The Divine Continent.
A grand carriage pulled by two-headed lion-tigers was racing swiftly through the mountains and forests.
No matter how dense the woods or how steep the mountains, this two-headed lion-tiger carriage traversed them as if walking on flat ground. Even the carriage being pulled seemed unaffected, steady as a small boat floating on the sea.
The driver was a dwarf.
This dwarf was short and stout, yet wore neat and meticulous black robes. His hair was combed neatly, and a prominent straight mustache sat beneath his nose.
It was none other than Fei Kui.
Inside the carriage, Gu Qingfeng lounged leisurely on his back, resting with his eyes closed while sipping fine wine.
Back in the cave dwelling, although Su Hua had persistently proposed accompanying Gu Qingfeng to the Shangqing Sect, citing many advantages for him, she was ultimately refused.
First,
it was inappropriate.
Second,
it was inconvenient.
Third,
it was unnecessary.
It was inappropriate because Gu Qingfeng knew Su Hua's identity was extraordinary. Even disregarding her past life as the Ninth-Heaven Envoy and her current life as the same, just the sheer number of Great Dao edicts she carried made him reluctant to become too entangled with her.
Gu Qingfeng knew Su Hua must be a key figure in a coming tribulation—one that would affect the very structure of the Great Dao and the world itself. Otherwise, the various Daos wouldn't be scrambling to win her over. Besides seizing the initiative and placing their bets, they were also hedging their risks.
Though Gu Qingfeng was already mired in trouble and didn't mind a few more troubles, 'not minding' didn't mean he was idle and actively seeking them out. Some troubles were best avoided whenever possible, especially since Su Hua was a focal point of trouble.
Moreover, Gu Qingfeng's trip to the Shangqing Sect was for personal reasons. Bringing Su Hua along would likely cause many inconveniences.
Of course,
none of this was important.
What was important was:
Gu Qingfeng had all his limbs intact and wasn't lame. He didn't need anyone to take care of him or show him the way, so naturally, there was no need for Su Hua to escort him to the Shangqing Sect.
To be honest,
while he did enjoy teasing girls and flirting when he had nothing better to do, more often than not, he found women bothersome and full of trivial matters. They were either overly curious, overly compassionate, overflowing with sympathy, or possessed of a savior complex.
This was the nature of women, not something easily changed with experience. Moreover, women often acted on emotion, and many things went awry because of it—a lesson Gu Qingfeng had learned the hard way before.
Precisely because of this,
he had always preferred teasing girls but never befriending women.
And so, he lay in the carriage, sipping wine, humming a tune, and enjoying the scenery along the way. It was quite pleasant. Since it wasn't an urgent matter, he wasn't in a hurry. This was a good opportunity to ponder some things.
These past few days, his thoughts kept returning to the mad old man he encountered in the Wu-Dao Age ruins.
To be precise, it was the phrase the mad old man kept chanting.
"Innate wisdom, innate confusion, distinguishing self from other; a hundred kinds of yang, a hundred kinds of yin, transforming into the harmony of heaven and earth; seeing neither good nor evil, only cause and effect remain; a thousand sages, a thousand demons, let others say what they will..." Gu Qingfeng had repeated this phrase countless times but could neither understand nor comprehend it.
He also didn't know why, when the mad old man chanted this phrase, he had inexplicably fallen into a strange dream.
What did the voice in the dream mean?
What did 'do not believe in karma' mean?
What was 'fake'?
What was 'do not forget'?
Who exactly was waiting for him on Mount Xuwang?
Gu Qingfeng had pondered for a long time but couldn't figure it out. He tried to see if he could fall into that strange dream again, but it was useless. No matter how many times he repeated the phrase, he could no longer inexplicably descend into the dream.
What puzzled him most was that he didn't even know if that voice had been speaking to him.
This was absolutely a question worth deep contemplation.
In the past, Gu Qingfeng wouldn't have had such doubts.
But ever since learning that his existence was related to the Blood of Original Sin, he couldn't help but doubt—especially now that he had fused with the Blood of Original Sin. He truly couldn't determine whether that strange dream was related to the Blood of Original Sin.
This matter ran deep.
So deep it gave Gu Qingfeng a headache. He felt bewildered, lost, and even began to doubt his own life.
This was no exaggeration. Having lived to this point, Gu Qingfeng was genuinely starting to doubt his own existence.
He didn't even know if he was human.
Jun Xuanji had said that a woman named Canyang Wuyou from Canyang Mountain had used a drop of the Blood of Original Sin to breed many Original Sin beings. Whether her goal was to sever karma or continue it, Jun Xuanji said she didn't know. She only knew that many of the bred Original Sin beings had been killed, leaving only Gu Qingfeng himself and some woman from Canyang Mountain whose name he couldn't recall.
So the question arose:
How did Canyang Wuyou use the Blood of Original Sin to breed so many Original Sin beings?
Was he human?
Gu Qingfeng didn't know.
However,
he didn't care about that.
Human or demon,
even if he were a monster, Gu Qingfeng could accept it.
What truly frustrated him was not knowing whether the people he had met and the things he had done over his five hundred years of cultivation were due to his own nature or the karma induced by the Blood of Original Sin.
This question was important.
At least, Gu Qingfeng considered it important.
If it was his own nature, then everything was fine.
But if all of this was caused by the Blood of Original Sin, then Gu Qingfeng wanted to curse.
He could not accept that after struggling for five hundred years, dying and being reborn countless times, he had ended up carrying someone else's burden.
Gu Qingfeng had always wanted to understand this issue, but unfortunately, he couldn't figure it out himself, and no one could answer it for him.
Moreover, he had discovered along the way that Yun Nichang, Feng Zhuyue, Jun Xuanji, and Tang Hengheng all seemed to be searching for the answer to this same damn question. They, too, didn't know whether their past connections with him were arranged by fate or driven by karma.
Suddenly,
Gu Qingfeng remembered someone.
An old monk.
An old monk residing within the Extinct Bone Jade.
Over these five hundred years, whenever he encountered confusion, he had wanted to talk to the old monk. Although the old monk had never once answered his questions, just having someone to share his thoughts with was enough for Gu Qingfeng. Besides, with all these troublesome matters, he truly didn't know who else to talk to besides the old monk.
Thinking carefully, it seemed like a long time since he had seen the old monk.
With a thought, he entered the Extinct Bone Jade.