"I don't know whether to end all of this, nor do I know how to make a choice."
"You also don't know whether to end all of this, nor do you know how to make a choice."
"Since neither of us can make a choice..."
"Then, let's leave it to Fate to decide."
After turning around, Jun Xuanji left, her figure growing increasingly hazy and ethereal, like mist and smoke.
"Either you kill me, or I kill you."
"You cannot bear to kill me, but I can bear to kill you."
Pausing here, Jun Xuanji added, "My conscious self might be unwilling, but my true self will certainly show no mercy. When Wudao Mountain descends, I will no longer be the Jun Xuanji you once met in this era. So... you need not hold back either."
"Must it be this way?"
Gu Qingfeng asked.
"Do we... have any other choice?"
"I have no choice. You have no choice. If there were a choice, this would no longer be Fate. Everything is predestined. Perhaps this is Karma."
"I'm leaving. Wudao Mountain..."
"Farewell."
Jun Xuanji vanished.
Just as she had vanished before, her departure was as abrupt as her arrival, as if she had never appeared at all.
Closing his eyes, Gu Qingfeng recalled Jun Xuanji's words.
In the past, he might not have understood what Jun Xuanji said.
But this time, he understood.
Just as Jun Xuanji had said, since neither of them could make a choice, they would leave it to Fate to decide. Either you die, or I perish.
Must it be this way?
Jun Xuanji said they had no choice.
But...
Was there truly no choice?
Not necessarily.
At the very least...
Gu Qingfeng was not without choice.
He did not continue this line of thought. With a flash, he vanished, departing from this desolate Spatial Secret Realm. He was heading to the Great Northwest, to Canyang Valley, to see Canyang Wuyou.
Given the circumstances, he felt it necessary to meet this person, Canyang Wuyou, and to clarify how all of this had begun.
After leaving the Spatial Secret Realm...
He returned to the Great World.
The blazing sun hung high in the sky.
Not a cloud for ten thousand li.
The void was still yesterday's void.
The blazing sun was still yesterday's sun.
The world below was still yesterday's world.
The world itself was still yesterday's world. Everything seemed largely unchanged.
The Great Northwest was also still yesterday's Great Northwest.
Returning to the Great Northwest once more, Gu Qingfeng's heart was rather complex. It wasn't nostalgia, nor was it reminiscence—just a faint stirring within.
Because the Great Northwest was where all of this had begun.
Five hundred years had passed in a flash. Countless memories were like fleeting clouds.
Shaking his head, he smiled wryly, tilted his head back, and drained an entire jar of wine in one go. Lifting his foot, he stepped into Canyang Valley. With another flash, he entered the Canyang Secret Realm.
Within the Secret Realm, there was no sky, nor was there earth. No sun or moon, no yin or yang, no five elements. There was nothing.
Only darkness.
Endless darkness.
Floating within the darkness was a woman.
The woman wore a set of dark red ceremonial robes, floating in the dark void as if adrift on a vast sea.
Her features were exquisitely beautiful, but hers was a peculiar beauty—like a rose blooming in darkness, mysterious and enchanting, dignified and noble. This nobility was not the sacred, luminous kind, but rather a noble air tinged with evil and darkness, making one dare not violate her.
She was Canyang Wuyou.
Gu Qingfeng had seen her once before.
Also here.
The only difference was that back then, Canyang Wuyou had shown no trace of vitality whatsoever, whereas now, Canyang Wuyou radiated boundless, endless life force.
"You have... after all..."
"...awakened that living drop of Blood of Original Sin..."
"What was destined to come..."
"...has ultimately arrived..."
"Predestined. Everything is predestined."
Canyang Wuyou's voice reached him, her words identical to Jun Xuanji's.
Not only that.
Jun Xuanji's tone had carried confusion and uncertainty.
Canyang Wuyou's voice was similarly filled with confusion and uncertainty.
"You are awakening?"
Gu Qingfeng gazed at Canyang Wuyou floating in the dark void and asked a cold, detached question.
"Yes."
"Awakening for what purpose?"
"To end all of this."
"How do you end all of this?"
"Either you kill me, or I kill you."
Hearing this, Gu Qingfeng laughed.
He himself didn't know why he felt like laughing.
"I have no choice. You have no choice. This was all predestined long ago. Since it was predestined long ago, let's leave it to Fate to choose."
Gu Qingfeng said with a laugh, "I just met Jun Xuanji. She said the same thing."
"Of course. She is more confused than I am, more uncertain than I am, and has even less choice than I do."
"You know her well."
"No, I don't know her. I only know my own Fate."
Gu Qingfeng intensely disliked the two words 'Fate'. From the moment he was born, he had disliked them. Not only disliked, but felt a particular aversion, even disgust, toward these two words. It was an innate disgust, a deeply ingrained disgust. It was so in the past, and even more so now.
"You say you know Fate better. Then tell me, what exactly is Fate?"
"I said I only know my own Fate better. As for what Fate is... I'm sorry, I cannot answer that question for you."
Changing the subject, Canyang Wuyou continued, "However, if you wish to know what Fate is, I believe there is one person who can answer that question for you."
"Who?"
"The Old Man of Heavenly Secrets, Genggu Wuming!"
"That one who claims to be the incarnation of Fate, the emissary of Karma, who knows all things under heaven and earth, from ancient times to the present—Genggu Wuming?"
"Precisely her. Only her. I think... you should be able to sense her presence. She has descended to the mortal realm. It won't be long before you meet her."
Yes.
Gu Qingfeng could sense Genggu Wuming's presence.
Back when he was contending with the Immortal Dao and Buddhist Dao, he had already sensed it. And if his guess was correct, the one who performed the Great Spatial Teleportation was also Genggu Wuming. In all the heavens and earth, only she possessed such capability.
"Her arrival is timely. I was just thinking of finding her. But before seeking her out, there are some matters I wish to clarify with you."
"I have already said all that should be said. What I haven't said... Jun Xuanji has likely already told you..." Gu Qingfeng asked, "Are you also a person of Original Sin?"
"Yes. Like Jun Xuanji, I am a person of Original Sin from the Daoless Age. She has fused with the Blood of Original Sin. I have also fused with the Blood of Original Sin. But what we fused with was merely a drop of pure Blood of Original Sin. The drop of Blood of Original Sin within your body is not so simple. It is the only mutated drop among the many drops of Blood of Original Sin, the only drop possessing life."
"Since you knew, why did you bring this drop of Blood of Original Sin back!"
"No!"
"You misunderstand. It was not I who brought this drop of Blood of Original Sin back."
"Then who was it?"
"Jun Xuanji?"
"It wasn't Jun Xuanji either. No one brought it back."
"What do you mean, no one brought it back? Could it be that it was originally here?"
"You are correct. This drop of Blood of Original Sin was originally here. It never left. Never..."