"What's this? From the sound of it, not only do I owe you gratitude, but I also owe you a huge favor."
"Isn't that exactly right?"
Old Man Huode stood up, grinning cheekily. "But hey, between you and me, who's keeping score? No need to talk about favors."
Gu Qingfeng tossed the gourd back to Huode, closed his eyes in contemplation, and fell silent.
Speaking of Su Hua...
Although he'd said that Su Hua, as the Destined One Bearing True Destiny in the Present Era, was his natural adversary, irreconcilable as fire and water, and might even be playing some scheme in the shadows...
Truthfully,
it was all just talk.
In his heart, he merely regarded Su Hua as a passerby in his life, nothing more.
As for whether Su Hua truly was or wasn't the Destined One Bearing True Destiny of the Present Era,
he had never cared.
Huode said Su Hua was spreading word across the Myriad Heavens and Worlds that he had ignited the Original Sin Karmic Fire back then for the sake of the Great Dao and all sentient beings, sacrificing himself to ash—all to change his image in everyone's hearts, to make him acceptable under the gaze of all living beings.
Huode also said Su Hua was letting the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth, letting all sentient beings know of her admiration for him, both as a warning and threat to the Three Thousand Great Daos, and to make this world tolerate his existence.
To be honest,
whether that was truly the case,
Gu Qingfeng didn't know.
Nor did he bother to think about it.
Because he simply didn't care.
He held no hostility toward Su Hua. Not in the past, not now, and probably not in the future either.
But that was only hostility.
As for affection...
There was none.
At least, not now.
The reason he hadn't sought out Su Hua was also simple: he lacked that impulse.
It was a feeling of 'could see her, could not see her.'
If they happened to meet, then meet.
If they didn't, then they wouldn't.
That was all.
The relationship between him and Su Hua was originally simple, also pure. It was only because Su Hua's identity and his own were too special that what should have been a simple, pure relationship appeared excessively complicated.
...
Within the vast, boundless expanse of the Great Desolate, there were countless blessed lands and grotto-heavens, innumerable Mysterious Heaven Secret Realms, and an endless array of Myriad Heavens and Worlds.
There was one such Secret Realm.
A mountain peak seemed to pierce through Heaven and Earth, a waterfall cascading straight down like the Milky Way falling from the Ninth Heaven. In the cloudless, azure sky spanning ten thousand li, crimson phoenixes soared freely, while seven-colored immortal deer strolled through the air.
Graceful white cranes circled the mountain peak, chasing and playing.
Unicorns galloped through dense forests, and gentle white elephants ambled across grassy meadows.
Fish swam freely in clear lakes, and lazy kittens basked in the sun amidst flower beds.
Rather than calling this a Secret Realm, it was more akin to a masterpiece of natural beauty.
Perhaps it couldn't be described as exquisitely refined or dazzlingly splendid, yet it gave one a peculiar feeling.
This feeling was freedom.
Yes.
It was freedom.
Because within the Secret Realm, all spirit beasts—whether flying in the sky, crawling on the ground, or swimming in the water—seemed to frolic freely and unrestrainedly. Even the flowers, plants, and trees grew with unbridled liberty. Even the white clouds in the sky seemed to condense and disperse at their own whim. Everything within the Secret Realm, even the realm itself, underwent changes freely and unrestrainedly.
By the lakeside,
on the grassy meadow,
stood a woman.
The woman was dressed in pure white robes, standing quietly, gazing at the sunset glow as dusk approached.
The woman's countenance was beautiful.
Not peerlessly beautiful.
Because 'peerless' was insufficient to describe her beauty.
No!
Not insufficient, but unworthy. Even phrases like 'capable of toppling cities, states, and the world' were unworthy of her beauty.
Because her beauty had long transcended the external, transcended mere appearance.
It was a beauty of purity, of radiance, of sanctity.
It was truly a sacred beauty, so sacred that comparing her to the most beautiful things between Heaven and Earth would be a defilement to her.
Incomparable, unworthy of comparison, and lacking the qualification to compare.
Because her beauty had long transcended all things in Heaven and Earth.
If you asked who she was?
The answer: Empress Saintess.
Yes.
She was Su Hua, the Empress Saintess of the Present Era who had traveled across the Myriad Heavens and Worlds to enlighten all beings, deeply loved and revered by the Great Dao and all sentient beings.
The sentient beings of the Myriad Heavens and Worlds all knew that Empress Saintess had a habit.
Every day at sunset, she would stand alone, gazing at the evening glow as dusk fell.
Initially,
many did not understand.
What was so worth seeing about the sunset's glow?
Later, some said Empress Saintess wasn't looking at the sunset glow, nor at dusk itself. She was thinking of someone, remembering someone, waiting for someone.
Thinking of the Chixiao Sovereign, remembering the Nine Serenities Great Emperor, waiting for the man she admired, surnamed Gu.
Because that man surnamed Gu once possessed a terrifying, dreadful power, evil and dark, enough to startle Heaven and Earth and make ghosts and gods weep. When he appeared, he blotted out the sky and sun; the great sun representing light fell because of him. Arrogant and domineering, he slaughtered Immortals and Demons, intimidated the Great Dao, and even cleaved Heaven and Earth apart with a single slash of his blade.
Thus, a legend was born.
'The great sun falls, twilight shrouds, darkness strikes, You Di descends, Immortal-Demon Twilight, the Great Dao's end...'
This well-known legend spoke precisely of the Nine Serenities Great Emperor who once swept across the Great Desolate and awed Heaven and Earth.
Some still did not understand.
Why would Empress Saintess, representing light and sanctity, admire You Di, who represented evil and darkness?
The Saintess was the Destined One Bearing True Destiny of the Present Era.
And You Di was the Original Sin Person who might trigger the Great Calamity in the Present Era.
Their existences were like Immortal and Demon, like yin and yang, like light and darkness, like evil and sanctity—completely incompatible as fire and water.
Some said,
The Saintess falling for You Di was both the working of karma and the arrangement of fate.
Because in the Ancient Era, when the Saintess was not yet the Saintess but merely Fairy Su Hua, for the sake of a so-called political marriage, she had to wed a man she did not love.
It was You Di's appearance that took her away, saved her, and from then on altered Empress Saintess's fate.
This was the cause.
And precisely because of this antecedent cause, when the Ancient Era ended, Empress Saintess underwent reincarnation and journeyed to the Mundane World to search for traces of You Di.
That Mundane World was You Di's homeland.
To find You Di, Empress Saintess walked every path he had once walked, visited every place he had once been.
For no other reason than to find You Di.
Finally.
She truly found You Di.
No.
Not found You Di, but You Di had always been by her side, only she didn't know it. By the time she realized You Di had always been beside her, everything was already too late.
Because when she became aware that You Di was at her side, Mount Wudao had already descended.
She was the Destined One Bearing True Destiny of the Present Era, while You Di was the Original Sin Person who would trigger the Great Calamity.
The descent of Mount Wudao forced Empress Saintess to make a choice: between the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth and all sentient beings on one side, and the Original Sin Person You Di who would trigger the calamity on the other, she could only choose one.