"Old Huode, saying I should make you a Buddha Lord of the Western Paradise might just be a joke, but with your level of attainment, staying in this mundane world is truly a waste of talent. Your accomplishments shouldn't be limited to just this."
"Cut it out. This old man knows his own weight very well. The kind of tricks you play, kid, I wouldn't understand them even if you gave me a hundred thousand years. I don't expect much in this lifetime. Drifting along and waiting to die in this mundane world is quite comfortable. Why go elsewhere looking for trouble?"
"That's exactly why I say your realm is high, you old codger. Having no desires or demands is itself a supreme state."
"Alright, alright, alright. Don't put a tall hat on this old man. I'm just incapable, that's why I drift along waiting to die. Not like you, kid, living so gloriously—killing those with Heavenly Fate, slaughtering those with True Destiny, beating the Immortal Dao and Buddha Dao into a corner, even making Old Heaven dare not utter a single fart. Being a man to your extent is absolutely the first in all of history. Even if you end up dead in the end, you wouldn't have lived in vain. The five hundred years you've cultivated, kid, are more exciting than some people's five million years of cultivation."
"Lived excitingly?"
Gu Qingfeng chuckled softly, sighing, "Yes, I also feel these five hundred years have been quite exciting. Thinking about it carefully, what you say isn't unreasonable. Even if I die in the end, I definitely wouldn't have lived in vain. Being a man to my extent should be considered worth it."
"What do you think?"
Old Huode originally wanted to mock him a couple of times, but somehow, he felt that Gu Qingfeng was a bit off today. Moreover, savoring these words carefully, they seemed more like there was something unsaid within them. He asked, "Kid Gu, what exactly have you run into? Tell me. I might not be able to help you with anything, but at least I can offer some advice or something."
"There's really nothing. I just had a fight with Old Heaven, and now I'm preparing to run. So, I came to see you."
"Run?"
Old Huode's expression stiffened. "You're leaving?"
"Otherwise? Should I just wait around to die?"
"That's true. The commotion you've stirred up is so huge. Neither the Immortal Dao nor the Buddha Dao will let you off, let alone Old Heaven. Taking the chance to run now is the right move."
Old Huode scratched his head. "But, vast as the heavens and earth are, where can you run to, kid? No matter how you run, you can't leap out of this Heaven and Earth."
"I have my own methods."
"Having methods is good. Then why are you still standing there? Hurry up and run."
"No rush. Old Heaven won't dare make a move against me for a while."
"Then when do you plan to leave, kid?"
"Should be soon, sometime in this period. Once I leave, not to mention the uncertainty of life or death, I don't know when I'll be back either. Whether we'll ever meet again is even more of an unknown. After I'm gone, old codger, don't miss me too much."
"You're not some woman. Why would this old man miss you!"
After saying that, Old Huode picked up the wine jar and gulped down a whole jar of wine in one go.
"Old Huode, since I'm leaving, I don't have any great treasures to give you."
Gu Qingfeng slowly raised his hand. Light bloomed from his fingertip, condensing and manifesting like Primordial Chaos radiance. He then tossed it over and said, "Here, take this."
"What is this thing?"
Old Huode looked at the wisp of Primordial Chaos radiance in his palm, like a lustrous glass bead.
"Don't worry about what it is. Do you trust me or not?"
"Nonsense. Who would I trust if not you?"
"If you trust me, then eat this thing."
"What? Eat it?"
Old Huode was shocked. "You haven't even said what this thing is, and you're directly telling this old man to eat it? What if it's poison?"
"If I wanted to kill you, a single thought would be enough. Would I need to go through the trouble of making a poison pill to kill you? Not just you, even Old Heaven isn't qualified for me to specially make a poison pill to kill it!"
"I say, Kid Gu, saying that really hurts this old man's pride! And..." Old Huode still wanted to say something, but Gu Qingfeng had already lost interest in listening. With a wave of his hand, before Old Huode knew what was happening, he swallowed that drop of Primordial Chaos essence.
"Damn it! Playing rough with this old man, have you grown some guts, kid? Wait... Something's not right!"
The moment he swallowed the Primordial Chaos essence, Old Huode immediately felt it scalding hot, his blood boiling, and his internal organs as if about to explode.
"Wh-... what... situation... Damn it! Kid Gu, what the hell did you make this old man eat? Ah—it hurts so much!"
Old Huode rolled on the ground in pain.
"You old codger have been bustling around for most of your life, busy from front to back. It's about time you had a good, long sleep."
Gu Qingfeng raised a hand. Old Huode's physical body instantly turned into specks of starlight and dissipated. He then flicked his hand, and the specks of starlight scattered into this Yunxia Mountain like seeds.
"Sleep. Sleep for tens of thousands of years. May you, old codger, wake up to find this World still this World, this Heaven and Earth still this Heaven and Earth, and all of this still all of this."
Gu Qingfeng clapped his hands. He did not leave but continued to recline on the master's recliner, closing his eyes, basking in the sun, eating Redleaf Monster Fruitlets, and drinking his little wine.
It was very quiet.
So quiet that only the creaking sound of that old, worn-out master's recliner could be heard.
"When he wakes up, will this World truly still be this World? Will this Heaven and Earth truly still be this Heaven and Earth? Will all of this truly still be all of this?"
Suddenly.
A light, faint voice drifted over.
The voice was ethereal.
Like spring wind, like autumn rain, like summer solstice, like winter snow.
A person appeared out of thin air.
It was a woman.
As this woman appeared.
The rainbow bloomed for her, vitality flourished for her. The flowers, grass, trees, mountains, rivers, birds, and beasts of nature seemed to bow in worship to her.
She descended upon this place like a goddess of nature.
Gu Qingfeng opened his eyes, simply gazing at the woman standing in mid-air, and laughed. "Sister Ouyang, it's really been a long time. I was just thinking about you earlier, and now you appear. We truly are kindred spirits."
As he spoke, Gu Qingfeng's eyebrows raised slightly again. He shook his head and said, "No, you don't look like Ouyang Ye. More like Yun Nishang. Hmm, not right either. There's also a bit of Hongxiu's shadow."
Gu Qingfeng seemed to realize something. Rubbing his chin, he pondered for a moment and asked, "Should I call you Ouyang Ye, or Yun Nishang, or Hongxiu?"
"Is there a difference?"
Gu Qingfeng nodded and said, "That's true. Just names, indeed no difference. If I must say there's a difference, a name merely represents one Reincarnation cycle. However, I am quite curious. Among these names—more precisely, among these Reincarnation cycles—which name do you like the most, and which Reincarnation cycle do you favor?"
"Yun Nishang."
"Why?"
"Because only with that name, in that Reincarnation cycle, did I not meet you."