"What?
What did you say?"
Su Hua wondered if she had misheard, staring blankly.
"I said the Nine Nethers Emperor of the Great Desolate Heaven Realm is the Monarch Chixiao of this world. They were originally the same person."
This time, Su Hua finally confirmed she had not misheard. But after confirming it, it was as if she had been struck by lightning—her mind went completely blank.
A long time passed before she shook her head and said, "How is that possible?
When the ancient era ended, You Di had already died. I witnessed with my own eyes as he was judged by the myriad Daos and turned to dust and smoke."
"Not just you. At first, all of us thought he had turned to dust and smoke. But who could have imagined that not only did he not turn to dust and smoke, he was alive and well? He simply concealed his identity and returned to his original world."
"Impossible!
This is impossible..." Perhaps this news was too shocking and too unbelievable for Su Hua—so shocking she couldn't believe it, so unbelievable she couldn't accept it.
"Nothing is impossible. If you think about it carefully, it's easy to deduce."
Nalan Qianqiu said, "Gu Qingfeng had only cultivated in this world for a mere two hundred years before being judged by the Immortal Dao and turning to dust and smoke. Three hundred years later, he reappeared in this world. In other words, he had been missing for three hundred years. You once asked me where that guy went during those three hundred years of disappearance?"
"Now I can tell you: after being judged by the Immortal Dao back then, that guy stepped into the Great Desolate. Then, in the Great Desolate, he burned the Nine Heavens Immortal Dao above, trampled the Nine Underworlds Demonic Dao below, flattened the Western Heaven Buddhist Dao, and split the Vault of Heaven Heavenly Dao. He rampaged through the Great Desolate for two hundred years in total, until the end of the ancient era when he was judged by the myriad Daos and vanished."
"After vanishing, he likely slumbered for a hundred years before awakening. Now you should know where that guy went during those three hundred years of disappearance, right?"
Yes.
Su Hua finally knew.
Just as Nalan Qianqiu had said, she had indeed always been curious about where Gu Qingfeng went during those three hundred years of disappearance.
For this reason,
she had even asked him personally, and Gu Qingfeng had merely said at the time that he had gone to the Great Desolate and wandered around honestly.
Su Hua knew that with Gu Qingfeng's abilities, he absolutely could not have remained unknown in the Great Desolate. With his aloof and domineering nature, it was even more impossible for him to simply wander around the Great Desolate honestly.
She knew.
But she could never have imagined that Gu Qingfeng was actually the Nine Nethers Emperor who had turned the Great Desolate upside down, much less that Gu Qingfeng would be the man she had admired in her past life.
Perhaps it wasn't that she hadn't thought of it.
More so, she simply didn't dare to think it.
Even though she had felt more than once that Gu Qingfeng's personality resembled You Di's, even though Gu Qingfeng's presence often gave her illusions, mistaking him for You Di.
She had never considered the unrealistic question of whether Gu Qingfeng was You Di.
"Earlier, when the Immortal Dao, Buddhist Dao, Heavenly Dao, and even the Three Thousand Great Daos descended their judgment, you were also present. You should have seen clearly with your own eyes—that guy surnamed Gu pointed with a single finger and extinguished the sky-full of Great Sun Judgment. In this world, I ask you, aside from You Di, who else could extinguish the Great Sun with a finger? No one, absolutely no one. Only that You Di!"
Su Hua had indeed been present at that time.
She had indeed witnessed Gu Qingfeng extinguishing the sky-full of Great Suns with a finger.
She wasn't without doubts, but at the time, she was more concerned about Gu Qingfeng's safety and hadn't thought about why Gu Qingfeng could extinguish the Great Suns.
"Perhaps those involved are confused while onlookers see clearly. You yourself weren't aware, but..." Nalan Qianqiu said gravely, "'The great sun falls, darkness strikes, You Di descends, the Immortal-Demon twilight, the heaven-earth doom...'
You should remember this phrase more clearly than anyone."
If there was still a trace of doubt in Su Hua's heart, then when Nalan Qianqiu spoke these words, the last remaining shred of doubt in her heart vanished like smoke in that moment. She finally realized a fact: Gu Qingfeng truly was the Nine Nethers Emperor she had admired in her past life.
Whoosh!
Her mind and consciousness seemed to explode; her entire body felt as if hollowed out. Su Hua could no longer bear it and collapsed into Nalan Qianqiu's arms.
"He actually...
he actually is really You Di..." "How could he be You Di? How is it possible he is You Di..." "Heh..." Su Hua didn't know if she had gone stupid or mad, seeming to cry, yet also seeming to laugh.
"Heh...
All these years, I never knew whether I was truly unable to forget You Di from my past life, or whether I had fallen for Monarch Chixiao in this life. I also didn't know whether the Monarch Chixiao I fell for was because his presence resembled You Di, or whether I had genuinely developed feelings for him as a person..."
"In the end...
it turns out Monarch Chixiao is You Di, and You Di is Monarch Chixiao. That is to say...
In my two lifetimes, the two romantic encounters I experienced were actually with the same person?
What's laughable is that all of you knew, while I alone was kept in the dark like a fool?"
It wasn't that Su Hua couldn't accept that Monarch Chixiao was the Nine Nethers Emperor, nor that she couldn't accept that the man she loved in two lifetimes was the same person. What she truly couldn't accept was that everyone in the world knew Monarch Chixiao was the Nine Nethers Emperor, while she alone knew nothing about all this.
"Junior Sister, I'm truly sorry. I didn't mean to deliberately hide it from you. I just...
didn't want you to fall too deep."
Su Hua murmured as if in a daze, "You knew from the very beginning that he was You Di. Even before I knew he was Monarch Chixiao, you already knew, right?"
Nalan Qianqiu nodded. She had indeed known Gu Qingfeng's identity as You Di long ago, saying, "The reason I always advised you not to seek Karma was also because of this."
"Why?
Why exactly wouldn't you tell me?"
"Eldest Senior Sister likely deduced today's calamity long ago and didn't want you to get involved. So, she sent me to this world. I've been trying to persuade you, to persuade you to give up on Karma. If possible, I didn't even want you to know his identity as Monarch Chixiao."
Nalan Qianqiu continued, "But things went contrary to wishes. You eventually learned his identity as Monarch Chixiao. Still, it was fortunate—you only knew he was Monarch Chixiao, not that he was You Di. As long as you didn't know he was You Di, you might still have had hope of giving up on Karma. Once you knew he was You Di, not only would you not give up on Karma, you would throw yourself into the flame like a moth without regard for anything. This was also Eldest Senior Sister's greatest worry."
"For a mere inexplicable Karma, you were unwilling to give up. If this Karma was a destined romance from your past life, how could you possibly give up?"
Nalan Qianqiu said softly, "If not for you revealing your inner sorrow today, I would never have known that the news of You Di's death back then would bring you endless pain. So, I no longer wish to hide it from you. The fate between you and him was determined in your past life, and you met again in this life—it is truly rare, and even more enviable."
"Junior Sister, you said your fate ended before it even began. Actually, it hasn't truly ended yet—at least, not now. However, the time left for you is probably not much. Go, go find him. Draw a perfect conclusion to the fate between you. At the very least, don't leave any regrets."