How exactly he had escaped that last time, Gu Qingfeng himself did not know. All he knew was that after being trapped inside, he had spent a long, long time pondering how to get out of the Realm of Forgetting without resorting to Silent Extinction Rebirth. He pondered for what felt like countless eons, until his mind began to fray, his consciousness blurred, and he finally fell into madness...
Or more accurately, he became lost.
What happened after he descended into that mad, lost state, and how he ultimately escaped the Realm of Forgetting, Gu Qingfeng had no recollection to this day. He only remembered that when his consciousness finally returned, he was already out of the Realm of Forgetting. Later, he learned that during his period of madness, he had inexplicably killed many people in the Great Desolate.
If Silent Extinction Rebirth was akin to derailing from the track of the life order and being forgotten by life itself, then for Gu Qingfeng, that state of maddening loss was like derailing from the track of his own existence and being forgotten by his very self.
Having fallen into the Realm of Forgetting three times, that experience was one he would remember for a lifetime.
It was absolutely a state where one could neither live nor die, with the torment of the spirit being particularly excruciating.
Even Gu Qingfeng, who feared nothing and was daunted by no one, couldn't help but feel a shudder deep in his heart when recalling those three experiences of falling into the Realm of Forgetting.
Staring at the ancient Teleportation Array beneath his feet, Gu Qingfeng had been hesitating whether to step in and take a look. He reasoned that since Da Xing the Mad Monk had already gone in, there shouldn't be any problem. Moreover, after carefully inspecting it several times, he could confirm that this ancient Teleportation Array was functioning normally. Both its array core and structure had been repaired, making the likelihood of an accident quite small.
Since Da Xing the Mad Monk had instructed Monk Bu'er to wait here for him, it meant he knew Gu Qingfeng would definitely come.
And if Da Xing knew Gu Qingfeng would definitely come, then he must also have known that the prophet at Yunjue Temple was Da Fuzi.
Da Fuzi was gone, and Da Xing was asking Gu Qingfeng to go find him.
Could this be related to Da Fuzi?
It really was hard to say.
Da Fuzi was the Great Vow Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, while Da Xing the Mad Monk was a Living Buddha who roamed the myriad worlds within the Great Desolate Heaven and Earth. Who knew how many years that old ghost had lived?
Gu Qingfeng didn't continue that train of thought. He figured since he was already here, he might as well go in and take a look.
Having made up his mind, Gu Qingfeng patted Monk Bu'er on the shoulder and said, "Alright, you keep enjoying your little drink. This master is going in to take a look."
With that, Gu Qingfeng stepped directly into the Teleportation Array.
After a flash of light and the activation of the array, Gu Qingfeng vanished.
Every Teleportation Array relied on the order of spatial laws to open a Space Tunnel.
This ancient array was no exception.
During his earlier inspection, he had found that the array was not configured for inter-world or inter-celestial domain travel. He had initially thought it was only for transportation within the same world, but after entering, Gu Qingfeng realized that wasn't the case. If it were merely intra-world travel, the journey through the Space Tunnel would take no more than a few breaths.
Yet since Gu Qingfeng had entered the Space Tunnel, not just a few breaths had passed—dozens of breaths had gone by, and he still hadn't arrived.
As time ticked by, Gu Qingfeng even began to regret stepping into this ancient Teleportation Array. He discovered that the Space Tunnel, stable at first, was becoming increasingly unstable the further he went. Not only was it unstable, but the structure of the Space Tunnel itself seemed to sway and tremble. It felt like walking on a decaying, aged wooden bridge that could snap at any moment.
"Dammit!"
Gu Qingfeng couldn't help but feel like cursing. He roared, "Da Xing, you old bald donkey! You're screwing me over!
If I fall into the Realm of Forgetting again, I swear I'll kill you, you old bald donkey!"
Although Gu Qingfeng had always acted without restraint and feared nothing, the Realm of Forgetting was the one thing that made him shudder from the depths of his heart.
The shadow of his three previous falls into the Realm of Forgetting still lingered.
Fortunately, the present Gu Qingfeng was no longer what he used to be. Back in the ancient era, encountering such a situation, he might have been helpless, left to the whims of fate. But the current Gu Qingfeng could rely on his own formidable power to support the unstable Space Tunnel. Added to his decent proficiency in the Dao of Space, even if the structure of the Space Tunnel truly collapsed, he could still continue the teleportation by relying on the spatial laws with his own abilities.
And so he went on, using his power to support the Space Tunnel while teleporting. The longer he teleported, the stranger Gu Qingfeng felt. They had been teleporting for such a damn long time; even a journey between celestial domains should have been completed by now. Why the hell hadn't they reached the destination yet?
Gu Qingfeng continued teleporting, not daring to make any reckless moves.
Though his courage was great.
But there was one thing he understood better than anyone: no matter how great his courage, it could not surpass the vastness of the boundless Heaven and Earth.
After cultivating for so many years, with the changes in his mental state, the increase in his knowledge, and the enrichment of his experiences, Gu Qingfeng's greatest realization was that Heaven and Earth were truly immense—so immense it was beyond imagination.
He hadn't understood it before.
He hadn't understood why those once-powerful overlords grew more timid the longer they lived, why they grew more reverent and cautious towards Heaven and Earth.
Later, he understood.
Not only did he understand, but his own courage was also growing smaller. He was becoming more reverent and cautious towards Heaven and Earth.
Because he was increasingly realizing that within Heaven and Earth, there existed far too many mysterious and unknown entities. Only after encountering some of them would one truly feel their terror.
Ignorance breeds fearlessness; the more one knows, the more fear one feels.
In his youth, he had thought the world was Heaven and Earth, and the Immortal Dao was the overlord ruling over this Heaven and Earth.
After entering the Great Desolate, he learned that the so-called Immortal Dao was merely one of the Three Thousand Great Daos, and the Heavenly Dao was the true overlord ruling Heaven and Earth.
Later still, he learned that the so-called Heavenly Dao was not the overlord ruling Heaven and Earth either, and that the so-called Three Thousand Great Daos were merely heavenly-mandated orthodoxy born from nature and Heaven and Earth.
If the true Dao were a towering tree, then the Heavenly Dao, Immortal Dao, Monster Dao, Buddha Dao, and the other Three Thousand Great Daos could at best be considered leaves on this tree—not even branches. And those ancient giants of the Great Desolate, like the Thirty-Six Grotto-Heavens and Seventy-Two Blessed Lands, were merely parasites living on those leaves.
What truly ruled these Daos were the Nine Heavens and Nine Nethers, and what ruled the Nine Heavens and Nine Nethers were likely those legendary sacred lands, forbidden grounds, and the mysterious ancient clans.
As for who exactly was the overlord ruling Heaven and Earth, and what constituted the true Dao,
Gu Qingfeng did not know.
Nor was he particularly interested in these matters.
Just then, Gu Qingfeng's heart suddenly jolted as he sensed something unusual, as if someone was watching him.
It wasn't a sweep of Divine Sense, nor was there any killing intent. He simply felt that someone was watching him.
He slightly turned his head, squinting as he stared intently at the left side of the Space Tunnel. He was certain—outside this Space Tunnel, someone was definitely watching him.