"Where do you think that kid could have gone?"
Huode paced back and forth in the garden, his expression showing considerable worry.
If it were before, he naturally wouldn't have worried about anything. But now that Gu Qingfeng's Great Dao foundation was destroyed, he wasn't clear on exactly how much strength the kid still possessed. The key point was that after the Calamity, with all sorts of bloodlines, treasure bodies, immortal fates, colored spirits, and reincarnated great powers running around, what if he ran into some formidable big shot? That would be truly terrible.
"You, this kid...
When you were in this world, being judged by the Immortal Dao was one thing."
"Then you get to the Heavenly Realm, and you get judged by the Heavenly Dao!"
"You managed to cheat death after being judged by the Immortal Dao, but you didn't know how to cherish it. Then you got judged by the Old Heavens, cheated death again, and you still don't know how to cherish it!"
"Why are you so damn reckless!"
"Why don't you just go to heaven already!"
"You just keep pushing your luck, kid. If your identity gets exposed, the Immortal Dao definitely won't let you off. And if the Old Heavens find out again...
I'd like to see just how many more lives you can cheat death out of."
Huode cursed and grumbled in the courtyard, tilting his head back to take a swig of wine. It seemed he still wasn't satisfied and was about to start cursing again when a voice, both laughing and scolding, suddenly sounded by his ear.
"I say, Huode, you old bastard, can't you wish me a bit of good for once?"
Hmm?
Hearing the voice, Huode froze for a moment, then turned to look. He saw a man walking towards him with a smile.
A man in white robes.
A man whose features were cold and stern, yet whose mouth held a playful smile.
A man strolling leisurely as if the twilight itself were descending.
Who else could it be but Gu Qingfeng!
"Kid Gu...
When did you..." Huode stared wide-eyed, looking Gu Qingfeng up and down, asking in astonishment, "...nothing happened, right?"
"What could happen to me?"
Gu Qingfeng shrugged, walked over, and directly reclined on the ancient rocking chair. He picked up a cup of wine from the nearby table and started drinking.
"I say, what the hell is going on with you? How did you cause such a huge commotion? Can't you keep a low profile for once?
Do you even know..." Huode launched into a torrent of scolding. Gu Qingfeng couldn't be bothered to pay him any mind, just rocking back and forth on the chair with his eyes closed, resting.
After scolding for a while, perhaps having tired himself out, Huode grinned and chuckled, "I heard you found a Lunar Seed in the cave abode. Take it out and let this old man have a look."
Gu Qingfeng didn't stand on ceremony either. He directly pulled out the Lunar Seed and tossed it over. He knew that besides eating, drinking, whoring, and gambling, Huode's biggest hobby was collecting treasures. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been searching everywhere for cave abodes back in the day.
Speaking of which, Huode had dug up quite a few cave abodes back then and collected many treasures, making him something of a connoisseur. But as he looked at this fist-sized Lunar Seed in his hand, the more he looked, the more something felt off. He couldn't quite put his finger on what it was. He asked, "This is that so-called Lunar Seed?
Looks pretty ordinary to me. Doesn't even have as much Taiyin spiritual energy as a single Blue Frost Crystal."
"It's sealed."
"Sealed?
By you, kid?"
"By the Founding Ancestor of the Ice-Profound Sect."
"What?
The Founding Ancestor of the Ice-Profound Sect?"
Huode was stunned, as if he hadn't expected Gu Qingfeng to say that. After a long while, he asked, "You mean those seven cave abodes that appeared are related to the Founding Ancestor of the Ice-Profound Sect?
What did she seal inside?"
"Her own soul?"
Hearing this.
Huode was completely dumbfounded, even doubting if he had heard correctly. What did he mean, her own soul?
What was that supposed to mean?
Could it be that the Founding Ancestor of the Ice-Profound Sect sealed her own soul inside this Lunar Seed?
Was that even possible?
Did this kid take him for a three-year-old child?
Seeing Huode's disbelieving expression, Gu Qingfeng recounted the entire incident in detail from beginning to end. He felt it necessary to tell Huode about this matter because only he knew about the affairs of the Yunxia Sect.
And Huode listened.
But he only listened.
He listened in a muddled, confused state, his head spinning, his scalp tingling, and his hair standing on end.
What was muddled was Gu Qingfeng saying he was investigating some karma and suspecting he had karma with the Founding Ancestor of the Ice-Profound Sect.
What was confusing was talk of the Founding Ancestor of the Ice-Profound Sect being involved in reincarnation, bloodlines, and Seven-Colored Envoys...
What made his scalp tingle was hearing Gu Qingfeng mention Heavenly Edicts, Buddha Edicts, Immortal Edicts, Demon Edicts, and even Original Sin Edicts.
What made his hair stand on end was hearing Gu Qingfeng say this matter might also involve the Yunxia Sect.
What the hell was all this?
Huode was a bit dazed, his thoughts flying everywhere, exceptionally chaotic.
He was just a minor Golden Core True Person who had cultivated for seven or eight hundred years. Forget about after the Calamity, with geniuses everywhere; even before the Calamity, he was only considered a major figure in the surrounding regions. Leave this place, and Huode was nothing.
Things like karma and Heavenly Edicts—he had heard of them, but only in legends and stories, or seen them in some ancient books. Besides knowing these were legendary existences, he knew nothing else about them.
It took quite a long time before Huode managed to calm the shock and horror in his heart. Leaning forward, his throat tight, he asked, "What did you just say?
That the Founding Ancestor of the Ice-Profound Sect has karma with you?"
"Just a suspicion. Can't confirm it yet."
"Kid Gu, are you mistaken? That can't be right. Although I don't know exactly what karma is, that thing at least requires a cause to have an effect, right? The Founding Ancestor of the Ice-Profound Sect has been dead for over two thousand years. How old are you, kid?
How could you have any karma with her?"
"I can't explain this to you clearly in a short while. We'll talk about it later."
Gu Qingfeng rubbed his chin and asked, "How much do you know about the Founding Ancestor of the Ice-Profound Sect?"
"How much do I know?"
Huode scratched his head, thinking carefully. "Not much, really. I only know the Founding Ancestor of the Ice-Profound Sect was very mysterious and miraculous. In her time, she was a famous extraordinary woman, known as Lady Bing Xuan."
"How was she mysterious?
And how was she miraculous?"
Gu Qingfeng waved his hand, signaling him to sit down, then poured two cups of wine and handed one over.
"I heard that back then, with a wave of her hand, she could cause changes in nature—snow in June, ice stretching for a thousand miles. I heard that snowstorm lasted for several years back then, and the surrounding regions were frozen for several years..."
"Oh?"
Gu Qingfeng drank his wine, nodded, and asked again, "And then?"
"Before, no one knew who the Founding Ancestor of the Ice-Profound Sect was. No one had seen her, nor did they know her identity or background. Some suspected she had obtained some treasure, so back then, many experts from the surrounding regions and even the greater Northwest came to seize it."
"And then..."
"The result...
They all died...
I heard that almost overnight, everyone who went to the Ice-Profound Sect to seize the treasure was frozen into ice sculptures. Real ice sculptures. I heard that after the ice formed, the flesh and blood would shatter along with it..."
Gu Qingfeng raised an eyebrow and sat up. "How come I've never heard a thing about this? I grew up here, after all."
"Only the older generation knows about this kind of thing. Because most of the sects in the surrounding regions participated in the seizure back then, and it was embarrassing to talk about, so they kept it under wraps. Don't say you didn't know, kid. If I hadn't won a bet against Old Monster Huang back then, I wouldn't know either."