The Primordial Black Hole had no sky above, no earth below, as if even time did not exist here, only endless chaotic currents devouring and merging with one another.
A pavilion stood out, looking utterly incongruous.
It seemed as if it did not belong to this Primordial Black Hole at all. No matter how the various chaotic currents roared, they could never shake it in the slightest.
Outside the pavilion.
Nalan Qianqiu, who had been silent all this while, gazed in the direction where Da Xing the Mad Monk had departed, her brow slightly furrowed as if she couldn't understand something. After a moment, she finally asked, "Senior Martial Sister, do you think Da Xing the Mad Monk will really leave the Primordial Black Hole?"
Beside her, Cang Yan looked out at the vast Primordial Black Hole, her gaze distant and profound, tinged with a hint of confusion and uncertainty.
When Nalan Qianqiu's voice reached her, she answered without thinking, shaking her head slightly and replying softly, "No."
"Huh?"
Perhaps not expecting Cang Yan to answer this way, Nalan Qianqiu let out a sound of surprise and doubt, asking, "Why not?"
"He still has many, many things left undone. There are also many things within this Primordial Black Hole waiting for him to do. Moreover, he has long since staked everything he has, including his entire future, on this Primordial Black Hole. How could he possibly leave?"
"Senior Martial Sister, did you already know that Da Xing the Mad Monk wouldn't leave the Primordial Black Hole?"
"Yes."
"Since you knew all along, then why did you still let him leave?"
"What else could I do?
Could I really send him into Reincarnation?"
A wry smile appeared at the corner of Cang Yan's lips as she said, "Da Xing the Mad Monk is not as simple as you imagine. He merely lets you think he is simple. With his abilities, even if I exerted my full strength, I might not be able to send him into Reincarnation."
"Is Da Xing the Mad Monk really that powerful?"
"Believe me, Da Xing the Mad Monk is far more powerful than you imagine, or perhaps I should say...
far more powerful than even he himself imagines."
"Senior Martial Sister, do you mean that Da Xing the Mad Monk's power is something even he himself is unaware of?"
"Yes."
Hearing this, Nalan Qianqiu's frown deepened, and her heart grew even more perplexed. She asked, "But Senior Martial Sister, if you clearly knew Da Xing the Mad Monk wouldn't leave the Primordial Black Hole, and you also said you fundamentally couldn't send him into Reincarnation, then what was the purpose of all this? Just to scare him a little?"
"No."
Cang Yan said, "My purpose in meeting him this time was neither to threaten him nor to scare him, but to make him understand one thing."
"What thing?"
"To do what he wants to do and what he should do."
"Do what he wants to do and what he should do?
What does Da Xing the Mad Monk want to do, and what should he do?
Senior Martial Sister, the more I listen, the more confused I become."
Cang Yan did not answer this question directly. Instead, she asked, "Qianqiu, what can you see within this Primordial Black Hole?"
This question struck Nalan Qianqiu as rather baffling. She didn't understand why her senior martial sister would suddenly ask such a strange question.
She looked up at the vast, boundless Primordial Black Hole, then at the endless chaotic currents, and shook her head. "I can't see anything."
"Not being able to see is correct. Not only can you not see, neither can I. The Nine Heavens and Nine Netherworlds, the cave heavens and blessed lands, the Guixu and Desolate Ruins, the Holy Domains and forbidden zones...
All existences between heaven and earth cannot see. Precisely because nothing can be seen, many people gradually lose their direction. They begin to doubt, to hesitate, to become lost, to become confused..."
"Da Xing the Mad Monk is like this. He has staked everything he has here, but after truly arriving, the chaotic situation has caused him to lose his direction, even forgetting what he has always wanted to do."
"He is like this, and you are no exception."
"Me?"
The bewildered Nalan Qianqiu couldn't understand why, while talking about Da Xing the Mad Monk, the conversation had suddenly turned to her.
"Qianqiu, I also hope you will do what you want to do and what you should do."
Nalan Qianqiu smiled bitterly. "Senior Martial Sister, I simply don't know what I want to do, let alone what I should do."
"You."
Cang Yan turned around, gazing intently at her, and asked, "Do you truly not know?"
"I..." Meeting Cang Yan's deep, dark eyes, Nalan Qianqiu seemed somewhat guilty, not daring to look directly. She lowered her head and chose silence.
It wasn't that she didn't know what she wanted to do, nor that she didn't know what she should do.
She knew.
She had always known.
She was a Great Dao Empress who had received the Heavenly Mandate. She had the responsibility and the duty to protect the Great Dao. This was what she should do, and also what she wanted to do.
She did not want the Great Dao to fall, nor did she want heaven and earth to be reborn.
Before this, she had always believed that Original Sin was the enemy of the Great Dao, that Original Sin was the root cause of everything.
Later, she realized that the one who truly wanted to slaughter the Great Dao was not Original Sin, but Fate.
She thought that as long as Original Sin was eradicated, the Great Dao would not fall, and heaven and earth would not be reborn.
Later, she realized that if Original Sin were eradicated, it would be equivalent to defying heaven and going against Fate.
Therefore.
Nalan Qianqiu became lost and confused.
Just as Cang Yan had said, she had lost her direction. She began to doubt, not knowing whether she should continue to protect the Great Dao.
"Senior Martial Sister, can you tell me whether it is right or wrong for me to continue protecting the Great Dao?"
"You shouldn't ask me that question."
"Then who should I ask?
Ask Tianji Niangniang?"
"Asking her would be of no help either. She cannot answer that question for you either. You should ask yourself."
"Senior Martial Sister."
Nalan Qianqiu felt like crying but had no tears. "If I knew, I wouldn't be asking you."
"I said, do what you want to do. As long as you want to do it, then do it. There is no distinction between right and wrong."
"But...
But..." Nalan Qianqiu truly didn't know what to say anymore. Frustrated, she said, "Senior Martial Sister, can you please give me clear answers to a few questions!"
"First question: Are the events recorded in the Book of Fate certain to happen, and are they unchangeable?"
"Second question: Is it Fate that wants to destroy the Great Dao, or is it Original Sin? If Fate wants Original Sin to destroy the Great Dao, then what is the meaning of our existence as bearers of the Great Dao's Heavenly Mandate?
Fate wouldn't have Original Sin destroy the Great Dao on one hand, and have us, these Heavenly Mandate bearers, protect the Great Dao on the other, would it?
Isn't that self-contradictory?"
"Third question: Is Fate one of the Three Thousand Great Daos? If it is, then if the Great Dao is slaughtered, wouldn't Fate also fall?"
"Fourth question: What is the meaning of Original Sin's existence? Is it to eradicate the Great Dao, or to eradicate Fate!"
Nalan Qianqiu poured out all the doubts in her heart in one breath. These were also the answers she had always wanted to know.
However, when she asked these questions, Cang Yan closed her eyes, shook her head slightly, her expression carrying a trace of sorrow. After a long while, she inexplicably smiled, a very strange smile.
"Senior Martial Sister, what are you laughing at?"
"Qianqiu, do you know?
These questions you asked me, I once asked Genggu Wuming very seriously as well."
"How did Tianji Niangniang answer?"
"She said to me very seriously, if possible, she wishes she knew the answers to these questions even more than I do."