Back at Linglong Mountain Villa, Lin Xiang'er had felt that sense of familiarity growing stronger, like a sudden glimmer of light appearing in endless darkness. This time was the same, and that glimmer of light was even brighter in the darkness than before.
Lin Xiang'er tried to chase after that bright glimmer within the endless darkness.
Suddenly.
It seemed she had caught up to it. Without hesitation, she immediately released her divine sense to investigate. Sure enough, she found that person in a garden within the maple forest.
It was him again.
He really was here.
Not only that, but what puzzled Lin Xiang'er was that her good friends Tang Manqing and Liu Yue were also there, and even Sister Miao was present.
What was going on?
How were they all together?
She didn't know.
Lin Xiang'er had no mind to ponder this question at the moment; all her attention was focused on observing Gu Qingfeng.
When she discovered Gu Qingfeng was also staring at her, her heart began to flutter like a startled deer. For some reason, she grew even more flustered, and that sense of familiarity intensified.
"Just who are you?"
"And who are you?"
"Why do I feel this sense of familiarity with you?"
"If possible, I would like to know the answer to that question as well."
"You feel it too?"
"Of course."
Gu Qingfeng pressed further: "What is the name of this piece?"
"I don't know."
"You don't even know the name of the piece you're playing? How did you comprehend it then?"
"I didn't comprehend it. I've known how to play it since I was born."
"Now that's something new to hear."
Gu Qingfeng looked at Lin Xiang'er standing atop Yunle Peak, hands resting on her instrument. The more he looked, the more peculiar she seemed. He couldn't even determine if Lin Xiang'er truly counted as a reincarnated person.
If she was, she carried no trace of reincarnation breath.
If she wasn't, there was still a hint of reincarnation about her. At the very least, Gu Qingfeng could see that Lin Xiang'er's soul was not that of a normal person.
Forget normal—Gu Qingfeng couldn't even be sure if it was a human soul at all.
And it wasn't the soul of a demon, ghost, or monster either.
Lin Xiang'er's soul was strange, so strange that Gu Qingfeng was encountering something like this for the first time. It gave him the feeling of something that had gained sentience after absorbing the essence of sun and moon, nurturing self-awareness.
Could it be that Lin Xiang'er's previous life was some peculiar entity?
Having undergone the tempering of sun and moon essence, it developed self-awareness?
Became a kind of spirit?
And then reincarnated?
That didn't seem possible either!
Spirits like that fundamentally didn't belong to the Great Dao's cycle of life, so they couldn't even be said to reincarnate or not.
Just what was going on?
"Could this feeling be caused by karma?" Lin Xiang'er's voice came through.
Gu Qingfeng shook his head, indicating he wasn't sure either.
"You and I have never met in this life. If there is karma, it must be from a previous life. How much do you know about your past life?"
Gu Qingfeng answered succinctly with four words: "Nothing at all."
"You also know nothing?"
"So you're the same?"
"I don't know. I'm not even sure if I count as a reincarnated person, or if I even have a past life."
Lin Xiang'er's words echoed Gu Qingfeng's own thoughts. He too didn't know if he had a past life.
The piece ended, as if leaving them wanting more.
While continuing to play, Lin Xiang'er also communicated spiritually with Gu Qingfeng. She seemed to want to understand the root of this sense of familiarity, so she hid nothing, telling Gu Qingfeng everything she had experienced and thought.
"Every time I play this piece, it's as if I'm dreaming. In the dream, a woman dances gracefully before a man. When I met you, this feeling grew stronger, yet also more elusive and blurred."
"Quite coincidentally, when I heard this piece, I felt the same—as if in a dream, where a woman also dances before a man."
"Are you the man in the dream?"
"I don't know."
Gu Qingfeng truly didn't know, because his sense of familiarity was also elusive and vague. He then asked, "Are you the woman?"
"No! I am not."
"You're so certain?"
"I've known how to play this piece since childhood. Every time I play it, it feels like a dream. I've dreamed it countless times, and I'm absolutely certain I am not the woman in the dream. But why do I feel you are the man in the dream?"
"Why do you say that?"
"I'm not clear either."
"I mean, why are you so sure you're not the woman in the dream?"
"I don't know, but I can feel it—I am definitely not the woman in the dream."
A silence fell, and another piece ended.
Lin Xiang'er began the third piece, which would also be her final performance.
"You... do you know a woman named Huang? Or perhaps have you heard of her?"
"Huang?"
Gu Qingfeng shook his head slightly. He neither knew that name nor had he heard of it.
"I think... the woman in the dream should be named Huang."
"How do you know?"
"Don't ask me. I don't know why I know either. I just feel her name should be Huang. And this name is my only memory of a past life."
Gu Qingfeng murmured the word 'Huang,' vaguely feeling as if he had heard it somewhere before, or perhaps seen it somewhere. Where exactly, he couldn't recall, and he had no impression of it.
"Can you tell me who you really are?"
"Gu Tianlang."
"Are you really Lord Chixiao?"
"What? Don't believe it?"
"I don't know. But even if you really are Lord Chixiao, I've never met you before. Why is it that only when I meet you does this sense of familiarity become so intense?"
"If you can't figure it out, then don't think about it. Let things take their natural course."
Compared to Lin Xiang'er's tangled feelings, Gu Qingfeng seemed quite at ease.
Indeed.
Though he also wanted to understand what was going on, it was merely a strong desire. In his five hundred years of cultivation, he had encountered all sorts of strange and bizarre things. A sense of familiarity like this wasn't something he hadn't encountered before. After encountering it, he had tried to investigate, but unfortunately, ended up with nothing each time.
Having encountered it many times, Gu Qingfeng was no longer surprised by such things. He let things follow fate, taking their natural course. What was meant to come would always come; what wasn't meant to come, begging gods and ancestors wouldn't help.
After finishing the third piece, Lin Xiang'er eagerly left Yunle Peak. Not long after, she arrived at Qinggui Garden.
Seeing her appear, Mei Miao quickly cautioned her in secret, fearing that Lin Xiang'er, Tang Manqing, and Liu Yue might act impulsively and team up against Gu Qingfeng.
Knowing Gu Qingfeng was not to be trifled with, Mei Miao dared not provoke him. All she wanted now was for Gu Qingfeng to eat and drink his fill and then quickly leave the Yunchuan Garden Pavilion. For a profound and unfathomable existence like Gu Qingfeng, Mei Miao not only didn't want to provoke him, but she also didn't want to bring trouble upon herself. She knew that many big shots from Yanluo Immortal Court, Crimson-Letter Sect, the Four Great Families, and the Seven Great Sects were here. Once they discovered this guy was also in the Garden Pavilion, things would inevitably turn ugly. If both sides came to blows, she, as the Grand Steward of Yunchuan Garden Pavilion, would have no choice but to get involved.
But sometimes, the more you worry about something, the more likely it is to happen.
Just as she was thinking about how to see Gu Qingfeng off from the pavilion, someone walked into Qinggui Garden not long after—and they were from Yanluo Immortal Court.