"Moreover, what Hua'er seeks may not be fleeting happiness, and what follows this happiness is not necessarily eternal damnation."
Cang Yan looked at the chessboard and asked indifferently, "Even you do not know?"
Genggu Wuming shook her head and replied, "He is a variable, a variable from the Era of No Dao. Heaven and Earth cannot know him, Fate cannot determine him, and Karma cannot trace him. The only one who can know, determine, or trace this variable is the variable himself."
Closing her eyes, as if deeply troubled, Genggu Wuming continued, "Wu Dao Mountain is filled with the unknown. This Heaven and Earth, this Fate, this Karma, this future—everything is..." Cang Yan did not ask further. She understood clearly: if Genggu Wuming said Wu Dao Mountain was filled with the unknown, then it was undoubtedly so.
Genggu Wuming looked at the chessboard and smiled—a smile of helplessness.
Cang Yan asked, "Will you go to see him?"
"If possible, I would rather not."
"Why?"
"He misunderstands me deeply."
"But you must see him, must you not?"
"The world calls me Fate's messenger, the incarnation of Karma. Little do they know, I am merely a passerby in these endless eons. I cannot represent Karma, nor can I represent Fate. A pity, no one understands."
"Farewell."
With that, Genggu Wuming vanished, as if she had never existed.
Only after Genggu Wuming had been gone for a long while did Nalan Qianqiu cautiously ask from the side, "Senior Sister, earlier, Senior Nameless said that after Wu Dao Mountain descends, everything will be filled with the unknown. But didn't you say that when Wu Dao Mountain descends, both the Three Thousand Great Daos and Heaven and Earth would spare no cost to annihilate Gu Qingfeng? And there are also those from the Era of No Dao like Jun Xuanji. Both you and Senior Nameless have already appeared. Why is the future still filled with the unknown? Could it be that his existence has already become immortal and indestructible?"
"Immortal and indestructible is not terrifying," Cang Yan said. "What is terrifying is Nirvana. Even more terrifying is that he may have transcended life and death. Life and death hold no distinction for him. To live is to be dead; to be dead is to live."
"Couldn't Senior Nameless strike him into Gui Xu?"
Cang Yan shook her head. "Gui Xu vanished long ago..."
"What! Has Gui Xu truly collapsed?"
Nalan Qianqiu had heard rumors that the collapse of Gui Xu accompanied the end of the ancient era, but they were only rumors. Whether it was true or false, no one knew. Hearing her senior sister say that Gui Xu had vanished long ago shocked her profoundly.
"Gui Xu has merely vanished. Whether it has collapsed or not, no one knows." Changing the subject, Cang Yan picked up a cup of wine, tilted her head back, and drank it all in one gulp. She then added, "However, judging from various signs, even if Gui Xu hasn't collapsed, it's probably not far from it..."
"If we can't kill him, and can't strike him into Gui Xu, do we truly have no way to deal with him at all?"
"There are ways, but whether they are feasible is unknown..."
"Then... if Wu Dao Mountain descends and we cannot annihilate him, what... what would be the worst outcome?"
"The Three Thousand Great Daos would collapse, this Heaven and this Earth would shatter, and the Era of No Dao would reappear in the world. Then, humans would not be human, ghosts not ghosts, immortals not immortals, demons not demons, Buddhas not Buddhas. Between Heaven and Earth, there would be no Great Dao, no Laws, no order... only endless chaos, only endless primordial chaos..." The words from Cang Yan filled Nalan Qianqiu with despair. She did not know what a terrifying world it would be where the Three Thousand Great Daos collapsed, Heaven and Earth shattered, humans were not human, immortals were not immortals, and there were no Laws or order. She did not know, nor could she even imagine it.
"How could it come to this..." Nalan Qianqiu's face turned ashen, and she swayed slightly, unsteady on her feet. "Senior Nameless is reputed to know all under heaven and on earth, hailed as Fate's messenger, the incarnation of Karma. Could it be she has no solution at all?"
Cang Yan's voice was forever placid, so placid it seemed devoid of any emotion. "Did you not hear her words just now? Although she is Fate's messenger and the incarnation of Karma, that is all she is. She cannot control Fate, nor can she control Karma. She cannot represent Karma, nor can she represent Fate..." Another cup of wine, drained.
She continued, "She said she is merely a passerby in these endless eons. She is just a passerby, and in my view, the most pitiful one at that."
"Why?" Nalan Qianqiu did not understand.
"Karma and Fate may be far, far from us, so distant they are unreachable, perhaps forever beyond our touch. But for her, Karma and Fate are very, very close, right at her fingertips, so close she might reach out and touch them."
"The tragedy is, we cannot choose our own Karma, and neither can she. We cannot control our own Fate, and neither can she."
"A person hailed as Fate's messenger, the incarnation of Karma, yet unable to choose her own Karma or control her own Fate—don't you think that is pitiful, tragic?"
After Genggu Wuming left, Cang Yan continued playing chess.
It was an endgame. She and Genggu Wuming had been playing this endgame for a very, very long time—so long she had forgotten when it even began. She only knew that even now, the endgame remained an endgame, never having changed.
Holding a black piece, she placed it on the board and said, "If Karma could be chosen, I believe she would want to sever it more than anyone. If Fate could be controlled by oneself, I also believe she would want to change it more than anyone. A pity... a pity there are no 'ifs.'"
Perhaps remembering something, Cang Yan held her wine cup but did not drink, merely placing it by her lips. "Moreover, even if Karma could truly be severed, when the time came, you might not have the heart to do it. Like Hua'er—if you asked her to sever her Karma now, she wouldn't do it."
"Even if Fate could truly be changed by oneself, you might not truly want to change it. Like Gu... like him. His Fate is now in his own hands, but he may not truly want to change it."
"Do you know what Karma is? This is probably it."
"Do you know what Fate is? This is probably it."
Tilting her head back, she drained the cup once more, silently closed her eyes, and sighed.
This sigh.
Sighed for the countless uncertainties in her heart.
Perhaps sensing that Cang Yan intended to leave again, Nalan Qianqiu hurriedly asked, "Senior Sister, are you leaving?"
"Wu Dao Mountain is about to descend..."
"Then what about me... Aren't you going to let me come with you?"
"You should go back for now."
"Go back? What would I do back there now? Leave it to Fate?"
"Who doesn't?" Cang Yan asked rhetorically, then answered herself, "Everyone does."
"But... what about Hua'er? Aren't you going to care about Hua'er either?"
"Let her be."