Boom!
Crack!
Beneath the heavens, dark clouds rolled, thunder rumbled, and lightning flashed.
Here.
Gu Qingfeng stood atop the clouds, his hands clasped behind his back. His entire body was burning with the Nine Nether Fire that seemed capable of scorching the sky, flames intermingled with endlessly evolving, multicolored lotuses.
The Nine Nether Fire burned, incinerating aloofness, igniting supremacy, and consuming boundlessness.
The multicolored lotuses condensed and evolved, condensing nature, deriving profundity, and transforming the principles of Law.
He stood there, his stern face etched with severity. His white robes rustled amidst the myriad colors, his black hair danced wildly within the ghostly flames, and a pair of dark eyes stared fixedly at the firmament.
His True Body had successfully coalesced.
It was still the Nine Nether Fire True Body.
Just like during his Foundation Establishment, the Nether Fire True Body also contained the myriad colors of the Great Natural Order.
The difference was.
During Foundation Establishment, the refining of the myriad colors was forced upon him by the Great Natural Order. This time, as he coalesced his True Body, it wasn't forced by the Great Natural Order, but had grown autonomously.
At this moment, Gu Qingfeng finally understood what exactly that refining of the myriad colors, which the Great Natural Order had forced upon him during his Foundation Establishment, really was.
That damn thing was a Great Natural Order Color Spirit Seed!
What did the Great Natural Order mean by this?
What trick was it trying to play?
Why, for no good reason, would it throw him a Great Natural Order Color Spirit Seed?
This was a Color Spirit Seed of the Great Natural Order!
Once this thing grew, it would basically mean Gu Qingfeng belonged to the Great Natural Order, and moreover, as a Color Spirit Master with a relatively high rank.
What was the meaning of this?
He didn't know.
Nor could he figure it out.
Gu Qingfeng now couldn't be sure whether the Mother of Nature was even aware that he had obtained such a Great Natural Order Color Spirit Seed.
After all, following the calamity, heaven and earth had been reborn, and all manner of Laws were re-evolving; the Laws of the Great Natural Order were no exception.
Based on the histories of the Ancient, Primeval, and Primordial eras, whenever Laws re-evolved, they would usually give rise to new Heavenly Mandates. The thrones of the Ancient era, the Dao Lineages of the Primeval era, the Laws of the Primordial era... what the Heavenly Mandate of the current era was, Gu Qingfeng still did not know.
But that wasn't important.
What was important was that during the re-evolution of Laws, they would generally select individuals of opportunity.
Gu Qingfeng wasn't sure if the Mother of Nature was aware that he, a Heaven-Sin individual, had obtained such a great opportunity as this Great Natural Order Color Spirit Seed.
From his understanding, when Laws re-evolve, the Masters of those Laws would also enter slumber. However, before slumbering, they would select Edict Bearers, firstly to maintain the order of the Laws, secondly to consolidate stability, and thirdly to lay out schemes.
As for the individuals of opportunity that arise during the re-evolution of Laws...
From what he knew, the Masters of the Laws might be aware, but they did not have the power to decide.
After Gu Qingfeng's True Body had perfectly coalesced, the Nine Nether Fire surrounding him gradually extinguished, the myriad colors of the Great Natural Order also vanished, and the dark clouds in the sky slowly dispersed.
Gu Qingfeng pondered for a while, then entered the Extinct Bone Jade once more.
The inside of the Extinct Bone Jade was as ethereal as ever.
An ethereal space, an ethereal world, on an ethereal mountain stood an ethereal temple, and within that ethereal temple resided an old monk Gu Qingfeng had never seen before.
"Benefactor Gu, it has been a while."
As soon as Gu Qingfeng entered, the temple emitted the old monk's voice, which carried a hair-raising sensation. Every word, every syllable, felt like a cycle of reincarnation. Hearing him speak a few words was like experiencing several cycles, making one's consciousness grow somewhat dull.
In the past, whenever Gu Qingfeng encountered something he couldn't understand, he would come to ask the old monk's opinion. This time was no exception. He got straight to the point and explained the matter of the Great Natural Order Color Spirit Seed.
"Benefactor Gu, what did you say?
You...
During your Foundation Establishment...
you established a Great Natural Order Color Spirit Seed?"
Clearly.
Upon hearing this news, the old monk was also immensely astonished: "This...
This..."
"Do you think that woman, the Mother of Nature, knows about this or not?"
"This...
This old monk does not know."
The old monk spoke slowly: "When Laws re-evolve and select opportunities, some opportunities can be designated by the Masters of the Laws. For other opportunities, even they, as Masters of the Laws, have no right to interfere...
As for an opportunity like a Great Natural Order Color Spirit Seed, this old monk also does not know if the Lady can designate it."
"If the Great Natural Order Color Spirit Seed was designated for me by the Mother of Nature, what is her meaning? To recruit me?
Isn't that too heavy an investment?"
The thought made Gu Qingfeng find it somewhat laughable. "This is a Great Natural Order Color Spirit Seed. Once it grows, it won't be inferior to a throne's rank. Besides, I'm a Heaven-Sin individual. If the Mother of Nature recruits me, it would be tantamount to making an enemy of the Heavenly Dao. She shouldn't be that foolish, right?"
Seeing the old monk remain silent, Gu Qingfeng continued, "If the Color Spirit Seed wasn't designated for me by her, what do you think that woman will think when she wakes up and learns that a Heaven-Sin individual like me obtained such a great opportunity..."
"Alas!"
The old monk sighed, though it was unclear whether he was sighing in sorrow for the Mother of Nature or lamenting something else.
"After the calamity, heaven and earth are reborn, Laws re-evolve, chaos unfolds, and the variables that appear are also the greatest. It was so in the Primordial era, the Primeval era, and the Ancient era. If it weren't so, the various Masters of the Laws would not have descended their various edicts...
to maintain the order of the Laws, and even more so to prevent variables."
"You mean this matter could be considered a variable?"
"I do not know, this old monk does not know..." Since the old monk answered that he did not know, Gu Qingfeng did not press further.
Having dealt with the old monk for so many years, he naturally understood his temperament.
When the old monk said he didn't know, there were only two possibilities: one, he truly didn't know; the other, he knew but did not wish to speak of it.
After a moment of silence.
The old monk asked again, "How is Benefactor Gu's investigation into Karma progressing?"
"Just as it is."
Gu Qingfeng didn't hide anything and explained in detail his investigation into Karma.
This was something Gu Qingfeng couldn't discuss with others; even if he did, they wouldn't understand. He could only confide in the old monk.
He had originally hoped the old monk might offer a word or two of guidance, after all, something as mysterious as Karma was a Buddhist concept. Although the old monk rarely mentioned Karma, Gu Qingfeng knew that this old monk understood Karma better than anyone. For some reason, Karma seemed to be a taboo for the old monk; he seldom brought it up. When asked, the old monk mostly responded that he did not know.
After the old monk finished listening, a long time passed before he actually sighed once more.
This sigh was filled with helplessness and also carried a rather complex emotion.
"Master, why do you sigh? And what is it you sigh for?"
"I only hope Benefactor Gu will turn back before it's too late."
"How so?"
"If it is truly as you say, then that Yun Nishang has likely already fallen into the Endless Karma."
"Endless Karma?"
"To investigate Karma, one first supplements, then severs. It cannot be fully supplemented, nor can it be completely severed. The more one supplements, the more chaotic it becomes; the more one severs, the more it multiplies. Karma has no beginning and no end, infinite and endless. The starting point is also the endpoint. One segment of Karma, endless cycles of reincarnation..." Sighing again, the old monk continued, "In the Ancient era, the Primeval era, the Primordial era, there were always great beings who sought to understand Karma. Without exception, they all fell into the Endless Karma, unable to escape, unable to leave, unable to let go, unable to break free, their obsessions growing heavier and heavier..."
"Benefactor Gu, do you know what this Endless Karma is called in our Buddhist teachings?"
"What?"
"The Sea of Suffering!"