Ouyang Feiyue knew that every time Ouyang Ye's Bloodline flared up, she would become delirious, as if she were a different person.
She knew.
She had always known.
But previous episodes had never been like today's—wreathed in a dense Blood Mist, her aura astonishing, even her hair turning blood-red. Those crimson eyes were like bloody abysses that Ouyang Feiyue dared not meet directly.
"You...
Who exactly are you...
Why...
Why do I feel like I've met you before, why..." Ouyang Ye stared at Gu Qingfeng, her crimson eyes utterly vacant, her exquisite face filled with confusion and bewilderment.
Gu Qingfeng did not respond. His dark eyes were fixed intently, his stern face grave and somewhat lost, but mostly filled with incomprehension and disbelief.
Strangely enough.
At this very moment, facing Ouyang Ye, he too felt a sense of familiarity.
This feeling was indescribable.
Familiar, yet alien.
Like glimpsing through clouds and mist, like standing in wind and rain.
Particularly wondrous.
As if he had seen her somewhere before, yet where that place was, or when, he had no idea.
Gu Qingfeng did not know why he felt this way. He tentatively asked, "Are you Hongxiu?"
"Hongxiu?"
Ouyang Ye stared at Gu Qingfeng, murmuring the name Hongxiu, her expression blank as she muttered to herself, "Such a familiar name...
So familiar...
So familiar...
Yet so alien...
So alien..."
"Yun Nishang?"
Gu Qingfeng asked again.
Ouyang Ye murmured the name Yun Nishang once more, muttering the same words: so familiar, so alien...
As she murmured, the Blood Mist around her grew denser, her aura increasingly powerful. Her blood-red hair danced wildly within the mist, and a boiling sea of blood churned within her crimson eyes.
"Who exactly are you?"
Gu Qingfeng pressed again, his voice heavy.
"Who am I...
Heh...
Who am I...
Why can't I remember anything...
Who exactly am I..." Ouyang Ye continued to murmur. The Blood Mist grew denser, her aura more formidable, the bloody sea in her eyes boiling ever more fiercely.
"Who am I!
Who exactly am I!
Ah—"
Whoosh!
Ouyang Ye shot upwards, transforming into a streak of bloody light that pierced straight into the sky.
Without a second thought, Gu Qingfeng gave chase.
In the Void.
Above the clouds.
The fierce winds howled.
Gu Qingfeng stood in the Void, hands clasped behind his back. Suddenly!
Above his head, Blood Mist abruptly coalesced, rolling like dark storm clouds.
Ouyang Ye burst forth from the Blood Mist, descending from above with a palm strike, accompanied by a rolling sea of blood, the principles of the Great Dao, and myriad profound mysteries.
Gu Qingfeng's expression darkened, his eyes widening. Turbulent radiance erupted from his body, blazing like flames, interwoven with countless sparks of lightning. He raised his arms, fingers splayed, palms facing upward as if to blot out the sky, his aura piercing through mountains and rivers.
Boom!
The two forces collided, producing a deafening sound. Vast waves of power rippled outwards, scattering the clouds, stilling the fierce winds, and causing the very air to crackle.
Within the Blood Mist, Ouyang Ye stood lightly, her eyes like bloody abysses sweeping over Gu Qingfeng without restraint. When she spoke, her ethereal voice exploded in the air.
"Why...
Why is there something about you that feels so familiar..."
That phrase again.
Opposite her.
Gu Qingfeng stared intently.
Clearly, Ouyang Ye was not in her right mind, delirious and deranged.
Gu Qingfeng did not know what was happening, nor whether her Bloodline had truly awakened, or if she had merely fused with one soul fragment, her memories not yet restored.
He did not understand.
He did not know.
All he wanted now was to unravel what Karma existed between him and the woman before him. He asked, "Do you recognize me?
My surname is Gu, given name Qingfeng. Gu Tianlang is also me..."
"Gu Qingfeng?"
Ouyang Ye murmured, shaking her head. "Gu Tianlang?
So familiar...
So alien..."
"Is there any Karma between you and me?"
"Karma?
Karma again..."
Mentioning Karma, the expressionless Ouyang Ye suddenly laughed bitterly. "The Road of No Return...
This is a Road of No Return...
Endless, without terminus, without...
Cannot be severed, cannot be mended...
The more you sever, the more there is; the more you mend, the more tangled it becomes..."
"Heh...
Karma..."
"Karma that cannot be severed, Karma that cannot be mended..."
As Ouyang Ye murmured, the Blood Mist gradually dissipated, her figure grew faint, becoming indistinct, ethereal...
"The Road of No Return..."
"The path of Karma, the Road of No Return, the Dao is endless..."
"No beginning, no end...
The beginning is also the end, the end is also the beginning...
Endless cycles of reincarnation...
Endless Karma..."
Murmuring, Ouyang Ye's figure gradually vanished.
Gu Qingfeng did not give chase again.
What would be the point of chasing?
A woman not in her right mind, who didn't even know who she was—what could she possibly tell him?
He stood in the Void, recalling Ouyang Ye's words. What was this path of Karma, this Road of No Return, this endless Dao...
And what of this beginning and end...
What did it mean?
He knew Karma could not be severed.
He also knew it could not be fully mended.
But what did 'the beginning is also the end' mean?
Could seeking Karma truly be an endless Road of No Return?
He did not know.
Nor did Gu Qingfeng dwell on it further.
Instead, he returned to First-Grade Manor.
"Where is Yeye..."
Earlier, when Ouyang Ye and Gu Qingfeng both vanished, Ouyang Feiyue had also given chase, but she simply couldn't keep up. Returning to First-Grade Manor and seeing Gu Qingfeng, Ouyang Feiyue couldn't help but ask with concern.
"Her situation is complicated. It can't be explained in a word or two."
Gu Qingfeng looked at her and asked, "Tell me, has Ouyang Ye's Bloodline always been like this?"
"Bloodline?"
Ouyang Feiyue was taken aback, then nodded in response. "Yeye's Bloodline episodes have always been like this...
In the past, she would just ramble incoherently during episodes, but this time...
How..."
"How did she come to cultivate at Yunxia Sect?"
Ouyang Feiyue hesitated, because she didn't know who Gu Qingfeng was, nor whether revealing this would be good or bad for Yeye. Yet, faced with Gu Qingfeng's currently stern and cold demeanor, Ouyang Feiyue didn't even have the courage to lift her head.
"Speak!"
Just as she hesitated, Gu Qingfeng uttered a single, quiet word that sent her soul trembling. She replied, "Yeye said Yunxia Sect has something she needs to find. What that thing is, she herself doesn't know...
She's been searching for so many years and still hasn't found it."
Searching for something...
Gu Qingfeng clearly remembered asking Hongxiu the same question years ago. Hongxiu had also said she came to Yunxia Sect to search for something, and similarly, she didn't know what that thing was.
"And...
And..." Ouyang Feiyue stammered, trembling.
"And what?"
"And...
Yeye said the moment she saw you, she felt a sense of familiarity. She didn't know why either. Also, Yeye has had a strange dream since childhood. She even suspects...
suspects that dream is related to you..."
"What dream?"
Ouyang Feiyue shook her head. "A very strange dream. Yeye herself can't explain it clearly."