"You...
Didn't you already choose to accept your fate...
Why have you suddenly changed your mind, wanting to break free...
from Original Sin?"
"How should I put it!"
Gu Qingfeng descended from the air, sitting on the branch of a plum blossom tree. He opened a jar of Hell Impermanence Wine, gulping down two mouthfuls before saying, "Ever since I ignited the Original Sin Karmic Fire on Wu Dao Mountain back then, slept for ten thousand years, and woke up, I did indeed want to accept my fate. I didn't want to struggle anymore, and it's the same even now. But there's no way around it. I want to accept my fate, but others won't give me the chance to do so."
"You...
Aren't you the same yourself..." Jun Xuanji's voice drifted softly. "Your own heart probably won't...
Give you the chance to accept your fate either..." Jun Xuanji's words struck a chord deep within Gu Qingfeng's heart.
Indeed.
Even if others were willing to give him the chance to accept his fate, the pride in his heart and the stubbornness in his bones would never allow him to submit.
Gu Qingfeng could convince himself, but he couldn't convince his own heart.
"You...
Haven't you noticed?"
Gu Qingfeng asked, puzzled, "Noticed what?"
"The more you try to break free from Original Sin, the deeper you sink into it..." Hearing this, Gu Qingfeng fell silent.
How could he not have noticed?
Ever since he learned about Original Sin, he had always wanted to break free. But for some reason, the more he tried to escape, the deeper he sank. Especially after igniting the Original Sin Karmic Fire on Wu Dao Mountain back then, it felt as if he had suddenly plunged into the abyss of Original Sin, unable to climb out no matter how hard he tried.
If he could still see a glimmer of light before, then the current Gu Qingfeng, after falling into the abyss of Original Sin, couldn't see even a sliver of brightness anymore.
"You...
Shouldn't have ignited the Original Sin Karmic Fire back then...
You shouldn't have..."
"Then why didn't you stop me back then!"
Gu Qingfeng felt a mix of amusement and exasperation. "Do you still hold a grudge against me? So, you just watched me jump into the fire pit without stopping me?"
"I...
Told you...
Many, many times...
Not to seek...
causality, not to...
try to break free from Original Sin, and not to...
attempt to change fate...
You never listened...
to my words...
You've always been willful and stubborn...
When Wu Dao Mountain descended...
I also looked for you...
told you not to go up Wu Dao Mountain...
You still didn't...
listen..."
"Sigh!"
Gu Qingfeng sighed in frustration. Thinking about it carefully, it really was like that. Back then, Jun Xuanji had indeed told him several times not to seek causality, not to break free from Original Sin, and not to change fate...
When Wu Dao Mountain descended, to stop him, she even said she would either make him kill her, or she would kill him.
"It's all because I was too young back then...
If I had listened to you back then, I wouldn't have ended up in this sorry state today."
"Back then...
I told you...
to kill me..." Jun Xuanji said. "Why didn't you...
take action..."
Gu Qingfeng didn't answer this question. Instead, he asked in return, "Back then, I also told you to kill me. Why didn't you take action either?"
Similarly.
Jun Xuanji also didn't answer Gu Qingfeng's question.
Silence.
Neither spoke again.
The night was quiet.
Only the sound of plum blossoms falling could be heard.
After an unknown amount of time, Jun Xuanji's voice came again.
"Do you know...
what Original Sin is?"
Gu Qingfeng shook his head. He truly didn't know what Original Sin was. Although everyone said he was already deeply, deeply mired in Original Sin, he knew nothing about it.
Even though Genggu Wuming said that Original Sin is a kind of Dao, a kind of Primordial Great Dao.
But that was only Genggu Wuming's claim.
Gu Qingfeng might not know exactly what Original Sin is, but he could sense that the existence of Original Sin was definitely not as simple as just being a Great Dao.
"Heh heh..."
Suddenly, Jun Xuanji laughed, a strange laugh.
Gu Qingfeng frowned, asking in confusion, "What are you laughing at?"
"You don't even know...
what Original Sin is...
yet you've always wanted to break free from it. Isn't that...
funny?"
"Hahahaha!"
Gu Qingfeng also laughed, a hearty laugh.
"You...
What are you laughing at?"
"If I'm laughable, then aren't you even more laughable?"
"Why?"
"You've always wanted to end all of this, but you don't even know what you want to end. Isn't that even more laughable?"
As he spoke, Gu Qingfeng shook his head. "Suddenly I realize we're quite similar. I don't know what Original Sin is, yet I'm determined to break free from it. You don't know exactly what you want to end, yet you're determined to end it..."
"What to end is not important. What's important is...
I want to end all of this..."
Gu Qingfeng shrugged and followed up, "For me, it's the same. What Original Sin is isn't important either. I don't care what it is. Even if it's divine grace, I still want to break free from it."
"What you...
want to break free from isn't Original Sin at all..." Jun Xuanji let a plum blossom petal in her palm fall to the ground, looking down at the descending petal as she said, "It's...
Fate."
Gu Qingfeng drank his wine, saying lightly, "And what you want to end is also Fate, isn't it?"
"Perhaps."
Jun Xuanji turned around, looking at Gu Qingfeng who was lying back on the tree branch. "Give me a jar of wine, can you?"
"You..." Gu Qingfeng tilted his head, somewhat surprised. "You drink wine too?"
"Is that not allowed?"
"Nothing's not allowed."
Gu Qingfeng raised his hand and took out a jar of Hell Impermanence Wine, tossing it over.
Jun Xuanji caught the wine jar. With a wave of her hand, *bang*—the seal on the jar's lid flew off. Then, Jun Xuanji raised the jar high. The Hell Impermanence Wine inside poured down like a waterfall. She slightly tilted her head back, her red lips parting slightly, gently drinking the flowing fine wine.
In the night, under the moonlight, amidst the plum grove, on the sea of flowers, watching Jun Xuanji drink like this, Gu Qingfeng was momentarily stunned, as if his thoughts had drifted back to the Ancient Era.
Back then.
He had not yet ascended to become the Nine Nethers Emperor; he was still the Scarlet Sky Sovereign of the Primordial World.
Back then, Jun Xuanji had not yet lost herself, nor had she fallen into demonhood; she was still the World-Venerable Lady of the Primordial World.
Back then, he stirred up trouble in the Primordial World, and Jun Xuanji had been hunting him down.
They met, fought fiercely, fought for a long, long time, fought until they were exhausted, fought until they were drained and spent.
Gu Qingfeng was, and Jun Xuanji was too.
Both stopped to rest.
Gu Qingfeng drank wine, and Jun Xuanji, back then, also asked him for a jar of fine wine.
He still vaguely remembered that when Jun Xuanji drank wine back then, it was just like this moment.
The difference was.
Back then, Jun Xuanji was beautiful like the blazing sun, exuding a dignified aura. But the current Jun Xuanji, though still beautiful, is beautiful like a lonely, cold, secluded moon, exuding a desolate aura.