"The Wu Dao Age is a cursed age, an age of error and chaos, an age of inverted causality, and an age that should not exist."
Bai Chou replied, but these words sounded somewhat familiar to Gu Qingfeng. Thinking carefully, it seemed the old man guarding the graveyard had just said something similar.
Bai Chou gazed at the tombstone on this grave, which was as tall as a mountain peak, carved with the words 'Tomb of the Spirit Dao,' and murmured, "Perhaps the so-called Wu Dao Age does not represent the past... but the future..." As Bai Chou's voice came, Gu Qingfeng was not surprised at all; rather, it was within his expectations.
Indeed.
Because when he had just arrived at this graveyard and seen these tombs of the Great Daos, Gu Qingfeng had already harbored this suspicion in his heart.
To be precise.
Back when Wudao Mountain descended, he had already begun to suspect that the so-called Wu Dao Age might not represent the past, but could be the future.
Jun Xuanji had said this.
The Nightmare Woman had said it, Eternal Nameless had said it, and now Bai Chou was saying the same.
If the Wu Dao Age truly represented the future, why did it occur in the past?
Gu Qingfeng did not know.
But he suddenly understood somewhat. Perhaps it was precisely because the Wu Dao Age represented the future yet occurred in the past that it became a cursed age, an age of error and chaos, an age of inverted causality, and an age that should not exist.
"If the Wu Dao Age truly represents the future... then this matter is huge."
As Gu Qingfeng sighed, he tried to imagine: if the Wu Dao Age truly represented the future, then that meant the myriad Great Daos had not yet been eradicated, and Wu Dao Daozun had not yet died.
No!
To be precise, Wu Dao Daozun had not yet appeared.
To be even more precise, anyone who has fused with the Blood of Original Sin might potentially become Wu Dao Daozun in the future.
Wait.
That doesn't make sense!
If Wu Dao Daozun hasn't appeared yet, then what's the deal with the Blood of Original Sin?
Whose blood is this, damn it?
And if the Wu Dao Age represents the future, then what's the deal with all these messy Wu Dao Karmas?
Could it be that the effect came first, then the cause?
That's even more absurd.
Without a cause, how can there be an effect?
Does the Wu Dao Age represent the past, or the future?
Is it the cause?
Or the effect?
Gu Qingfeng pondered, the more he thought, the more confused he became, until his head ached.
"Whether the Wu Dao Age represents the past or the future, whether it is the cause or the effect, I'm afraid no one can say clearly. I once asked Eternal Nameless this question, and she also didn't know if it was past or future. Perhaps it's the past, or perhaps it's the future. Or perhaps, the past is the future, and the future is the past; the cause is the effect, and the effect is also the cause..."
"Stop!
Enough!"
Gu Qingfeng no longer wanted to continue listening. He said, "What damn past and future, what damn 'cause is effect, effect is cause'—you guys go ahead and mess with it. I don't want to get involved in this mess."
"Do you think you can stand aloof from it all?"
"Let nature take its course."
In the past, he had resisted Original Sin and rejected Karma.
However, after sleeping for ten thousand years and learning that he still hadn't shaken off Original Sin Karma, Gu Qingfeng had come to terms with it and resigned himself to Fate. If heaven wants it to rain, or a mother wants to remarry, let it be—whatever happens, happens.
Towards Original Sin Karma.
He would now neither reject it nor resist it.
You guys can mess around however you like. Even if I, your lord, cannot stand completely aloof, I definitely won't take the initiative, won't acknowledge it, and won't take responsibility for it.
"Letting nature take its course... easier said than done. Often, even if you don't want to, you have no choice but to face it."
Bai Chou turned around, looked at Gu Qingfeng, and said softly, "I think you understand this better than anyone else."
Gu Qingfeng was taken aback, then shook his head and smiled helplessly. Bai Chou had once again hit the nail on the head.
The phrase 'let nature take its course' was easy to say, but putting it into practice was a different matter entirely. Just as Bai Chou had said, he understood this better than anyone.
Bai Chou suddenly asked, "You've resigned yourself to Fate, haven't you?"
"Isn't it all the same whether I resign myself to it or not?"
Gu Qingfeng sighed. "What else can I do if I don't resign myself to it?
In the past, you fought and killed, perhaps due to youthful arrogance and your nature. But when I learned that I had fused with the Blood of Original Sin, those Original Sin Karmas came one after another. I kept hiding, escaping, and struggling. And the result? In the end, I neither hid successfully nor escaped. After struggling for most of my life, isn't this still the outcome?
Rather than struggling blindly like that, it's better to follow the arrangements of Fate. At least, I won't struggle so exhaustingly."
"Our fusion with the Blood of Original Sin is no accident. There must be some Karma from the Wu Dao Age involved. Don't you want to know what it is?"
Gu Qingfeng shook his head and replied, "I don't want to, and I'm not interested."
"If the Wu Dao Age represents the past, and Fate arranges for you to become the second Wu Dao Daozun, would you still let nature take its course?"
"If Fate really arranges it that way, then I have no choice. I can only accept it."
"Heh!"
Bai Chou laughed, a laugh filled with complexity, and asked again, "If the Wu Dao Age represents the future, and Fate arranges for you to be the future Wu Dao Daozun, would you still let nature take its course?"
Gu Qingfeng instinctively rubbed his chin. He really hadn't thought about this matter. He smiled and said, "Although I consider myself somewhat capable and have a few skills, if you say I am the future Wu Dao Daozun, don't you think that's utterly absurd?
You think too highly of me, don't you?"
"How capable you will be in the future, I may not know and cannot imagine. But...
a person's character is predetermined. Character determines Fate."
"What do you mean?
What's wrong with my character?"
"Based on my observation of you, eradicating the three thousand Great Daos, deicide and burying heaven and earth—you are absolutely capable of doing such things."
"What a joke!
Not to mention I don't have the ability; even if I did, I wouldn't eradicate the three thousand Great Daos, and I certainly couldn't commit deicide and bury heaven and earth. I admit that once my anger flares up, I sometimes lose control of myself and am easily swayed by emotions, but I'm not without a bottom line. As for eradicating the three thousand Great Daos, I might be capable of that. But deicide and burying heaven and earth? That kind of deed, I absolutely would not do."
"You wouldn't do it now, but that doesn't mean you won't do it in the future."
"What? From the tone of your voice, if the Wu Dao Age truly represents the future, you've decided I am Wu Dao Daozun?"
"Do you want to hear the truth or a lie?"
"Of course, the truth."
Bai Chou looked at him, looked at him deeply, then nodded very seriously and said, "Among the Original Sin bearers I have met, you may not be the most mysterious or powerful, nor the most peculiar or bizarre, nor perhaps the most terrifying or horrifying. But you are definitely the one with the greatest audacity and the most madness. If, among us Original Sin bearers, there is someone who will become Wu Dao Daozun in the future, then I dare say, that person will definitely be you."