Cang Yan knew.
Genggu Wuming had gambled once in the Wu Dao Age. As for who participated in that epochal gamble and what the stakes were, Cang Yan might not know. The only thing she knew was that in that gamble, Genggu Wuming had lost everything, including her own soul and her very self.
"You gambled once in the past Wu Dao Age. Will you gamble again in the future Wu Dao Age?"
Cang Yan's voice came through. Genggu Wuming shook her head and said, "I have nothing left to lose. I will not gamble again, I dare not gamble again, and I no longer have the qualification to gamble that final hand."
"Since you've already lost everything, why not go all out for one last try?"
Cang Yan said, "You're already destitute. Even if you lose this final gamble, things can't get any worse than they are now."
Genggu Wuming gazed at Cang Yan. "Are you urging me to take that final gamble?"
"You're already gambling that final hand."
Cang Yan met Genggu Wuming's gaze and countered, "Aren't you?"
Genggu Wuming fell silent for a moment before softly replying with three words: "Perhaps so."
"When you chose not to cast Gu Tianlang into Gui Xu back then, and instead renamed him Gu Qingfeng, you had already decided to gamble that final hand."
"When the Wu Dao Mountain descended and you watched him ignite the Original Sin Karmic Flames without interfering, you had already entered this gamble."
"When you decided to come see him personally, I knew you had already begun placing your bets."
Genggu Wuming continued her slow stroll through the world under the night sky, listening to Cang Yan's words before responding again, "Perhaps so..."
"Heh."
Cang Yan gave a faint smile. "When you declared to all the heavens and myriad realms that Original Sin is not a sin, the curtain had already risen on this gamble..."
"That curtain was delayed for ten thousand years."
Genggu Wuming stopped and looked up at the night sky. "It should have risen at the very beginning of the Present-Ancient Era."
Cang Yan asked, "Then why did you wait until now to raise it?"
"I didn't raise the curtain."
Genggu Wuming said, "He did."
"That's true."
Cang Yan said helplessly, "When the Wu Dao Mountain descended, he ignited the Original Sin Karmic Flames and awakened Original Sin—that was when the curtain rose. Only...
he slumbered for ten thousand years, and the curtain that had been raised was consequently halted."
Shaking her head, Cang Yan couldn't help but sigh. "For ten thousand years of the Present-Ancient Era, whether they be the great powers of the Great Wilderness or the blessed lands and cave heavens, whether through reincarnation or responding to calamities and fortunes, all the Original Sin bearers they nurtured have grown up and can now stand on their own."
"And that's just the great powers of the Great Wilderness and the blessed lands and cave heavens. Beyond them, the Nine Heavens and Nine Nethers, forbidden lands and sacred grounds, desolate ruins and broken remains, heavens and hells, purgatories and abysses...
the Original Sin that exists there is even more terrifying...
so terrifying it's unimaginable."
"All kinds of supreme treasure bodies, all kinds of primordial bloodlines, all kinds of forbidden Great Daos, all kinds of divine weapons and magical artifacts, all kinds of true spirit manifestations, divine consciousnesses and demonic thoughts..." Cang Yan murmured, her expression looking particularly helpless. "Just thinking about it gives me a headache..."
Beside her, Genggu Wuming remained silent, merely gazing at the night sky without speaking.
Cang Yan suddenly asked, "Have those ancient clansmen found...
the Divine-Slaying Bow and Demon-Destroying Arrows?"
Genggu Wuming shook her head. "They probably haven't."
"Probably?"
Cang Yan said, "You don't know either?"
"If they had found the Divine-Slaying Bow and Demon-Destroying Arrows, the first one they'd shoot would be me."
Genggu Wuming said very calmly, "Since I'm still alive, it means they haven't found them yet."
"You said the Divine-Slaying Bow and Demon-Destroying Arrows would definitely emerge."
"They definitely will."
Genggu Wuming affirmed. "With the opening of the Wu Dao Age, not only will the Divine-Slaying Bow and Demon-Destroying Arrows emerge, but the Donghuang Bell, the Xuanyuan Sword, the Pangu Axe, the Refining Demon Pot, the Haotian Pagoda, the Shennong Cauldron, the Kongtong Seal, the Kunlun Mirror, the Nuwa Stone...
will all emerge in succession..."
"Really..." Cang Yan didn't know whether to laugh or cry, utterly at a loss for words to describe her feelings at this moment.
"What is destined to emerge will ultimately emerge...
what is destined to happen will ultimately happen. No one can stop it...
everything has long been predetermined in the unseen workings of fate."
"Fate no longer exists. How could all this be predetermined?"
"Though Fate is gone, Karma still remains."
"Karma is disordered Karma."
"Even disordered Karma is still Karma..." This time it was Cang Yan's turn to fall silent. She sighed again and asked, "Nameless, can I ask you a question?"
Genggu Wuming said lightly, "You want to ask me who I've placed my bet on—whether it's Xiao Jinr or him—right?"
Cang Yan nodded. That was indeed the question she wanted to ask. "When we were leaving, he asked you if Xiao Jinr is an Original Sin Anomaly...
and if Xiao Jinr could also possibly become the True Lord of Original Sin. That question...
I want to know too."
"Not just you two. I also want to know."
"You don't know what kind of existence Xiao Jinr is either?"
"I don't."
"Jinr...
could she be the True Lord of Original Sin?"
"I hope Xiao Jinr is."
"Hope?"
Genggu Wuming's answer greatly surprised Cang Yan. "Why?"
"Because if Xiao Jinr isn't the True Lord of Original Sin...
then it would be too terrifying."
Cang Yan thought carefully but couldn't make sense of Genggu Wuming's words. "You mean if Xiao Jinr isn't the True Lord of Original Sin, then Gu Qingfeng...
might become the True Lord of Original Sin, so that's terrifying?"
"If Gu Qingfeng were to become the True Lord of Original Sin...
it might not be so terrifying. Unfortunately...
Original Sin probably wouldn't choose him. If he wants to become the True Lord of Original Sin, he'd have to seize it by force, and his chances of success are slim—even slimmer than our chances of becoming the True Lord of Original Sin."
Cang Yan grew more confused the more she listened. "Why is that?"
Genggu Wuming didn't answer that question, instead murmuring, "Xiao Jinr's existence...
may be beyond our imagination."
She didn't understand.
Cang Yan was still utterly baffled.
Genggu Wuming called Cang Yan's name and asked, "Do you want to open the Wu Dao Age?"
Perhaps not expecting Genggu Wuming to suddenly ask such a question, Cang Yan's expression momentarily froze. She didn't answer directly, instead countering, "Don't you want to?"
Genggu Wuming similarly didn't answer directly, also countering, "Why do you want to open the Wu Dao Age?"
"Same as you—I also want to find myself again."
After answering, Cang Yan asked in turn, "Aren't you the same?"
"If you open the Wu Dao Age and find yourself again, but discover that the self you've recovered isn't the self you wanted, what will you do?"
"I haven't thought about that question. Have you?"
"I have, but I don't know what to do."
Cang Yan stared at Genggu Wuming with extreme confusion. "Why are you speaking so incoherently today, jumping from one thing to another?"
"I don't know why either. I just feel my heart is in such turmoil..."