After Gu Qingfeng comprehended the Great Illusion, many things between heaven and earth had become clear to him.
Though not perfectly distinct, he could sense them all.
Such as Karma, such as Fate.
He understood clearly that neither Karma nor Fate was predetermined, nor arranged by heaven. From the very beginning, they were governed by oneself. What kind of cause one sows will yield what kind of effect; what kind of Karma one establishes will determine what kind of Fate one receives.
Karma changes with your choices; Fate shifts along with your Karma.
Perhaps it was exactly as Genggu Wuming had said: character determines Karma and also determines Fate. Just like cultivation—one cultivates the state of mind and walks the Great Dao. The kind of mental state one cultivates will determine the kind of Great Dao one treads.
By now, Gu Qingfeng had also completely ceased to care whether this was his own Karma and Fate or the Karma and Fate of Original Sin.
Perhaps it was also as Genggu Wuming had said: this was both his own Karma and Fate, and also the Karma and Fate of Original Sin.
Within the nightmare.
The Primordial Chaos, like a vortex, still rotated slowly, as if changing something, as if deriving something.
"Do not believe in Karma...
Do not believe...
In Fate."
"It's false...
Karma is false, Fate is also false."
"Do not believe in them."
"Do not forget, never forget...
You severed all Karma, so you have no past life, no present life, and no future life...
You belong only to yourself, are the only you."
The dream was still that nightmare belonging to Original Sin.
The voice was still that ethereal, elusive voice.
"She is right. Do not believe in Karma, nor in Fate."
Gazing at the chaotic vortex here, Genggu Wuming murmured, "False, it's all false..."
"Why?"
Gu Qingfeng asked.
Genggu Wuming shook her head slightly, offering no answer, her profound eyes betraying a trace of bewilderment.
"You are the Messenger of Fate, the Incarnation of Karma, yet you say not to believe in Karma or Fate."
Gu Qingfeng said lightly, "Don't you find that ironic?"
"You are the Messenger of Life and Death, the Incarnation of Original Sin, yet you have transcended life and death and have not accepted Original Sin."
Genggu Wuming retorted, "Don't you find that ironic?"
"I am neither the Messenger of Life and Death, nor will I ever be the Incarnation of Original Sin. I was not in the past, and I will not be in the future."
"I am also not the Messenger of Fate, much less the Incarnation of Karma. I was not in the past, and I will not be in the future."
After a silence.
The words of the nightmare sounded again.
"Is it you?"
"No, it's not you."
"I know it's not you, how could it possibly be you..."
"False, it's all false. You said you were also false, everything is false, all is Illusion."
"Heh, Illusion..."
"Heh, are you well?"
"Will you still return?"
"No!
You will not return...
You said that once you left, you would never come back."
"No!
You will definitely return. You also said that after you left, you would certainly return."
"I...
am waiting for you."
"Do not abandon me...
Please, don't, okay?"
"The Mountain of Illusion..."
"I will wait for you at the Mountain of Illusion..."
"Waiting for you always..."
"I know, and firmly believe that one day you will return."
"I am waiting for you."
"Waiting for you..."
Genggu Wuming asked, "She said she is waiting for you at the Mountain of Illusion. Will you go to find her?"
"Perhaps."
Genggu Wuming questioned, "Perhaps?"
Gu Qingfeng affirmed, "Perhaps."
"No, not perhaps. At the very least, I can sense that you have already made a choice in your heart. What kind of choice you have made, I do not know. I only know you definitely will not go to the Mountain of Illusion to find her."
"Isn't that what you hoped for?"
"Is that truly what I hoped for?"
Genggu Wuming seemed to be asking Gu Qingfeng, yet even more so asking herself, the bewilderment in her eyes growing increasingly intense.
"Do you know?
If it were possible, I truly wish you would go to find her. I also wish you would annihilate this Great Dao, destroy this heaven and earth, and let the Wu Dao Age reappear in the mortal realm. I don't know why I wish it, I just... strongly wish..."
Closing her eyes, Genggu Wuming drew a deep breath and murmured two words: "Go back."
"Go back?"
Gu Qingfeng's brows raised slightly. "Go back where? The Wu Dao Age?"
"Is that not allowed?"
"Do you also belong to the Wu Dao Age?"
Genggu Wuming responded, "In a certain sense, we are the same kind of people. We do not belong to the Wu Dao Age, yet we also belong to the Wu Dao Age. The only difference is, you are the Incarnation of Original Sin, while I am the Incarnation of Fate. You have not accepted Original Sin, and I, likewise, have not accepted Fate."
"If that is truly the case, shouldn't you wish to end all of this?"
"I said we both belong to the Wu Dao Age, yet also do not belong to the Wu Dao Age. You wish to return to the Wu Dao Age to seek the answers to all this, and I similarly wish to. But you cannot and will not do so, and I likewise cannot and will not do so."
Another stretch of silence.
Gu Qingfeng asked, "If I die, will the Wu Dao Age not descend?"
"No."
"If I die, will all of this end?"
Genggu Wuming shook her head and replied, "I do not know."
Then, shifting her tone, she added, "But this is an opportunity, the only opportunity, and a choice with no alternatives. No one will give it up—the Three Thousand Great Daos will not, heaven and earth will not, the Sacred Lands will not, the people of the Wu Dao Age will not, Karma will not, Fate will not, and I... will not."
She gazed at Gu Qingfeng and said softly, "And you... will not either."
Gu Qingfeng merely uttered an "Oh" and said no more, only watching the changing chaotic vortex.
"Do you know?
Karma has no end, forever and ever without end...
Sometimes, when you think all this is the result, it may only be the cause. Sometimes, when you think all this is about to end, perhaps it is only a beginning."
Genggu Wuming's words plunged Gu Qingfeng into deep contemplation. He seemed to understand, yet became even more confused.
After a very long time, he shook his head as if deciding not to think about it anymore. Gazing at the evolving chaotic vortex, he closed his eyes and said, "Alright, I know. Since we don't know, then let us entrust all of this to Fate. Farewell."
As he was about to leave, Gu Qingfeng seemed to suddenly remember something. "Tell Su Hua that I will go ahead first and will wait for her at Wu Dao Mountain."
With that, Gu Qingfeng vanished from the nightmare.
Looking in the direction where Gu Qingfeng disappeared, Genggu Wuming said, "He said he would entrust everything to Fate, but he was only saying that, right?"
"If he dies...
will all of this truly end?"
Genggu Wuming murmured to herself, as if asking herself, and also as if questioning this Karma, questioning this Fate.
"If he does not die, it is terrifying. If he dies...
perhaps it will be even more terrifying...
He has comprehended the Great Extinction, and the Great Freedom, and now he has comprehended the Great Illusion. He only lacks the Great Compassion..."
"Heh..."
Genggu Wuming laughed, her laughter filled with confusion and bewilderment.