Just as Gu Qingfeng was feeling puzzled, he saw a monk with palms pressed together, sitting cross-legged with eyes closed. A faint golden Buddhist radiance emanated from his entire body as he drifted within the Chaotic Current Vortex, resembling a Buddha statue.
Not long after, he saw an old man also sitting cross-legged, though he wasn't a monk and didn't have his palms pressed together. Instead, he was in a meditative posture, his whole body glowing with a faint light, looking like a statue devoid of any vitality.
Who this monk and old man were, Gu Qingfeng didn't know. He only knew that both had completely sealed themselves using their lifelong cultivation, falling into a state of slumber. Presumably, they were using this method to protect their Physical Bodies within the Chaotic Current Vortex.
This was a method that wasn't really a method, a last resort when all other options were exhausted. Since ancient times, when great calamities befell the myriad heavens and worlds—such as the end of an era or the descent of the Great Dao Judgment—many great powers would seal themselves away, entering a state of slumber and deathly stillness.
The reason this technique was called 'a method that wasn't really a method' was because once one fell into slumber, the soul, mind, consciousness, Physical Body, and everything else would enter a state of deathly stillness.
When would they awaken?
Where would they awaken?
Even whether they could awaken at all was an unknown.
This thing was full of variables, and the variables were immense. With bad luck, one might slumber forever like this, with no possibility of ever waking up.
Exaggerated?
No!
Not exaggerated in the slightest.
At least, based on Gu Qingfeng's experiences over the years, while he had seen quite a few great powers awaken from slumber, far more had permanently fallen into eternal sleep. Their Physical Bodies had long turned to bones, their souls had long scattered to ashes—they just didn't know it themselves.
Even with good luck, if one managed to awaken by chance, they would be extremely weak, as weak as a newborn infant. Forget encountering ordinary cultivators; even being hit by a stone might kill them. Therefore, before falling into slumber, great powers would choose a relatively safe place. Few would enter slumber in a dangerous location, especially one like this Chaotic Current Vortex.
However, upon careful thought, within this Chaotic Current Vortex, no matter how powerful your cultivation, there would come a time when it was exhausted. And once cultivation was exhausted, only death awaited you. Rather than that, it was better to seal yourself away and gamble.
As Gu Qingfeng sank deeper into the Chaotic Current Vortex, he had seen over thirty great powers seal themselves away and fall into slumber.
There were also those like the Zen Sect elders who summoned Magical Treasures, relying on the power of the treasures to resist the Chaotic Current Vortex.
At such times, possessing a powerful Magical Treasure became crucial. Although operating a Magical Treasure also required one's own Cultivation Level to sustain it, using a treasure to withstand the currents was much easier than using the Physical Body, and the consumption was also less.
Of course.
The prerequisite was that your Magical Treasure could withstand the impact of the chaotic currents. In this kind of Chaotic Current Vortex, even those Forgotten Spaces exploded one after another. Not only the Forgotten Spaces, but even some Void Beasts born and raised in the Endless Sea were torn to shreds because they couldn't withstand the impact of the currents. One could imagine how terrifying the impact of the Chaotic Current Vortex was.
Forget ordinary or even decent Magical Treasures—they would scatter to ashes in the blink of an eye. Even those so-called Great Dao Artifacts probably couldn't hold out for long. It would have to be that kind of heavyweight supreme treasure to persist within the Chaotic Current Vortex.
Gu Qingfeng had previously heard Da Xing the Mad Monk mention that those Zen Sect elders possessed a Great Treasury Formless Pagoda, which seemed to be a supreme treasure of the Zen Sect. He figured that the Buddha Pagoda from earlier should be the Great Treasury Formless Pagoda Da Xing the Mad Monk spoke of.
Gu Qingfeng continued to Go with the Flow within the Chaotic Current Vortex. The deeper he sank, the more terrifying the vortex's impact became, and his ability to Go with the Flow became increasingly unstable. Before drifting for long, he would be swallowed by the currents. Gu Qingfeng pondered that continuing like this wasn't a solution. He didn't know how deep this Chaotic Current Vortex was, or even if the vortex had an end.
Logically speaking, any vortex should have a bottom and should have an end.
But that was only according to common sense.
Did this place have common sense?
This was the Endless Sea Beyond the Outer Heaven, devoid of order and Law. Where was the common sense? Who knew if this Chaotic Current Vortex had an end or not.
Should he try sealing himself away, falling into slumber, entering a state of deathly stillness?
After thinking it over, Gu Qingfeng rejected this idea.
Entering this Chaotic Current Vortex was already a gamble with fate, one could say his life and death were already uncertain. If he gambled with fate again under such circumstances, would there still be any hope of winning?
Moreover, although Gu Qingfeng was occasionally swallowed by the currents while Going with the Flow, tossed and turned, he could still hold on for now. He hadn't yet reached that point of absolute desperation.
Taking a step back, even if he truly couldn't hold on, he would rather undergo Nirvanic Rebirth than seal himself away.
With Nirvanic Rebirth, with a burst of luck, he might be reborn in the Great Desolate. But if he sealed himself away, even if he woke up, he'd probably still be trapped in this place.
Besides, he had undergone Nirvanic Rebirth many times already and had some experience with it. But from the beginning of his cultivation until now, he had never once sealed himself away.
Suddenly.
Gu Qingfeng spotted in the chaotic currents someone who was not quite an acquaintance, yet not a stranger either.
It was a person clad in black.
A person wearing black robes, a hooded cloak, wrapped up tightly from head to toe.
This Black-Clothed Man stood with hands behind his back, quietly standing atop a sphere of light.
Gu Qingfeng recognized this Black-Clothed Man. It was precisely the mysterious Black-Clothed Man who had appeared earlier alongside Water Moon Bodhisattva.
Who the Black-Clothed Man was, what kind of existence he was, Gu Qingfeng knew nothing. The only thing he knew was that the Black-Clothed Man gave him a feeling of ethereality and unreality, similar to the feeling Jun Xuanji gave him.
In Gu Qingfeng's estimation, this Black-Clothed Man was most likely, nine times out of ten, like Jun Xuanji—someone from the Daoless Age.
Knowing the Black-Clothed Man was unfathomably deep, at this moment, seeing him standing so calmly atop the sphere of light, his whole body emanating a faint black radiance as if completely unaffected by the Chaotic Current Vortex—this scene shocked Gu Qingfeng profoundly.
He could tell that the Black-Clothed Man wasn't unaffected by the Chaotic Current Vortex; rather, the Black-Clothed Man was continuously using a mysterious power to resist the Chaotic Current Vortex.
What kind of power could be so powerful?
To effortlessly withstand the impact of the Chaotic Current Vortex?
It truly was effortless.
Although Gu Qingfeng couldn't see the Black-Clothed Man's face clearly, the feeling the Black-Clothed Man gave him was one of exceptional calm and ease.
What made Gu Qingfeng feel even more bizarre was that he discovered the power the Black-Clothed Man was summoning gave him a familiar feeling. Not exactly familiar, but a sense of déjà vu.
"You...
shouldn't have come here..." The Black-Clothed Man's voice suddenly came through. It was actually a woman's voice.