"You are still the same, not a bit changed, yet you also seem to have changed a great deal. At the very least, you feel different from before."
As the final note of the guqin piece faded.
Ye Tianlan slowly rose to her feet. Amidst the boundless Cloud Sea and the solitary peak, a fierce wind howled. A layer of crimson gauze, her thin garment, fluttered wildly in the wind, her three thousand strands of black hair dancing in disarray. Coupled with that stunningly beautiful face, she was the very picture of captivating charm.
"What hasn't changed is my nature; what has changed is my state of mind."
Ye Tianlan walked towards a pavilion atop the solitary peak, speaking softly, "Back then, you were young and arrogant, wild and unrestrained, pursuing a life of swift vengeance and personal satisfaction. Today, you are free and unfettered, without constraints, pursuing a life of following your heart's desires. Back then, you fought against the current for survival. Today, you walk further and further away in pursuit of karma."
Ye Tianlan's voice, much like her person, gave a feeling of both grand dignity and peerless elegance.
She walked to the pavilion, picked up a vivid crimson and exquisitely crafted wine pot, poured two cups of wine, and only then raised her head to glance at Gu Qingfeng. With a light, indifferent tone, she said, "Won't you sit down and have a couple of drinks?"
Gu Qingfeng didn't stand on ceremony either. He walked over and sat down.
Back in the day, he couldn't see through Ye Tianlan. Even now, he still couldn't see through her, and he was even more bewildered than before.
"It's been nearly three or four hundred years since we last met, hasn't it?"
Ye Tianlan raised her cup in a toast. Gu Qingfeng nodded. They clinked cups and drained them in one go. The wine was special, having no taste whatsoever, like clear water. Yet, after it slid down his throat, Gu Qingfeng felt a hazy sensation, as if he were drunk.
"What wine is this?"
Gu Qingfeng's current physical body had been tempered countless times by the Nine Underworlds Ancestral Flame and had undergone Nirvana rebirth who knew how many times. The existence of his body was akin to a unique world unto itself. Rarely was there any fine wine that could make him drunk. Even back when he secretly drank the strong liquors treasured by those old Nine Underworlds demons, he had never felt this hazy from a single cup.
"Heart Wine."
Ye Tianlan smiled faintly.
"Heart Wine?"
Gu Qingfeng had never heard of it.
"Heart Wine."
Ye Tianlan repeated it with certainty and continued, "Heart Wine intoxicates the heart, not the person. If the heart wishes to be intoxicated, one cup is enough. If the heart does not wish to be intoxicated, Heart Wine is like clear water."
Ye Tianlan poured another cup for Gu Qingfeng and said with a laugh, "It seems you very much wish to be drunk."
Gu Qingfeng indeed very much wished to be drunk. As his physical body grew increasingly complex and perverse, he hadn't been drunk in a very, very long time. He had long forgotten when the last time he got drunk was. Under normal circumstances, encountering this Heart Wine, Gu Qingfeng would definitely drink his fill with gusto. However, in front of Ye Tianlan, Gu Qingfeng felt it better to be cautious. If being tricked by a woman the first time was mere carelessness, then being tricked a second time would be sheer stupidity.
"Since when did your courage become so small?"
Perhaps seeing through Gu Qingfeng's thoughts, a trace of helpless amusement curved Ye Tianlan's lips as she said, "Or perhaps... even now, you still hold a grudge about what happened back then? In my impression, Gu Tianlang was not a petty, narrow-minded person."
"That's only in your impression. I've always been a petty, narrow-minded person."
"So then?"
"There is no 'so then'."
Gu Qingfeng held no favorable feelings towards Ye Tianlan, so naturally, he wouldn't be polite in his speech. He asked, "What matter do you have, luring me into this dream?"
"We can be considered old friends, can't we? After such a long time apart, shouldn't we catch up a bit?"
"Fine, let's catch up then."
Although Gu Qingfeng inwardly warned himself to be cautious, he nonetheless drank cup after cup of Heart Wine, never stopping.
Ye Tianlan simply sat opposite him, tilting her head slightly, gazing at Gu Qingfeng with a smiling expression. After a long while, she finally said, "It seems you've truly experienced a great many things over the years. Although your nature hasn't changed, that touch of solitary pride from your youth, the arrogance that dared to contend with the heavens, has diminished greatly. The domineering aura tempered through hardship also seems to have been reined in."
Gu Qingfeng drank another cup of Heart Wine and said, "Since when did you learn fortune-telling?"
"Appearance arises from the heart. Have you forgotten?"
"Is that so? Then what else do you see?"
"Loneliness."
Ye Tianlan stared into Gu Qingfeng's dark, silent eyes and softly uttered two words. She added, "The first time I met you back then, I could sense your loneliness. Meeting you again today, I no longer need to sense it. Perhaps you yourself haven't realized it yet, but the loneliness within your heart has long been incurably deep."
"Loneliness?" Gu Qingfeng laughed. "Why can't I feel it?"
"You just don't want to admit it."
Gu Qingfeng shrugged. "So be it loneliness then. It won't make me lose a few pounds of flesh." He paused, then tilted his head back and drained the cup in his hand. "Moreover, who in this world isn't lonely?"
"Ha!"
Ye Tianlan chuckled softly. "'Who in this world isn't lonely?' Said so well..." As she spoke, she seemed to remember something and asked, "Do you think I am lonely?"
Gu Qingfeng didn't even think before replying with three words: "I don't know."
"Alright. Then do you think I have changed in any way?"
Gu Qingfeng shook his head again, once more replying with three words, the same as before: "I don't know."
"Heh."
Ye Tianlan shook her head slightly, smiling helplessly. "You really are a master of 'I don't know'... Could it be... do I really make you so disgusted? So disgusted that even while catching up with me, you are so inattentive?"
She sighed softly, her voice tinged with melancholy. "No wonder everyone says you are a heartless man. They really aren't wronging you at all. In vain, I loved you so deeply back then..." Before she could finish her sentence, Gu Qingfeng, who was drinking wine, nearly spat out a mouthful of old liquor.
"I say, Big Sis, catching up is fine, but can we be a bit more serious? Can we drop these empty, deceptive tricks, please?"
Ye Tianlan looked at Gu Qingfeng, her expression serious, earnest, and sincere as she said, "Does my appearance look very unserious to you?"
This question Gu Qingfeng couldn't answer, so he chose silence, downing another cup of Heart Wine.
Truth be told.
This thing truly lived up to its name as Heart Wine. The more he drank, the hazier he felt. That hazy sensation wasn't a blurring of consciousness; it really felt like his heart was growing hazy—an indescribable, ineffable feeling.
After another bout of silence, Ye Tianlan spoke again, asking, "You... don't you have anything you want to say to me?"
Hearing this, Gu Qingfeng's heart skipped a beat. He asked, "Such as?"
"Such as why I fell in love with you back then..."
"Stop! Hold it right there!" Gu Qingfeng cut her off. "Can you speak human language?"
"Fine. No more joking. Let's be serious and speak human language."
Ye Tianlan changed her posture, sitting upright and proper, her expression solemn. "Deep down, you've always wanted to know why I went to such great lengths to form an immortal fate bond, becoming Dao companions with you back then, right?"
This sentence hit the nail on the head. This was indeed the question Gu Qingfeng most wanted answered.
"If not for this, I'm afraid you wouldn't have followed me into this dream at all, would you?"
Gu Qingfeng nodded. He didn't deny it. If not for wanting to get to the bottom of this question, he had no desire whatsoever to see Ye Tianlan.