When the words from the dream came, it was as if they were a call from the past, or perhaps from the future—a call that Gu Qingfeng simply could not refuse, could not even resist.
He didn't need to listen intently, nor did he need to feel with his heart, for when this voice arrived, it resonated with his very soul.
As Gu Qingfeng gradually let go of himself, the words of the dream grew clearer and clearer.
'From wisdom comes, from confusion comes, distinguishing self from other; a hundred kinds of yang, a hundred kinds of yin, transforming into the harmony of heaven and earth.'
'No sight of good, no sight of evil, only cause and effect remain; a thousand kinds of sage, a thousand kinds of demon, let others say what they will.'
If Gu Qingfeng's heart had still clung to a sliver of hope before, then when he heard the dream-words repeating this passage, the last vestige of hope within him completely vanished in that moment.
This was not the first time he had heard these words. He had forgotten how many times.
He still didn't know what these words truly meant. Even today, he didn't know.
He only knew this:
Every time he had heard these words in the past, his heart would be filled with an indescribable, inexplicable feeling. It was like a sense of déjà vu, as if one thought was in the past and another in the future, or as if everything, everything, was like an illusion—so unreal.
Most importantly, every time he heard these words, he would inexplicably enter that so-called Original Sin Nightmare.
Sure enough.
After hearing these words, he entered the Original Sin Nightmare once again.
Within the Original Sin Nightmare.
It was as if light and darkness were intertwining, as if yin and yang were shifting.
Chaos.
Chaos was everywhere, boundless, endless.
It was the same as before, yet also seemed different.
As for what was different, Gu Qingfeng couldn't be bothered to think about it.
This was like asking: after you've fallen into a bottomless abyss, would you still bother to observe what changes were happening inside it?
Once you're damned well in the abyss, who the hell has the mood to look around? Gu Qingfeng might be an idle man, but he wasn't idle enough to be that bored.
"I give up, really!
I give up, completely give up."
Gu Qingfeng shook his head with a bitter, helpless laugh. "This old man admits it too, really admits it, completely admits it..." All that struggling back and forth, struggling for most of a lifetime, his little life hanging by a thread several times over, and in the end, he still hadn't shaken off the Original Sin. This time, Gu Qingfeng truly gave up, truly admitted defeat.
If the Original Sin was truly his Karma, he gave up.
If the Original Sin was truly his fate, he admitted it.
"Do not believe in Karma...
Do not believe..." "It's false...
Karma is false."
"Do not believe them."
"Do not forget, never forget...
You severed all Karma, so you have no past life, no present life, no future life...
You belong only to yourself, are the only you."
"Illusion Mountain..." "I await you at Illusion Mountain..." "Always waiting for you..." "I know, and firmly believe that one day you will return."
"I await you."
"Await you..." In the nightmare, that person's voice came intermittently, just like before, sounding somewhat mad and delirious, and filled with deep resentment.
Gu Qingfeng had heard from Jun Xuanji that this woman had been personally buried by Wu Dao Daozun at Wu Dao Illusion Mountain.
As for who this woman was, or why Wu Dao Daozun had buried her at Wu Dao Mountain, Jun Xuanji hadn't said, and Gu Qingfeng didn't know either.
"False, it's all false. You said you were false too, everything is false, all is Illusion."
"Heh, Illusion..." "Heh, how are you?"
"Will you still return?"
"No!
You will not return...
You said that once you left, you would never return."
"No!
You will definitely return. You also said that after you left, you would definitely return."
"I...
await you."
"Do not abandon me...
Please, do not, okay?"
The woman's voice came again. Gu Qingfeng simply listened, just listened casually.
For some reason.
When the woman's voice came, it stirred a very complex feeling within his heart. He couldn't put into words what kind of feeling it was—there was helplessness, guilt, self-blame, as well as hesitation and confusion...
There was even an impulse, a desperate urge to blast open the chaos of this Original Sin Nightmare with a single punch and find this buried woman.
"Damn it all!
Is it only me who feels this way, or do all Those with Original Sin feel this?"
Gu Qingfeng knew this was the Original Sin Nightmare, a place any of Those with Original Sin could enter.
And he knew even better that in this world, he was not the only one who had fused with the Blood of Original Sin. At the very least, he had once met another person like himself, one of Those with Original Sin, and had seen him twice, clearly remembering that fellow appearing each time tightly wrapped from head to toe in white cloth.
Besides that mysterious person wrapped in white cloth, Jun Xuanji had also appeared in the Original Sin Nightmare. She had personally stated she had fused with the Blood of Original Sin and was also one of Those with Original Sin.
Both Jun Xuanji and that white-cloth-wrapped mysterious person had said that while Those with Original Sin in this world were not numerous, they were certainly not few.
If other Those with Original Sin, upon hearing this woman's voice, felt the same as he did, then it wouldn't matter. But if only he had this complex feeling, then this matter was serious.
Because Gu Qingfeng remembered Jun Xuanji saying that the drop of Blood of Original Sin he had fused with was different from others. The Blood of Original Sin others fused with was pure, dead Blood of Original Sin—blood without life. But the one he had fused with was a drop of living Blood of Original Sin, a drop possessing life.
The reason that drop of Blood of Original Sin was alive was because it contained the spiritual will of Wu Dao Daozun.
Thinking of this, Gu Qingfeng's heart couldn't help but lurch. If other Those with Original Sin didn't have this complex feeling, and only he did, it meant that by fusing with that drop of living Blood of Original Sin, he had also fused with the spiritual will of that Wu Dao Daozun.
For anyone, this was a terrifying prospect.
For Gu Qingfeng, it was no exception.
After all, containing another's spiritual will would inevitably influence one's own consciousness. That was secondary. The serious risk was being assimilated by the other's spiritual will, thus losing oneself. Most terrifying of all, the other's spiritual will might gestate a new consciousness that would then devour one's own consciousness and seize one's physical body.
Such a thing, if it happened to others, might inspire fear and terror. After all, Wu Dao Daozun was a legend among legends, a taboo among taboos, hailed as the number one figure throughout the ages, and also the terrifying master of the Original Sin. If his spiritual will gestated a new consciousness, it would be absolutely horrifying, and few could contend with it.
Even the aloof and domineering Gu Qingfeng, facing a legendary taboo like Wu Dao Daozun, had to admit he was outmatched.
However.
He had cultivated for five hundred years. His attainments were all mysterious and unknown, among them not lacking those that contained spiritual will. Nor were there none that had tried to devour his consciousness and seize his body. Several times, his consciousness had nearly been devoured, his body nearly seized.
Fortunately, his will was tenacious, and his luck was decent enough. He had managed to survive danger after danger.
If that drop of Blood of Original Sin truly contained the spiritual will of Wu Dao Daozun and had gestated a new consciousness seeking to devour his consciousness and seize his body, Gu Qingfeng, while having little confidence in defending his consciousness and body, would still fight with his life on the line. Even if he ultimately couldn't win, he would absolutely not let anyone else seize his body—not even if that other was the legendary taboo master of the Original Sin, Wu Dao Daozun.
He was not afraid.
There was nothing to fear.
What he truly feared was this: by fusing with the spiritual will of that Wu Dao Daozun, would he also inherit Wu Dao Daozun's Karma?
If not, Gu Qingfeng wouldn't care. Whoever's spiritual will it was, once this old man fused with it, it became this old man's.
But if he also inherited Wu Dao Daozun's Karma... then this matter was truly serious.