"I know you have no way back, kid, but...
Isn't this decision of yours a bit too sudden?"
Huode's constitution couldn't handle the potency of the Heavenly Dao Wine and Hell's Unpredictable Wine, so he could only drink his own brew. He asked, "Did Lady Tianji say something to you last night?"
"She didn't say anything, and even if she did, I wouldn't believe it."
Gu Qingfeng shook his head. "That woman is no good bird. You stay far away from her in the future. Whatever she says, let it go in one ear and out the other. Don't dwell on it."
"This...
No way?"
Huode furrowed his brows. "I think Lady Tianji is quite alright, isn't she?
She's very approachable. You mocked and ridiculed her yesterday, yet Lady Tianji didn't get angry at all."
"Someone like her doesn't even have the seven emotions and six desires. What anger could she feel? What's there to be angry about? Even if I stripped her clothes off right in front of her, she wouldn't get angry."
Gu Qingfeng sneered. "Approachable?
Let me tell you, the Genggu Wuming you saw is the one she wanted you to see."
"What do you mean, the Genggu Wuming I saw is the one she wanted me to see?
What does that mean?"
"Close your eyes now. Can you recall what Genggu Wuming looks like?"
Hearing Gu Qingfeng say this, Huode tried. After closing his eyes, his impression of Genggu Wuming was very vague. As for what she looked like, he couldn't remember at all. It felt like a dream—he knew he had dreamed, but he had no real impression of what the dream was about.
Huode was puzzled and asked curiously, "How can this be?"
Gu Qingfeng said, "That's why I said the Genggu Wuming you saw is the one she wanted you to see. To put it bluntly, the Genggu Wuming you saw was imagined by yourself."
"So, the Lady Tianji who came yesterday was a fake?
An avatar?"
"Not fake, nor an avatar, but...
How should I put it? I can't explain it clearly in a short while. That woman is a mix of truth and falsehood, reality and illusion, mysterious and elusive, utterly bizarre. And what's even more terrifying is that her every word and action can subtly influence your thoughts. What she says has a strange, inexplicable persuasive power, making you utterly convinced without any doubt. You don't even know what's happening, but your thoughts might already be influenced...
Her methods are truly masterful."
"This...
Kid Gu, you're not saying your thoughts were influenced by Lady Tianji, are you?"
"I'd like that woman Genggu Wuming to influence my thoughts, but she'd need the capability first."
Huode shot Gu Qingfeng a sidelong glance, truly unable to stand Gu Qingfeng's smug, self-satisfied look.
"You old codger, stop messing around these years. Honestly go into seclusion for a while. Don't get yourself killed by someone without even knowing how you died."
"Is it that serious?"
Huode leaned in and asked, "Is something major really about to happen in the Myriad Heavens and Worlds?"
"Whether something major will happen, I don't know. The only thing I know is that the Myriad Heavens and Worlds definitely won't be as peaceful as they've been for the past ten thousand years of the Present-Ancient Era. It might be even more chaotic than imagined. Otherwise, Genggu Wuming wouldn't have come to find me. She came to me, saying it was to clear up misunderstandings and all that—that's all nonsense. She had only one purpose in finding me."
"What purpose?"
"She wanted me to understand that the prelude to the Daoless Age has already begun. After the prelude begins, what will happen is unimaginable to anyone, including a Karma incarnation and Fate emissary like Genggu Wuming."
"Good heavens!"
Huode murmured, "If even Lady Tianji can't imagine it, then whatever major event is coming must be truly terrifying!"
After saying this, Huode remembered something and quickly pressed, "By the way, what did Lady Tianji mean by telling you the prelude to the Daoless Age has begun?"
Gu Qingfeng shrugged, indicating he didn't know.
"Was she trying to tell you not to defy the heavens and try to escape Original Sin, but to follow the heavens, accept fate, and welcome the opening of the Daoless Age?"
"Don't ask me about this. I don't know either, and I can't be bothered to think about it. I don't dare to ponder that woman Genggu Wuming's words too deeply, lest I fall into her trap."
Gu Qingfeng stood up and poured Huode a cup of wine. "Don't worry blindly about my affairs. You should worry about your own."
"What about me?
I'm not an Original Sin person, and I have no interest in the Daoless Age."
"You may not be an Original Sin person and have no interest in the Daoless Age, but your previous life is most likely someone from the Daoless Age."
Hearing Gu Qingfeng mention his previous life, Huode's heart skipped a beat. "If you hadn't mentioned it, kid, I'd almost forgotten about that."
"Your previous life is lost, acting all mystical and strange. And there's one thing I never told you."
"What thing?"
"Your previous life seems to know me."
"Know you?
That's not very likely, is it?"
Huode said in surprise, "My previous life is from the Daoless Age. How could they possibly know you?"
"Yeah, I'm also puzzled. Your previous life is clearly from the Daoless Age. How could they possibly know me?"
"Thinking carefully, I don't find this particularly rare. Ever since my previous life emerged, I often can't distinguish between reality and dreams, and my memories are a bit mixed up with those of my previous life. Sometimes I can't even tell if I'm my present self or my previous life. If it's like this for me, maybe the memories of my previous life are also confused?"
"Maybe that's the case. I hope it is. Otherwise..." Gu Qingfeng laughed. "Then this matter would be too bizarre."
"How is it bizarre?"
"Nonsense. If your previous life knows me, and it has nothing to do with your present life, what does that mean?
Your previous life is from the Daoless Age. If that bastard knows me, don't you think this matter has Karma reversed?
Not only is Karma reversed, but even time is reversed. The past becomes the future, the future becomes the past..."
"What past, what future?" Huode scratched his head. "This is all too confusing."
Gu Qingfeng stared at Huode, his expression somewhat serious, and said nothing more.
Because he suddenly thought of something terrifying.
What kind of existence is the Daoless Age?
Genggu Wuming said Fate perished, and it perished in the Daoless Age. She also said Karma became disordered, and it started becoming disordered from the Daoless Age.
If disordered Karma continues, could it cause Karma to reverse?
Cause becomes effect, effect becomes cause?
If Karma is reversed, then would time also...
Reverse along with it?
The past becomes the future, the future becomes the past?
"The primordial calamity births heaven and earth, endless reincarnations manifest, previous life and present life meet through Karma, whose fate is whose depends on heaven..." Gu Qingfeng murmured these words, as if he understood, yet also seemed more confused. He gazed at the night sky, just gazing, silent for a long time.