Huode loved wine, never happy without it; Gu Qingfeng loved wine even more, never happier without it. The two shared a deep friendship, and upon meeting, without another word, they immediately started drinking.
"Drifting wherever the wind blows?
Roaming the world?
Pah!"
Huode was drinking the fine wine Gu Qingfeng had brought out. He knew the wine in Gu Qingfeng's possession was absolutely peerless, treasured vintage. However, he also knew that Gu Qingfeng's tastes were always strong, and the wine on his person was uniformly, perversely potent. Worried his own constitution couldn't handle it, he drank cautiously, afraid that one sip might cause him to disintegrate into ashes on the spot.
Fortunately.
Though the wine was fiercer than imagined, he could still handle it. Taking a small sip, he said, "Back when the Yunxia Sect was still around, we couldn't get out, listening all day to people talk about how high this mountain was, how grand that sect was, this immortal, that immortal. But when I really went out wandering, it was actually just that—mountains, no matter how high, are just mountains; grand sects, no matter how grand, are just grand sects. As for those so-called immortals, they're no different from us—two shoulders carrying one head. I didn't see them piss any higher or farther than us."
"Hahahaha!"
Gu Qingfeng laughed heartily, nodding to express deep agreement. "Many people yearn for legends precisely because no one has ever seen them. If everyone witnessed a legend firsthand, the so-called legend would cease to be a legend."
"But, Gu kid, how are you?
Are you alright?"
Gu Qingfeng was suddenly caught off guard by Huode's question. Looking at Huode sizing him up, he asked puzzledly, "What?
Do I look like something's wrong?"
"Really don't know how to describe you, kid. In recent years, I've heard no shortage of the things you've been up to out there. Ever since you left the Great Northwest, damn, it's been like tying a gong to your feet—wherever you go, you make a racket. From the damned Yanluo Kingdom all the way to the Shangqing Sect... I heard not long ago you not only challenged the Immortal Dao and Buddha Dao, but also seemed to have provoked Old Heaven himself..." Huode knew Gu Qingfeng's existence had long been beyond his imagination.
He also knew Gu Qingfeng's courage was immense, his abilities formidable.
Yes.
He knew.
But even so, when he heard about Gu Qingfeng at the Shangqing Sect—killing Celestial Mandates, slaying True Fates, and even driving off the Judgments of the Immortal and Buddha Daos, and making Old Heaven himself dare not utter a single fart—damn, it was just too insane. Even legends weren't as crazy as Gu Qingfeng.
"You know about that?"
"Nonsense!
Something that big, who the hell doesn't know? Even three-year-olds know. Speaking of which, you've really gone off the rails with your arrogance now. Before, you were just killing immortals, destroying immortal courts. This time after coming back, you've started challenging Old Heaven himself."
Huode stood up, leaning forward, and asked, "Why? What on earth for? What matter is so important that you have to challenge Old Heaven?"
"It's nothing major."
Gu Qingfeng picked up a cup of wine, swirled it, and said, "Idle hands are the devil's workshop. Just finding some fun to pass the time."
Idle hands are the devil's workshop?
Finding some fun?
Damn.
Had the Gu kid already become arrogant to this extent?
Challenging Old Heaven was just finding some fun?
Huode didn't understand.
Couldn't understand even if he racked his brains.
Although Gu Qingfeng had only said it lightly, Huode knew the matter was absolutely not that simple. Moreover, he understood Gu Qingfeng, clearly knowing that while Gu Qingfeng's temperament was wild and unrestrained, he was definitely not someone with nothing better to do. If not forced by circumstances, he would never defy all laws and prohibitions to challenge Old Heaven so recklessly.
Of course.
He was also tactful and didn't press further.
Just like that, they drank cup after cup. Perhaps sensing that Gu Qingfeng seemed to have something on his mind, Huode threw caution to the wind to keep him company, downing jar after jar, regardless of how strong the wine was, pouring it straight down his throat.
"Huode, how long have we known each other?"
Out of the blue, Gu Qingfeng asked this inexplicable question, causing Huode, who was sitting on the ground, to be stunned for a long time. Scratching his head, he said, "About five hundred years, right?
What's with asking that out of nowhere?"
"About five hundred years."
Gu Qingfeng lay back in his chair, legs crossed, eyes closed, and said, "Sounds like five hundred years is a long time, but thinking about it carefully, it also seems very short...
As if it happened just yesterday."
"There's an old saying, how does it go? 'In youth, cultivation makes sun and moon fly; one seclusion spans a thousand years. Sighing, when will time return? Like a dream, a single drunken revel.'"
Huode sighed. "Time, for cultivators, doesn't hold much meaning. Many people are so poor they have nothing but vast stretches of time to squander."
"'In youth, cultivation makes sun and moon fly; one seclusion spans a thousand years. Sighing, when will time return? Like a dream, a single drunken revel...'" Gu Qingfeng murmured, deeply moved. "Well said, truly well said...
Isn't it exactly like a dream, a single drunken revel..."
"I say, Gu kid, there's something I don't know if I should ask. Have you run into some trouble?"
Huode couldn't hold back any longer and finally asked.
"If you're talking about things on my mind, there really are some. Whether they're troublesome or not, I don't know yet."
Gu Qingfeng opened his eyes, gazed at the sky, and murmured, "Troublesome?"
It seemed like he was asking Old Heaven, also like he was asking Karma, like he was asking Fate, and even more like he was asking himself.
Then.
He closed his eyes again and said, "It's not really trouble. At least, for me, it can't be called troublesome. At most, it's just a bit of confusion."
Confusion?
Huode didn't understand.
"Huode, do you believe in Fate?"
"Me?
Of course I believe in Fate. Always have."
"Why?"
"What do you mean why?
Is there a 'why' for believing or not believing in Fate?"
"I mean, what makes you believe in Fate?"
"What?
Nothing really, I guess?"
Huode thought it over but really didn't know how to answer this question. "The Dao follows the Natural Order, Karma cycles—this is an eternal, unchanging truth. Since the Dao follows the Natural Order and Karma cycles, Fate and destiny are also predestined in the unseen. All things in heaven and earth cannot escape it."
"The Dao follows the Natural Order, Karma cycles, eternal and unchanging..." Gu Qingfeng murmured, seeming to gain some insight. Then he tilted his head, opened his eyes, and looked at Huode.
Perhaps feeling unnerved by Gu Qingfeng's stare, Huode leaned back and said, "I say, kid, what's with that look?
It's downright creepy!"
"Not bad, Huode. Never noticed before, but I suddenly think your level of understanding isn't ordinary at all. You're really wasting your talent staying in this godforsaken place. You should go to the Western Paradise and become a Buddha."
"Go to hell!
Making fun of this old man, are you?"