"Hehe!"
Da Xing the Mad Monk grinned widely. "This chaotic current vortex is a black hole from the Desolate Ancient Era. Who knows how many Desolate Ancient ruins are inside it. What do you think I'm excited about? Aren't you excited too, kid? The Desolate Ancient Era! The Human Dao, the Buddha Dao, the Heavenly Dao, even the Great Nature—they all perished in that era. Many great Dao progenitors also fell during the Desolate Ancient Era. There are far too many secrets from that time that this old monk wants to know."
"Even if there are Desolate Ancient ruins, they've probably long been ground to dust within this chaotic current vortex."
"Kid Gu, you don't understand, do you?" Da Xing explained. "What gets ground up are mostly the messy ruins from other eras. But this black hole formed during the Desolate Ancient Era itself. When it formed, it likely sucked in eighty or ninety percent of the ruins from that time. Even if many were crushed by the currents, the ones that remain must be the most powerful ruins from the Desolate Ancient Era. Otherwise, our Zen Sect's ruins would have disintegrated long ago."
"Listening to you, it does seem to make sense." Gu Qingfeng rubbed his chin. "But I've been drifting in this vortex for so long and haven't seen a single Desolate Ancient ruin. Have you?"
"This old monk hasn't either."
"Then that's the same as saying nothing. Besides, even if we enter a Desolate Ancient ruin, so what? We can't stay here forever. Figuring out how to get out is what's most important."
"I say, kid Gu," Da Xing stared at Gu Qingfeng with extreme disdain. "This old monk finds your courage is getting smaller and smaller. This isn't like you at all. Back in the day, you feared nothing, acted without considering consequences. How come now, you've just entered and are already thinking about how to leave?"
As he spoke, Da Xing seemed to remember something and mocked, "Back then, you wanted to charge into our Western Heaven all by yourself, even said you'd flatten our eight Buddhist sects. This old monk advised you not to go, that if you went to the Western Heaven you wouldn't come back. Remember how you responded to me?"
"How did I respond?"
"You said, 'So what if I don't come back? What's the big deal? If I die, I die. No big deal.' You even said, 'Can a living man be choked to death by his own piss?'" Da Xing pointed at Gu Qingfeng, exasperated. "If it were the old you, if you encountered a Desolate Ancient black hole, you'd definitely be more excited and agitated than this old monk. You wouldn't even consider whether you could get out or not. But look at you now, your courage is as small as a fly's. I say, kid Gu, when did your guts shrink so much?"
Hearing this, Gu Qingfeng could only shake his head with a bitter smile. "It's not about courage. I was young and impulsive back then, didn't know the height of the heavens or the depth of the earth, so I acted recklessly. It's different now. I've experienced more, I know a little about how high the sky is and how thick the earth is. I don't dare to mess around blindly like before."
He sighed and added, "Besides, I'm an old man now. All I want is a bit of peaceful life."
"Bullshit! You've lived at most ten thousand years, and ten thousand of those you spent sleeping! In other words, you're less than a thousand years old! And you call that old? If you're old, then what about this old monk? Do you know how old I am?"
"How old?"
"So old this old monk has forgotten. I don't even remember how many years I've lived. It's been a very, very long time."
Gu Qingfeng chuckled silently and said no more.
"Kid Gu, your current mindset is very dangerous. If you keep being so hesitant and timid, afraid of gains and losses, you probably won't get very far." Da Xing spoke to Gu Qingfeng with great seriousness and sincerity. "How did you, who was perfectly fine, suddenly become like this? Could it be that woman Genggu Wuming set some trap for you? Or have you truly fallen for Genggu Wuming's scheme?"
Gu Qingfeng was taken aback. "Why do you say that?"
"Don't you feel something is off about yourself?"
Gu Qingfeng thought carefully, then shook his head. He truly didn't feel anything was wrong with himself, nor did he think Genggu Wuming had set any trap for him.
"This old monk isn't trying to sow discord, kid Gu. I sincerely advise you: stay away from that woman Genggu Wuming in the future. That woman is extremely sinister. A single glance from her can subtly influence your Mental State. You've met her, talked so much with her. It's entirely possible her words have affected your Mental State."
Hearing this, a bad feeling suddenly rose in Gu Qingfeng's heart. Regarding Da Xing's claim that Genggu Wuming could subtly influence others' mindsets, Gu Qingfeng deeply agreed. For this reason, he had always been on guard against her. Regarding the things Genggu Wuming said, he let them go in one ear and out the other—didn't think about them, discuss them, ponder them, or analyze them, treating them as mere background noise.
Could it be that he had still been careless after all, fallen for Genggu Wuming's scheme, and been influenced by her words?
Gu Qingfeng thought about it but couldn't figure out any change in his own Mental State. He asked, "Da Xing, if I've really fallen for Genggu Wuming's scheme, what would be the consequence?"
"See! There you go again!" Da Xing shouted. "Now, whatever you do, you almost instinctively consider the consequences first, without even asking the reason."
"Good heavens!" Gu Qingfeng took a deep breath, thinking to himself, *This is bad. This time, I've most likely truly fallen for Genggu Wuming's scheme.* He cursed angrily, "Damn it! I knew that woman Genggu Wuming was up to no good! Said she came to clear up misunderstandings with me, but in the end, she still schemed against me! So treacherous! I was carefully on guard against her the whole time, never thought I'd still fall for her trick in the end!"
"That's why this old monk advises you to stay away from Genggu Wuming in the future." Da Xing said. "That woman is, after all, the emissary of fate, the embodiment of karma. She has no humanity to speak of. Everything she does is for the sake of causality and fate."
Gu Qingfeng fell silent, sinking into deep thought.
Genggu Wuming didn't appear early, didn't appear late. Why did she appear precisely when he decided to seek the Original Sin?
Initially, Gu Qingfeng had also suspected whether Genggu Wuming's purpose in appearing was to stop him from seeking the Original Sin.
But after meeting, Genggu Wuming never mentioned it. Not only did she not mention it, but in a sense, she even used her words to encourage and even hint that he should seek the Original Sin.
Thinking about it now, all of this was Genggu Wuming's ploy. Her purpose in appearing was absolutely to stop him from seeking the Original Sin.
Only, she didn't say it directly, nor act directly. Instead, she used her words to subtly influence his Mental State, making him hesitant and afraid of gains and losses, thereby giving up on seeking the Original Sin.
This method was truly masterful. It perfectly matched that old saying: killing a person is not as effective as destroying their heart!