"Dead...
They're all dead...
Hahahaha!
All dead..." Huode suddenly burst into loud laughter again, a laugh filled with tragic heroism. After laughing, he began to weep bitterly, crying with immense sorrow, saying, "All of them are dead...
All dead...
Why!
Why on earth!"
He seemed to be madly shouting at the heavens in accusation. Then, he shook his head and said, "No!
They're not dead...
No one is dead. 'Eternal Cataclysm births heaven and earth, endless Reincarnation brings forth rebirth, Previous Life and present life meet through Karma, whose fate is whose depends on heaven'—they will all return...
Everything will return!"
"But...
What is the present life?
What is the Previous Life?"
"What is Reincarnation?
What is rebirth?"
"Is this the present life?
Or the Previous Life?"
"What exactly is the present life, and what is the next life!"
"Dead...
All dead..." Huode rambled on insanely, then murmured, "No!
Not dead!
Impossible to die...
Because none of this has happened yet, the Wu Dao Age has not arrived...
No one is dead..." "Hahaha!
Not dead..." Huode burst into loud laughter again, but after laughing, he began to weep once more, saying, "No!
They're all dead...
The Wu Dao Age has already passed...
They're all dead..." "Hahaha!
All dead..." "No!
They're not dead, the Wu Dao Age is the future..." "No!
They're all dead, the Wu Dao Age is not the future, but the past..." Huode continued to murmur insanely like this, his turbid eyes growing increasingly bewildered and lost. He raised his head, accusing the heavens, and shouted, "What is real, what is false, what is life, what is death, what is the present life, what is the Previous Life, what is the past, and what is the future!
Who can tell me!
!"
"Who can tell me whether the Wu Dao Age is real or false!"
"Who can tell me whether the Wu Dao Age is life or death!"
"Who can tell me whether the Wu Dao Age is the Previous Life or the present life!"
"Who can tell me whether the Wu Dao Age is the past or the future!
!"
"Ah—who can tell me!"
Huode, as if subjected to intense stimulation, let out a furious roar. For a moment, chaotic radiance once again bloomed wildly across the sky. Within the chaos, it was like the interplay of yin and yang, the interweaving of black and white, the fusion of light and dark, accompanied by the surging eruption of vast Primordial Ancient Power, shaking the void of the Great Desolate until it blurred and distorted.
From beginning to end, Gu Qingfeng did not move, remaining quietly standing in mid-air.
Only his ink-black long hair danced wildly, only his snow-white robes fluttered!
He simply furrowed his brows, gazing at Huode, not uttering a word.
An unknown amount of time passed.
When Huode's roars ceased, the chaotic radiance filling the sky gradually dissipated, and the vast Primordial Ancient Power slowly faded. At this moment, Huode stood with disheveled hair, looking utterly dejected. His expression grew increasingly bewildered and lost, his eyes increasingly vacant and empty, as he murmured.
"The real is the false, the false is the real."
"Life is death, death is life."
"The present life is the next life, the next life is the present life."
"The past is the future, the future is the past..." "All phenomena are Illusion."
"Illusion...
Heh!
Illusion...
Haha!"
"Illusion!
That's right!
It's all Illusion!
The Gu kid said all phenomena are Illusion, hahaha!
The Gu kid also said...
To make me...
Believe in him...
Everything will end...
Hahaha!
The Gu kid said hahahaha!"
Perhaps remembering something, Huode, who had seemed utterly dejected, suddenly became spirited again, though his expression remained just as bewildered and lost. He said, "The Gu kid...
Who is he?
Why did he...
Tell me to believe in him?
The Gu kid...
Who exactly is he!
Why do I feel so familiar, yet can't remember at all...
Who exactly is the Gu kid!
And what did he want me to believe in?"
Not far away.
Upon hearing Huode mention himself, Gu Qingfeng felt quite puzzled inside, because he was certain that the Huode before him was not the Huode he knew, but rather that Mad Old Man from the Wu Dao Age.
He just didn't understand. Although he had met that Mad Old Man from the Wu Dao Age twice, they had only met twice. They had no friendship, were not acquainted, and he had certainly never said anything about making him believe in himself.
Why would this Mad Old Man say such a thing?
Was the 'Gu kid' he referred to actually himself?
Gu Qingfeng pondered for a moment, then finally walked over and tentatively asked, "Huode?
Is that you?"
Huode turned around, his turbid eyes looking Gu Qingfeng up and down, and asked, "Young man...
Who are you?
And who is Huode?
This name...
Why does it feel so familiar..." As expected from the test, this Huode was not the Huode he knew.
After thinking for a moment, Gu Qingfeng said again, "The reason you find the name Huode familiar is because Huode is your own name, specifically the name of your present life."
"Huode is this old man's...
Present life name?
Why...
Does this old man not know?"
"You are Huode's Previous Life."
"This old man is the Previous Life?
No!
Impossible!
There is no such thing as a Previous Life, nor a present life. The Previous Life is the present life, the present life is the Previous Life!"
Looking at the insane Huode, Gu Qingfeng said solemnly, "Didn't you say it yourself just now? 'Eternal Cataclysm births heaven and earth, endless Reincarnation brings forth rebirth, Previous Life and present life meet through Karma, whose fate is whose depends on heaven.' Don't you know what this means?"
Huode murmured this phrase, growing more frantic the more he murmured it, the Wandering in his expression intensifying. He said, "No!
Impossible!
This is a Curse!
A Curse cast by fate! The Gu kid...
Said...
To make this old man not believe in this Curse!
As long as I don't believe, it won't happen...
The Gu kid wouldn't lie to this old man, absolutely not..." "Who is the 'Gu kid' you speak of?"
"The Gu kid...
Yes!
Who exactly is the Gu kid?
Why can't this old man remember no matter how hard I try."
Huode was stunned, as if struggling to recall. After a long while, he still couldn't remember who the Gu kid was. He shook his head and said doubtfully, "Forgotten, can't remember...
This old man seems...
Lost...
Probably lost..." Gu Qingfeng walked over, standing face to face with Huode, and asked, "Then take a careful look. Who am I?"
"You?"
Huode examined Gu Qingfeng carefully again, his expression growing more complex the longer he looked. This complexity seemed to contain endless bewilderment, as well as endless astonishment. He said, "Why...
Do you give this old man a very...
Very familiar feeling...
Who exactly are you?
Wait!
You are a person of Wu Dao?
No!
You are not a person of Wu Dao!"
Suddenly!
Huode shouted loudly, "You are actually a person of Original Sin!
No!
You are not only a person of Original Sin!
You actually...
Are also a person of Illusion."