Boom!
Crack—
On this day.
Above the firmament, thunder rumbled, lightning flashed, and a violent storm raged. Rolling dark clouds gathered and roared across the sky like rivers and tidal waves.
The natural void was in chaos, the Five Elements disordered, Yin and Yang reversed.
Boom!—Crack!
The earth trembled.
Space warped.
Laws fell into disarray.
The blazing sun flickered between brightness and dimness, while the dim moon appeared and vanished.
At the same time.
Dong—
A vast, solemn bell toll echoed forth, like a sound from time immemorial.
Suddenly.
Day turned to night, and night turned back to day.
The sun and moon seemed to intersect and merge at this moment.
So it was with the sun and moon, with Yin and Yang, with light and darkness.
Primordial Chaos!
Primordial Chaos was everywhere.
The entire world seemed to have transformed into a realm of Primordial Chaos.
Dong—
Another bell toll rang out. The merging of the sun and moon intensified, as did the blending of Yin and Yang, light and darkness. The Primordial Chaos itself seemed to boil.
Within the Primordial Chaos.
A young girl materialized out of thin air.
The girl wore white robes and stood barefoot. She looked utterly ordinary, plain to the extreme—so plain she seemed like an insignificant speck of dust in the mortal world.
It was none other.
Than Genggu Wuming.
Gazing at the world gradually turning into Primordial Chaos, she knew that Wu Dao Mountain was about to descend.
"It's finally coming..." As the voice faded, another figure appeared.
It was a woman, a woman who seemed both immortal and demonic, dignified and noble. It was Cang Yan.
"Have you spoken with him?"
Cang Yan also looked at the world gradually becoming Primordial Chaos and asked lightly.
Genggu Wuming nodded.
"Any answers?"
Cang Yan's voice came again. Genggu Wuming shook her head once more.
"So, we really have no choice but to gamble?"
"What else can we do?"
Cang Yan also shook her head and said, "I don't like gambling, especially not on a wager of such profound significance."
"Who does like gambling?"
Genggu Wuming retorted, then murmured, "No one likes to gamble. But what other choice do we have now besides taking this gamble?"
"Will we lose the bet?"
"I don't know if we'll lose. I only know that in this game, we cannot possibly win."
"How badly... will we lose?"
Genggu Wuming did not respond immediately. After a long silence, she said softly, "That depends on how badly he wants us to lose..."
"You've never spoken such discouraging words before."
"That's because I had never met him before."
"It seems his existence has truly plunged you into utter confusion..."
"Aren't you the same?"
Genggu Wuming spoke thus, her expression seeming numb. "You are probably even more lost and confused than I am. If that weren't the case, given your temperament, why would you ask me the same questions over and over again?"
"Perhaps."
Cang Yan closed her eyes, as if sensing the changes in the Primordial Chaos. "Before Wu Dao Mountain descended, I always looked forward to its arrival. But now, as it is truly about to descend, I no longer wish for it to come..."
"Who isn't like that? Everyone is. We both anticipate and yearn for Wu Dao Mountain, yet we also fear and dread it. I am, you are, Hua'er is, Jun Xuanji is—everyone belonging to the Wu Dao Era feels this way. I imagine he is no exception."
"We both anticipate and yearn for Wu Dao Mountain, yet we also fear and dread it... Well said... Truly well said..."
Suddenly, an ethereal voice drifted over.
Immediately after, a radiant light bloomed within the Primordial Chaos.
The radiance resembled the dim moon, yet also the bright sun.
It seemed like light, yet also like darkness—the light transforming, the darkness shifting.
It seemed sacred, yet also evil.
That wheel of radiance was like a bloody sun and moon. As it appeared, half the sky was dyed crimson. The crimson color seemed to boil, as if burning. Accompanying it was an aura of terrifying might, a power that seemed capable of melting heaven and earth itself.
Within the bloody sun and moon, a woman was flashing toward them.
Three thousand strands of white hair.
A robe of blood-red.
A peerless woman, also one who appeared incomparably tragic and beautiful.
Her beauty was so stunning it seemed to dare rival the sun and moon, so breathtaking it made all things in the world pale in comparison before her.
The sun and moon stained with blood.
Filling the entire sky.
World-Venerable Lady, Jun Xuanji.
"Genggu Wuming..." Jun Xuanji's blood-red eyes fixed on Genggu Wuming, her tragically beautiful face expressionless.
"You still remember me."
"We...
Have known each other...
For a very, very long time...
How could I not remember you..."
"But you have lost your way..."
"Haven't...
You as well?"
Genggu Wuming did not answer that question. She merely glanced at the bloody sun and moon here and said, "You still hold dominion over the origin of this world. You have never given up."
"I've said it before, this world is very important to me...
I've also said...
I will never abandon this world."
Genggu Wuming corrected, "I remember. You've told me that more than once."
"If he dies...
Will all this end?"
"You shouldn't ask me that question. You should ask yourself. In all heaven and earth, if there is anyone who understands Original Sin best, it is not me, but you."
"But I...
Have forgotten...
I too have lost my way...
I don't know why...
I forgot...
I can't remember anymore..."
"If even you have forgotten...
Then I am even more lost, even more confused..."
"If I die, will all this end?"
Genggu Wuming looked at her and replied, "That is a question you should ask me even less."
"I want to end all this...
I've always wanted to. I don't want to wait any longer...
I don't want to..."
"So, you're prepared to stake everything? Either he dies, or you perish?"
"Do I...
Have any other choice?"
"He may not necessarily die, and you may not necessarily perish."
"If he wishes it, he will surely die. If he wishes it, I will surely perish..."
"But what if he doesn't wish it?"
"He will...
He definitely will...
He definitely will..."
As she spoke, Jun Xuanji vanished, as if she had never appeared.
Cang Yan said, "Jun Xuanji... seems to have made her preparations..."
"She just said she no longer wishes to wait..."
"Can he truly kill Jun Xuanji?"
"If he wishes it."
"Will he?"
"He will not."
Changing the subject, Genggu Wuming added, "But Jun Xuanji will definitely force him to do so."
"How will she force him?"
"Do not forget, Jun Xuanji has held dominion over the origin of this world since ancient times. If she wishes, she can destroy everything in this world at any moment."
"She's truly gone mad..."
"She went mad long ago..."
Gazing in the direction where Jun Xuanji had vanished, Genggu Wuming shook her head slightly. "A pity..."
"A pity for what?"
"A pity...
She cannot deceive him. Nor can she threaten him."
Sighing softly, Genggu Wuming murmured, "And an even greater pity is that Jun Xuanji has lost her way...
She must have learned something long ago, which is why she chose to lose herself..."