In a daze, Gu Qingfeng seemed to arrive at a mysterious place.
This place was as chaotic as the Primordial Chaos.
Then.
That ethereal, illusory voice sounded once more.
"Do not believe in Karma...
Do not believe..." "It is false...
Karma is false."
"Do not believe them."
"Do not forget, never forget...
You severed all Karma, so you have no past life, no present life, and no future life...
You belong only to yourself, the one and only you."
"Mountain of Illusion..." "I await you at the Mountain of Illusion..." "I have been waiting for you..." "I know, and I firmly believe that one day you will return."
"I await you."
"I await you..."
It was that dream again.
Ever since fusing with a drop of the Blood of Original Sin, Gu Qingfeng had previously experienced a strange dream. In that dream, this same voice had intermittently spoken, also saying that Karma was false, mentioning the Mountain of Illusion, and saying it awaited him.
The previous dream had been like this.
The current dream was exactly the same.
Who was the owner of this voice?
Gu Qingfeng truly did not know.
He tried to locate the source of the voice, but it was utterly useless. The voice seemed to come from a distant place, leaving him with nowhere to search. He tried to ask questions.
However.
No one responded to him.
"Wisdom arises from within, delusion arises from within, distinguishing object and self...
A thousand saints, a thousand demons, let others say what they will..."
He did not know how much time passed.
The voice came again.
Still repeating that same passage.
What exactly did these words mean? Gu Qingfeng still could not figure it out.
He knew that the so-called Mountain of Illusion was Wu Dao Mountain.
But what did the voice mean by saying not to believe in Karma, that Karma was false?
And who exactly was the other party waiting for?
Waiting for him?
Gu Qingfeng did not think so. In his mind, it should be related to that drop of the Blood of Original Sin. Because before this, he had never dreamed. It was only after fusing with the Blood of Original Sin that he began having such dreams continuously.
Suddenly.
The voice came again.
"Is it you?"
Hmm?
Gu Qingfeng's heart jolted. Just as he was about to respond, the voice, as if talking to itself, spoke again.
"No, it's not you."
"I know it's not you, how could it possibly be you..." "False, it's all false. You said you were also false, everything is false, all is Illusion."
"Heh heh, Illusion..." "Heh heh, are you well?"
"Will you still return?"
"No!
You will not return...
You said that once you left, you would never return."
"No!
You will definitely return. You also said that after you left, you would definitely return."
"I...
await you."
"Do not abandon me...
Do not, alright?"
That ethereal, illusory voice seemed to be talking to itself, and the words sounded somewhat contradictory. Listening to it, Gu Qingfeng grew increasingly puzzled. He tried again to communicate with that voice. Unfortunately, he still could not establish contact, nor did he know from where this voice originated.
Suddenly.
Gu Qingfeng felt something was amiss. Vaguely, he felt as if someone was watching him.
Who?
Who was it?
Where?
Within the Primordial Chaos, Gu Qingfeng's consciousness darted about like a headless fly. The dream was very real, as real as an actual world of chaos. Within the dream, Gu Qingfeng had no sense of direction. For some reason, he didn't even have his divine sense; only a wisp of self-awareness shuttled through the chaos.
That voice no longer sounded.
But the feeling of being watched grew increasingly intense.
He continued to shuttle swiftly through the chaos. The feeling grew stronger and clearer.
Closer!
Just ahead.
Gu Qingfeng was certain that something ahead was watching him.
He continued to shuttle.
Closer, almost there.
At this moment, Gu Qingfeng was like one parting the clouds to see the bright moon. Finally, he saw.
It was a person.
To be precise, Gu Qingfeng did not know if the other party was truly a person.
It looked like a person, but its entire body was tightly wrapped layer upon layer in white cloth, revealing only a pair of pitch-black eyes like black holes.
"It's you!"
Gu Qingfeng did not recognize the person before him, but he had seen them once before.
And the impression was extremely profound. He clearly remembered it was several years ago in the Great Northwest, on the way to the Demon Moon Palace. Gu Qingfeng had similarly felt someone watching him then, though not in a dream, but in the real world.
Gu Qingfeng had even fought with him. Although no victor was decided at the time, his intuition told him the other party was powerful, powerful beyond imagination, so powerful that he himself might not be his match at all. Especially that aura capable of destroying heaven and earth—it was the first time Gu Qingfeng felt himself to be extremely insignificant.
"It is I."
The other party responded.
The voice also carried an ethereal, illusory quality, as if coming from a distant place, very peculiar.
"Who are you?"
Gu Qingfeng could not see through the other party, could not even detect his presence. However, what struck him as strange was that, for some reason, there was a very familiar feeling from the other party. Not a sense of déjà vu, but an indescribable, unclear feeling.
"What you are, I am. We belong to the same kind of people, even belong to the same person."
Upon hearing these words, Gu Qingfeng was utterly shocked.
What did 'belong to the same kind of people' mean?
And what did 'even belong to the same person' mean?
Suddenly.
Gu Qingfeng remembered the Blood of Original Sin.
Legend had it that the Blood of Original Sin belonged to the blood of that Overlord of Original Sin from the Daoless Age, Venerable Wu Dao.
The same kind of people, and familiar with the same person.
Gu Qingfeng tentatively asked, "Are you also one of Those with Original Sin?"
"Yes and no."
"How so?"
The other party did not respond.
Gu Qingfeng did not ask further. Although he had heard people say that there might be more than one drop of the Blood of Original Sin, and that the Blood of Original Sin was definitely not limited to himself alone, truly encountering another like himself, another with the Blood of Original Sin, still felt somewhat unbelievable to Gu Qingfeng.
However.
He said 'yes and no'.
What did that mean?
Unfortunately.
The other party did not explain clearly, and he could not figure it out.
After a moment, Gu Qingfeng asked again, "Between heaven and earth, how many of Those with Original Sin are there?"
"Not many, but also not few."
Just as Gu Qingfeng fell silent, that previous ethereal, illusory voice sounded once more, still talking to itself about something Illusion.
"Since you are also here, it means this Dream Realm does not belong solely to me, but to our kind of people."
Although the other party did not respond, Gu Qingfeng had an answer in his heart. He added, "Moreover, it seems the voice in this dream is not speaking to me alone."
"This is a nightmare, and also a Curse."
The person wrapped entirely in white cloth said, "It is the nightmare of Original Sin, and also the Curse of Original Sin. All Those with Original Sin will suffer the nightmare of Original Sin, and also suffer the Curse of Original Sin."