Da Xing the Mad Monk also awoke from his unconscious state. He remained slumped on the ground, simply looking up at the sky that resembled ruins, closing his eyes and recalling everything that had happened before he lost consciousness.
After a long while, he murmured, "Senior Brother, do you know?
The Patriarch once told me something. The old master said that kid Gu is a taboo. One must never oppose him. Opposing him brings change, change brings life and death, then chaos, the destruction of heaven and earth, and the Dao-less cycle of reincarnation."
"I asked the Patriarch, 'What is chaos?'
The Patriarch said, 'The sacred is, the evil is, light is, darkness is, everything is.'
I asked the Patriarch again, 'What is the Dao-less cycle of reincarnation?'
The Patriarch didn't answer me directly, only saying that after the cycle of reincarnation, it is the beginning of mystery, the beginning of the unknown, the beginning of Fate...'
"I didn't understand before. I still don't understand now."
Beside him, the White-Browed Holy Monk also seemed to have just awoken from unconsciousness. He clasped his hands together, softly chanting 'Amitabha Buddha,' and asked, "Junior Brother, do you know what existence that Chaos Giant, which Fellow Daoist Gu finally transformed into, truly is?"
"I don't know."
Da Xing the Mad Monk shook his head, speaking in a despondent tone, "And I don't want to know."
"Why?"
"Why?" Da Xing the Mad Monk turned around, looking at the White-Browed Holy Monk with a numb expression. His gaze seemed utterly bewildering, and then he suddenly laughed—a laugh that was equally bewildering.
"Junior Brother, why are you laughing?"
"Why am I laughing? Heh... hahaha..." Da Xing the Mad Monk shook his head, looking at the White-Browed Holy Monk with great seriousness. "Senior Brother, that thing kid Gu transformed into not only possesses the power to destroy heaven and earth, but even the damn Sacred Judgment was utterly annihilated by him. What's the point of you still wanting to know what kind of existence that thing he transformed into is?
Is there any meaning?
Even if you knew, what could you do about it?"
"What about the Immortal Dao? What about the Buddhist Dao?
The nine Purification Dragons, the five Vajra Kings—their wrathful Dharma manifestations were summoned, only to be beaten so badly they wouldn't even be recognized by their own ancestors, unable to return, and finally were completely obliterated by that kid!"
"The Three Thousand Great Daos joined forces to pass judgment once, but only once. The Heavenly Dao passed judgment once, then was so scared it never dared show its face again. That kid directly threw the declaration of war in Heavenly Dao's face, and Heavenly Dao didn't even dare let out a damn fart!"
"Wasn't the Sacred Judgment supposed to be awesome? With its so-called Gate of Remote Antiquity and Mystic-Yellow Bell, hailed as the judgment of the gods? And what happened? Didn't it also vanish into thin air later?"
"Senior Brother, didn't you say Fate would intervene and cast that kid into the Endless Guixu? But where the hell is Fate? Scared shitless, not even daring to show its damn face!"
Faced with Da Xing the Mad Monk's near-insane roar, the White-Browed Holy Monk seemed to want to speak but held back, then let out a deep, heavy sigh.
This sigh expressed all the helplessness in his heart, all the compassion in his heart, and even all the confusion and bewilderment in his heart.
After another long moment, the White-Browed Holy Monk spoke again, "Fate has not shown itself, but that does not mean it has not intervened."
"What? Don't tell me you want to say Fate has already intervened? And has already cast kid Gu into the Endless Guixu? I'm telling you, Senior Brother, although I've read fewer books than you and my knowledge and experience are inferior to yours, that doesn't mean my brain is worse than yours. Don't try to fool me!"
"Junior Brother, do not misunderstand. That is not what I meant. Fate has not cast Fellow Daoist Gu into the Endless Guixu."
"Then what do you mean by Fate intervening? What kind of intervention? When did it intervene? How come I don't know?"
"Junior Brother, do you know what place this is?"
"Nonsense! What else could this place be? It's obviously the world from before, though now it's turned into ruins."
Da Xing the Mad Monk was a Living Buddha of the Western Paradise, who traveled extensively across the Three Thousand Great Worlds. He was well-traveled and knowledgeable, having naturally witnessed worlds disintegrating due to immense power. This was not unusual. When mighty experts dueled, if they fought with red-hot fury, causing widespread devastation within a world and reducing it to ruins, while not common, it was certainly not rare.
If mighty experts could cause such damage, consider that Gu Qingfeng had been contending with the Three Thousand Great Daos in this very world, and the thing he later transformed into possessed the power to destroy heaven and earth.
It wouldn't be surprising to Da Xing the Mad Monk if not just this world, but heaven and earth themselves had turned to ruins.
"Junior Brother, look more carefully."
"Hmm?" Hearing White Brows say this, Da Xing the Mad Monk felt puzzled. He looked carefully and realized something was off—there wasn't a single person in this world.
Had all living beings in the world perished?
Impossible, right?
Even if all living beings had died, there should at least be remains, right?
Why were there no remains? Even without remains, there should be some vitality, right?
Why was there no vitality at all?
Soon, Da Xing the Mad Monk discovered that not only was there no vitality in this world, there was no nature either. Not just nature, but even the sun and moon were absent.
This was even more impossible.
What was going on?
Da Xing the Mad Monk released his divine sense to probe and was shocked to find that this was not the previous world at all, but merely a desolate space!
"What's going on? How did we end up in this desolate space?"
"This is what I meant earlier when I said Fate had intervened."
Da Xing the Mad Monk found it hard to believe. "You're saying Fate intervened and brought us to this world?"
"Not that it brought us to this time, but that Fate silently replaced the previous world with this desolate space."
"When? How come I didn't notice at all?"
"I only realized it after I woke up. As for when, I don't know. Perhaps it was replaced from the very beginning, perhaps midway, or perhaps later."
"Who has such great ability to silently replace a world's space?"
"Fate."
"Fate?" Da Xing the Mad Monk was momentarily confused. Suddenly, he thought of a person—one hailed as omniscient across heaven and earth, revered as the Envoy of Karma, the Incarnation of Fate, known as the Old Man of Heavenly Secrets, also called, the Nameless of Remote Antiquity!
If there was anyone in all of heaven and earth who could silently shift a world's space, that person could only be the Nameless of Remote Antiquity!
"Did the Nameless of Remote Antiquity appear?"
The White-Browed Holy Monk nodded, then shook his head. "Perhaps."
"If the Nameless of Remote Antiquity truly appeared, then that's even more terrifying..." Now it was White Brows' turn to be puzzled. "Why?"
"Think about it. That kid Gu Qingfeng conjured up an existence that rules over Life and Death and destroys heaven and earth. If the Nameless of Remote Antiquity didn't know, that would be one thing. But he just so happens to know. Not only does he know, but he was also present at the scene, yet he did not stop. What does that mean?
Either he couldn't stop it, or he tacitly allowed it."
"Matters of Fate are not something we can speculate about."
After a pause, the White-Browed Holy Monk continued, "I have always believed that there is a predetermined order in the unseen workings of the universe. The Fate of all things in heaven and earth was long predestined."
"Senior Brother, you also must not forget that beyond the predetermined order, there are variables."
Da Xing the Mad Monk said, "And kid Gu is the greatest variable of the current era!"