Hmm?
Upon hearing these words, the despair in Su Hua's heart instantly reignited with hope. She immediately rose from where she had collapsed on the floor, her ashen face flushing with excitement. She pressed urgently, "Eldest Senior Sister, what do you mean? Who else can save Xiao Jinr?"
"You wish for Xiao Jinr to live a carefree life. But who does Xiao Jinr wish to be carefree, worry-free, and alive?"
When the Eldest Senior Sister's voice came, a name instantly surfaced in Su Hua's mind. She asked, "Eldest Senior Sister, are you referring to Gu Qingfeng?"
"Who else could it be but him?"
The Eldest Senior Sister sighed. "Surveying all heaven and earth, only he possesses the audacity, the capability, and the power to snatch Xiao Jinr from the grasp of the Three Thousand Great Daos. I'm afraid within this cosmos, only he is qualified to rekindle Xiao Jinr's will to live."
Yes.
Only Gu Qingfeng.
Throughout this world, this cosmos, since ancient times, there have been many who dared to defy the Three Thousand Great Daos, and not a few who dared to challenge the Heavens themselves.
However, those who could oppose the Three Thousand Great Daos, dare to stand against the Heavens for so long, and still survive, were absolutely few and far between.
Gu Qingfeng might not have been the first, nor the last, nor the strongest, the most formidable, or the most arrogant. But he was undoubtedly the one with the greatest notoriety in history, the one who lived with the most untrammeled freedom.
Just think: a man who clearly knows his very existence is anathema to heaven and earth, with the Three Thousand Great Daos glaring covetously and the Heavens watching closely from behind—who could still laugh?
Who would dare to laugh?
Gu Qingfeng dared.
Not only did he dare to laugh, he laughed with particular abandon.
He ate and slept as he pleased every day, letting nothing disrupt his life.
No matter what moves the Three Thousand Great Daos made, he accepted them all.
Then he continued eating and drinking as usual, as if nothing had happened.
This was also the aspect of Gu Qingfeng that Su Hua admired most.
The problem, however, was that Gu Qingfeng had mysteriously vanished for over a decade. With the world so vast, where should one even begin to look for him?
She didn't know.
If she had known, Su Hua would have found Gu Qingfeng long ago, and would not have waited until now.
At that moment, she thought of her Eldest Senior Sister, wondering if she could locate Gu Qingfeng. But just as she was about to speak, the Eldest Senior Sister's voice came again.
"Do not ask me. I do not know either. Whether you can find him depends on your own fortune. Whether Xiao Jinr can survive also depends on her own fortune...
Go now. Let everything follow fate... it can only follow fate now..."
Hearing this.
Su Hua hesitated no longer. She flashed and vanished.
Watching Su Hua disappear, Nalan Qianqiu, standing nearby, seemed unable to believe it for a moment. She asked, "Eldest Senior Sister, you're really letting Little Junior Sister go?
Didn't you say Little Junior Sister was walking further and further down the path of karma?
Why let her continue to be involved in this matter?
Little Junior Sister is the Bearer of True Mandate destined to respond to tribulation. Having karma with that Gu fellow, an Original Sin person of the Lawless Era, is bad enough. Do you also want her to have karma with Xiao Jinr, this Calamity Star of the Lawless Era?"
"Hua'er is not walking further down the path of karma; she is already deeply mired in it...
Be it Original Sin or Calamity Star, these are her own karma to begin with...
She cannot avoid it, nor can she shake it off..."
"But...
Even so, you shouldn't let Little Junior Sister sink deeper..."
"This is the path she chose herself. None of us can stop her, nor can we substitute for her. If it were possible to stop her, I would not have allowed her to reincarnate all those years ago..."
"Honestly!
I just don't understand. Since you knew you couldn't stop her, Eldest Senior Sister, why did you intervene to bring Little Junior Sister back, only to let her leave now? Isn't that just superfluous?"
"I brought her back only to let her calm down, to let her seriously think through what she desires and what she is doing...
Since she has already thought it through clearly, what reason do I have to make her stay? In this regard, Hua'er is far superior to you. Though she is destined to bear the shackles of fate belonging to the Lawless Era, at least she knows what she wants. And you...
though unrelated to the Lawless Era, you don't even know what you yourself desire."
Nalan Qianqiu pouted and retorted, "I'd rather not know what I want than bear the shackles of fate of the Lawless Era."
"That is precisely why you fundamentally do not understand what significance the pure and innocent Xiao Jinr's survival holds for Hua'er."
"Alright, I admit I don't understand. But, speaking of which, Eldest Senior Sister, were those words you said earlier true or just to comfort Little Junior Sister? Can that Gu fellow really save Xiao Jinr?"
"I was not comforting Hua'er. As for whether he can save Xiao Jinr, I do not know either. I said, whether she can find him depends on Hua'er's fortune. Whether Xiao Jinr can survive also depends on her own fortune...
Everything can only follow fate..."
"In my opinion, you shouldn't have let Little Junior Sister leave at all, much less let her go searching for that Gu fellow. That guy vanished from the Shangqing Sect over a decade ago, leaving no trace or news since. Countless people have been looking for him, yet no one has found him."
Nalan Qianqiu continued, "The reason the Cloud's End dared to step forward to eradicate Xiao Jinr this time is probably on the Immortal Dao's instigation. And the Immortal Dao likely acted precisely because they were certain that Gu fellow had vanished without a trace. If the Immortal Dao knew that Gu fellow was still in this world, even if you lent them three extra measures of courage, they probably wouldn't dare to so blatantly eradicate Xiao Jinr."
"Not necessarily."
"What do you mean 'not necessarily'?
Eldest Senior Sister, do you really think the Immortal Dao would dare to eradicate Xiao Jinr right in front of that Gu fellow?"
"Why wouldn't they dare?"
"If that Gu fellow knew, he would definitely step forward for Xiao Jinr and wouldn't allow Cloud's End to harm a single hair on her head. The Immortal Dao has tried several times but failed to finish off that Gu fellow. If Gu stepped forward to protect Xiao Jinr, the Immortal Dao would be helpless."
"This is not a question of daring or not, nor a question of being helpless or not. It is a question of stance. Precisely because the Immortal Dao has repeatedly failed to eradicate him, they will be even less willing to give up."
"Why is that?"
"I said it's a question of stance. The situation was already extremely chaotic to begin with, with no one clear about what the future holds. Yet, amidst such chaos, a variable like that Gu person emerged, making the future of the Current Era even more unpredictable. Therefore, all the Three Thousand Great Daos are now watching and waiting for an opportunity to act, observing the stance of the Heavenly Dao, and also observing the stances of the Immortal Dao, the Monster Dao, and the Monster Dao."
"The Heavenly Dao's stance towards the Gu variable has always been ambiguous. It was so when Gu fused with the Blood of Original Sin years ago, and again over a decade ago when Gu slew the Current Era's Mandate of Heaven. It is precisely this ambiguous stance of the Heavenly Dao that has caused the other Great Daos to keep watching. Now, the Three Thousand Great Daos are like a dragon without a head. The Immortal Dao has always wanted to be the leader of the Great Daos. At this time, the Immortal Dao naturally must step forward and set an example."
"What use is setting an example?"
Nalan Qianqiu snorted coldly. "After all this trouble, they've lost troops and commanders, been humiliated and made a spectacle of themselves. Yet that Gu fellow is still living perfectly well, doing whatever he dares to do."
"That is precisely why the Immortal Dao's current situation is also one of helplessness. They clearly know that Gu is a tough bone to chew—if they chew poorly, they might even break their teeth. Yet, even so, the Immortal Dao has no choice but to chew. The Immortal Dao has no way back. They must chew whether they can manage it or not, and can only keep chewing, time and again. If they simply give up now, the loss of troops and humiliation would be minor; their hope of competing for leadership among the Great Daos in the Current Era would be shattered..."
The Eldest Senior Sister sighed. "The Immortal Dao made a wrong move in this game of chess...
They were wrong from the very beginning...
Yet, as things stand, they can only continue being wrong...
In comparison, the Heavenly Dao is much more astute...
Knowing that Gu Qingfeng is a tough bone to chew, they never intended to chew it from the start...
Instead, they gave the opportunity to the Immortal Dao..."
Nalan Qianqiu laughed. "The Heavenly Dao didn't 'give' the opportunity to the Immortal Dao at all. In my view, they clearly dug a huge pit for the Immortal Dao to jump into, never to climb out again..."