or nine out of ten coincidences in this world are related to the karma of fate and causality. You must remember, there are never coincidences in this world that happen for no reason."
Having said that, Old Monster Tang looked at Xuanze again and smiled. "Xuanze, am I right?
You probably realized as soon as Kid Gu showed up that he should be our noble benefactor, didn't you?"
Xuanze didn't respond, because what Old Monster Tang said was exactly what he wanted to say.
Indeed.
The moment Gu Qingfeng appeared—or more precisely, the moment Xuanze learned that the person before him was Gu Tianlang—he already knew in his heart that the noble benefactor mentioned in the divination hexagram was Gu Tianlang.
Just as Old Monster Tang said, eight or nine out of ten coincidences in this world are related to the karma of fate and causality. In this world, between heaven and earth, there are never coincidences that happen for no reason. There must be causality behind them.
Gu Qingfeng appeared here to find Tang Hengshu.
This was the cause he himself planted back then, and the effect naturally had to be repaid by him now.
Not only Xuanze thought this way.
Even Gu Qingfeng himself thought so. Although he didn't want to admit it, he had to acknowledge that Old Monster Tang's words made a lot of sense, making it impossible for him to refute. Setting aside everything else, just the relationship with Tang Hengshu alone meant Gu Qingfeng definitely wouldn't stand idly by. Even though he kept saying he wouldn't get involved, that was just talk.
However.
Karma is still karma.
This thing seems to have its own divine will, as if everything happens naturally.
"What?
Kid, speechless now?"
Looking at Old Monster Tang's smug expression, Gu Qingfeng really had nothing to say. He shook his head slightly and sighed. "In my whole life... if you ask what I lived for before, perhaps I can't say. But as for the future... I reckon I'll be living for karma."
This was his sigh, his helplessness, and his genuine feeling.
Ever since he awoke in this world a few years ago, starting from the Cloudmist Sect, then the Ice Mystic Sect, followed by the Demonic Moon Palace, and later the Crimson Sun Mountain—from Yun Nishang, to Feng Zhuyue, and even the so-called Sinful Blood—all these matters, everything, were accompanied by two words: karma.
Moreover, within this karma, there were causes he himself planted back then, causes brought to him by the Sinful Blood, and some messy, inexplicable causes. Thinking of this, Gu Qingfeng felt a headache coming on. What made him even more helpless was that when it came to so-called karma, you simply couldn't refuse it, couldn't stop it, couldn't change it. You couldn't even see its existence, yet it kept operating in the unseen, unknown and unnoticed, happening naturally.
The karma brought by the Sinful Blood, he temporarily didn't want to deal with.
Those messy, inexplicable karmas, he likewise wouldn't pay attention to.
For now, he only wanted to settle the karma he himself planted back then. Everything else could wait.