Looking at Man Tu Fan kneeling in prayer before the half-broken Buddha statue, Gu Qingfeng offered some comfort. "Don't be too sad or upset. After all, legends are just legends. What's true and what's false, no one can say for sure. Even though I refined your Karmic Flower, it was just refinement. Refining it doesn't necessarily mean your Karma will definitely be grafted onto mine."
"And if the legend is true? If my Karma really is grafted onto yours? What then?"
"Well, your Karma was already Original Sin to begin with. Even if it's grafted onto mine, the new causal path that opens will still just be Original Sin. It can't get much worse. Of course, I'm not making excuses for myself. I'm just advising you to look on the bright side."
"Look on the bright side?" Man Tu Fan let out a series of bitter laughs, laughing until she felt like breaking down in tears. "You say that so lightly... hahaha... Do you know how many times I reincarnated to gestate that Karmic Flower? How many lifetimes I transmigrated? How many tribulations I endured, how much suffering I bore? You don't know. You have no idea at all."
"I gestated that Karmic Flower with the hope of burying my Karma, the hope of changing my own fate. If I could change my fate, there was hope of breaking free from Original Sin. Even though... the hope was slim, at least there was hope, wasn't there?"
"But your appearance shattered even that faint hope I had."
"Why! Why did you have to appear in that small secret realm back then? Why did you have to snatch away my Karmic Flower? Why did you have to refine my Karmic Flower! Why did it have to be you, of all people! Why!"
Man Tu Fan's heart was filled with endless 'whys'. Kneeling before the half-broken statue, her expression looked utterly dejected and despairing. She muttered to herself, whispering, "If the person who snatched and refined my Karmic Flower back then hadn't been you, but someone else... perhaps I could accept it. I wouldn't feel this dejected, nor this despairing."
"Even if that person were someone of the Un-Dao, even if they were someone bearing Original Sin like me, or even one of those Original Sin incarnations suppressed within the Guixu... I wouldn't feel as lost and hopeless as I do now."
"But it just had to be you!"
"Heh..." Listening to Man Tu Fan's words, Gu Qingfeng felt a bit uncomfortable. "Big sis, aren't you exaggerating a bit? You bear Original Sin, I bear Original Sin, and the Original Sin on us comes from the same lineage. I admit I'm not a great guy, but no matter what, I'm at least a bit better than those masters in the Guixu, right? The Original Sin on me is a bit lighter than theirs, right?"
"Your Original Sin is lighter than theirs? Hahahaha..." Man Tu Fan acted as if she had heard the funniest joke in the world. She stopped kneeling and praying, throwing her head back in unrestrained laughter.
After laughing, her enchanting face was filled with boundless fury. If looks could kill, Gu Qingfeng would have been utterly annihilated countless times over by Man Tu Fan at that very moment.
"Do you dare repeat that to my face?"
Gu Qingfeng said, "Isn't it true?" Perhaps feeling somewhat guilty, he added, "At the very least, I'm not an incarnation of Original Sin, am I?"
"You're indeed not an incarnation of Original Sin, but you ignited the Karmic Fire of Original Sin!" Man Tu Fan roared at Gu Qingfeng. "It's precisely because you ignited the Karmic Fire of Original Sin that the slumbering Original Sin began to awaken! You are ten thousand times more terrifying than those Original Sin incarnations! If there's anyone in this Heaven and Earth whose Original Sin runs deepest, it's definitely you! You!"
"I admit I ignited the Karmic Fire of Original Sin," Gu Qingfeng said, his heart filled with doubt. "But... how did the slumbering Original Sin awaken? Where did that come from? I know nothing about this!"
"You can't possibly not know! You're just pretending not to know!"
"Sis, you've got me wrong. I truly don't know."
"I don't care if you truly don't know or are just pretending! The fact is you ignited the Karmic Fire of Original Sin! The fact is the slumbering Original Sin has awakened! And I can tell you with certainty that it was after you ignited the Karmic Fire of Original Sin that the slumbering Original Sin began to stir! Do you dare say it has nothing to do with you?"
"Original Sin awakening..." Gu Qingfeng grew more confused the more he listened. "How do you know about this?"
"I can sense it, of course I know! Not only can I sense it, everyone can sense it."
"Everyone? Who do you mean by 'everyone'?"
"Who else? Those who bear Original Sin from the Un-Dao Era, of course!"
"All those who bear Original Sin from the Un-Dao Era can sense it? Then why is it that I alone can't feel it? Wait..." Gu Qingfeng thought carefully and suddenly remembered that he, too, seemed able to sense that Original Sin was awakening. He had originally thought it was because his decaying Physical Body was gradually reviving that he slowly began to sense Original Sin stirring.
Could it be that the awakening of Original Sin had nothing to do with the revival of his decaying Physical Body, but was something all those bearing Original Sin could sense? In other words, had the slumbering Original Sin truly begun to awaken? And was it awakened by the Karmic Fire of Original Sin he ignited?
Wait! That's not right.
Gu Qingfeng pondered again. He was certain that the reason he felt Original Sin gradually awakening was because his decaying Physical Body was reviving. The two were inseparable, already fused together. It wasn't because some slumbering Original Sin had awakened, giving him this feeling.
But if the Original Sin on him was gradually awakening because his decaying Physical Body was slowly reviving, then why would other bearers of Original Sin sense that the slumbering Original Sin was awakening? Was there some causal connection here?
Just as Gu Qingfeng was puzzling over this, Man Tu Fan walked over and stared at him, demanding, "Tell me honestly! What exactly are you now? What is your relationship with Original Sin?"
Gu Qingfeng shook his head. He really couldn't answer that question. Not because he didn't want to, but because he himself didn't know what kind of existence he was now, nor did he understand his exact relationship with those bearing Original Sin.
"Didn't you comprehend the Four Great Mental States, allowing you to see through all truths and falsehoods of sentient beings and perceive all the mysteries of the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth? How can you not know anything! Are you truly ignorant, or are you just playing dumb with me!"
"Sis!" Gu Qingfeng felt like crying but had no tears. "Why would I play dumb with you? I truly don't know! And don't bring up the Four Great Mental States transcending everything. Just mentioning that pisses me off."
Gu Qingfeng wasn't exaggerating.
Before comprehending the Four Great Mental States, if he was willing, he could at least perceive a bit of the truths of sentient beings and the mysteries of the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth. But ever since attaining the Four Great Mental States, far from seeing through all truths and falsehoods of sentient beings and perceiving all mysteries of the Great Dao as the legends said, he found the truths of sentient beings more confusing the more he looked, and the mysteries of the Great Dao increasingly unfathomable.
He used to be known for his Fiery Golden Eyes; nothing about sentient beings could escape his discerning gaze. His comprehension was peerless; there was nothing about the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth he couldn't grasp.
But ever since igniting the Karmic Fire of Original Sin, slumbering for ten thousand years, and undergoing Silent Extinction Rebirth, Gu Qingfeng found that not only was his eyesight failing, his comprehension had dulled, and even his mind wasn't as sharp.
He had initially thought it might be due to his decaying Physical Body and weakened spirit, but later realized that wasn't the case. As his decaying Physical Body gradually revived, the situation didn't improve; instead, it became even worse.