I don't know how long passed.
The woman who seemed to be sleeping within a dream finally awoke.
It was still like a dream.
Ethereal and elusive, even though she was right before his eyes, it felt as if he were immersed in the scene itself. Gu Qingfeng still couldn't clearly see the woman's face.
However.
He could clearly sense that the woman had awakened, and it seemed as if she were gazing at him.
"Should I call you Feng Zhuyue, or should I call you Man Tu Fan, or perhaps address you as Lady Wuyou?"
Finally.
Gu Qingfeng spoke up to ask.
The woman remained silent for a long while before replying with two words: "As you wish."
Her voice was just like her person, as if transmitted from within a dream—illusory yet real.
"Alright."
Originally, Gu Qingfeng had many things he wanted to say in his heart, but when he truly saw Feng Zhuyue, for some reason, he actually didn't know what to say.
Perhaps he knew that the woman before him was not merely Feng Zhuyue.
Or perhaps, facing Feng Zhuyue, he truly didn't know what to say.
Drawing a deep breath and shaking his head slightly, Gu Qingfeng spoke again: "In the past..." His words were cut off as soon as they began by the woman opposite him: "Since things of the past are over, there's no need to mention them again."
Gu Qingfeng said, "The past doesn't mean it never happened."
The woman gazed at Gu Qingfeng, and only after a moment did she speak: "What do you want to say?"
"What I want to say is...
In the past, there were some things I did that were somewhat excessive...
I've always wanted to apologize to you in person, but unfortunately, I never had the chance."
"You don't owe me anything."
"I truly don't owe you anything, but I owe Feng Zhuyue an apology. Even though...
you are Feng Zhuyue, you are not the Feng Zhuyue of before. At the very least, you're not the Feng Zhuyue in my memory. And I'm afraid I'll never have the chance to see the Feng Zhuyue of before again in this lifetime, so...
I can only apologize to you."
For no apparent reason.
The woman, who was like the sun and moon, like a dream and illusion, like truth and falsehood, looked at Gu Qingfeng and suddenly smiled.
This smile left Gu Qingfeng feeling utterly baffled. He asked, "What are you laughing at?"
"Compared to before, you've matured a lot, and become much steadier...
Of course, you've also become more cunning. It seems you've experienced many things over these years."
Gu Qingfeng didn't quite understand and continued asking, "What do you mean?"
"Why pretend ignorance when you know full well?"
"What pretending ignorance?
I really don't know."
"Let me ask you, is your apology to Feng Zhuyue sincere?"
"Of course!"
"I'll ask you again, is your apology to Feng Zhuyue sincere?"
"Of course!"
The woman repeated the question three times in a row, and each time Gu Qingfeng answered without blushing, without panting, and without hesitation.
However.
After asking three consecutive times, the woman's smile seemed to deepen as she said, "Do you have a sincere heart?"
"Why wouldn't I have a sincere heart?"
"If you had apologized to Feng Zhuyue before this, there might have been some sincerity to it. It's just that you chose to apologize to Feng Zhuyue now."
"What do you mean by that?
Is apologizing to Feng Zhuyue now wrong?"
The woman said, "You are a man of temperament, a man who follows his heart, and a man who trusts his feelings. You apologize because you feel guilty. Unfortunately, guilt does not represent sincerity. You apologize out of guilt with the aim of finding release. Only when your heart is released can you transcend and be at ease."
"So, to you, whether I am the Feng Zhuyue of before is not important. What's important is that I can represent Feng Zhuyue, and that is enough. Moreover...
When you discovered that my existence is not merely Feng Zhuyue, the only guilt you felt towards Feng Zhuyue also vanished like mist. Especially when you discovered that my existence is not merely Feng Zhuyue, nor merely Man Tu Fan...
Your heart no longer holds any guilt, not even a trace..." As the woman's voice came through, Gu Qingfeng was immediately struck speechless.
He hadn't expected the woman to be able to see through what was in his heart, let alone penetrate his thoughts.
Indeed.
What the woman said was completely correct.
He did feel guilty towards Feng Zhuyue.
He truly wanted to apologize to Feng Zhuyue. As for whether this desire was to eliminate the guilt in his heart or was sincere, he himself didn't know. He was a man who followed his heart; he acted according to what his heart felt. As for whether the woman before him was still the Feng Zhuyue of before, to be honest, Gu Qingfeng truly didn't care much.
Not only did he not care, but upon learning that the woman before him was not merely Feng Zhuyue, although he was greatly shocked, after the shock subsided, just as the woman had said, his guilt towards Feng Zhuyue also vanished like mist.
The reason was simple.
Ever since he learned that Feng Zhuyue had fallen into demonhood because of him back then, he had always felt guilty deep inside. Although his guilt towards Feng Zhuyue had been sealed away in the deepest recesses of his heart, it was only sealed away; he had never forgotten it.
Moreover, as his comprehension of the Great Dao deepened over the years, he increasingly felt that certain things, like shackles, had been troubling him, preventing him from transcending to great freedom.
And these shackles were none other than the two words: emotion.
Among emotions, guilt was the strongest.
This thing entangled him like an inner demon, sometimes causing him unbearable agony.
If possible, Gu Qingfeng naturally wanted to eliminate the shackles in his heart. Carrying this burden was ultimately not a pleasant experience.
To be honest.
If the one who appeared this time were truly the Feng Zhuyue of before, Gu Qingfeng would have been in a difficult position. Not only might he have been unable to eliminate the guilt in his heart, but it might even have intensified.
What he never expected was that the Feng Zhuyue who appeared today was no longer the Feng Zhuyue of before. Not only did she have the added identity of Man Tu Fan, but also that of Lady Wuyou.
If merely having the added identity of Man Tu Fan still left some guilt in Gu Qingfeng's heart, then with the added identity of Lady Wuyou, his guilt, as the woman said, disappeared completely.
One lifetime as Feng Zhuyue, one lifetime as Man Tu Fan, one lifetime as Lady Wuyou.
All three encountered Gu Qingfeng in the Great Northwest. Even if this is Karma, even if this is Fate, it is Karma deliberately grafted by someone, Fate deliberately arranged by someone.
If so.
Then so-called guilt would not exist.
As someone who has been deceived, if one still feels guilt towards the deceiver, then that deceived person is too foolish.
Moreover, Gu Qingfeng was not deceived for the first time.
As for how many times he had been deceived, he himself couldn't remember.
Having lived to this day and experienced so many things, he increasingly felt that he had entered a trap designed by others from the very beginning.
First, one lifetime as Hongxiu, one lifetime as Ouyang Ye, one lifetime as Yun Nishang, and now one lifetime as Feng Zhuyue, one lifetime as Man Tu Fan, one lifetime as Lady Wuyou...
And who knows how many lifetimes of Jun Xuanji.
Thinking back carefully, pitfalls, traps, and conspiracies were everywhere.
Only...
Gu Qingfeng didn't know whether this conspiracy was orchestrated by Yun Nishang, Lady Wuyou, Jun Xuanji, and the others themselves, or whether they, like himself, were merely pieces in this grand game of chess!