Boom—
The great clamor came again.
Only this time, it was more ethereal, more elusive, and fainter.
Accompanying the clamor seemed to be a roaring cry.
"If Fate does not die, Original Sin will not cease!"
"If Fate does not rest, Original Sin will not perish!"
"The True Essence of the Great Dao, the Heaven and Earth Mysteries—all lie within Original Sin, yet all are Illusion!"
Sitting in the pavilion.
Cang Yan heard this roaring cry, raised her cup to drink, and said softly, "I never imagined its obsession would run so deep."
Genggu Wuming did not speak, and Cang Yan continued to mutter to herself, "If Fate does not die, Original Sin will not cease... If Fate does not rest, Original Sin will not perish... Heh, it seems not only is its obsession deep, but its resentment toward Fate runs just as deep."
After a pause, Cang Yan asked, "Tell me, what exactly did Fate do to it in the Primordial Era, to make its obsession so profound and its resentment so great?"
Genggu Wuming still did not respond, and Cang Yan continued with a smile, "'If Fate does not die, Original Sin will not cease'—that sounds like a curse. Only... it's not a curse upon Fate, but a curse upon Original Sin itself, cursing Original Sin to fight Fate to the death, never ceasing until one perishes!"
Having said that.
She murmured again, "'The True Essence of the Great Dao, the Heaven and Earth Mysteries—all lie within Original Sin, yet all are Illusion'..." Gazing at the silent Genggu Wuming, Cang Yan gave a faint smile, poured herself another cup of wine, tilted her head back slightly to drink it all in one go, and said with a laugh, "Tell me, is the phrase it left behind true or false? Is it bait deliberately scattered to lure more people of Original Sin into opening the Wu Dao Age, or does the Wu Dao Age truly conceal the so-called True Essence of the Great Dao and the so-called Heaven and Earth Mysteries?"
Silence.
Genggu Wuming remained silent.
And Cang Yan seemed not to expect Genggu Wuming to answer these questions. She continued talking to herself, "Speaking of which, whether this phrase is bait it deliberately scattered to lure more people of Original Sin into opening the Wu Dao Age, or whether the Wu Dao Age truly conceals the True Essence of the Great Dao and the Heaven and Earth Mysteries, I can understand either."
Changing the subject, Cang Yan added, "The only thing I cannot comprehend is that final phrase: 'all are Illusion.'"
"Illusion, illusion...
Void and delusion..." Cang Yan wore an inscrutable smile at the corner of her mouth. "'The True Essence of the Great Dao, the Heaven and Earth Mysteries—all lie within Original Sin, yet all are Illusion'...
However I listen to this phrase...
It feels as if behind all this lies an even greater conspiracy."
She asked, "What do you think?"
No reply.
Genggu Wuming remained silent.
"Heh."
Though Cang Yan asked again, she did not seem to expect an answer from Genggu Wuming. She simply drank cup after cup of wine, continuing to talk to herself. "Do you know?
Without the words 'all are Illusion,' it's not hard to hear from its obsession that it is not Fate that wishes to annihilate this Great Dao, nor Fate that wants this Heaven and Earth to be reborn, nor Fate that seeks to open the Wu Dao Age. If all this were Fate's doing, I don't think it would harbor such deep resentment toward Fate."
"In the Primordial Era, it once opened the Gate to the Wu Dao Age, but in the end, it closed inexplicably, and it itself seemed to have been erased—utterly erased, leaving behind only this shred of obsession, this shred of resentment, and even that is an obsession with Fate, a resentment toward Fate..."
"I think...
Back then, even if it wasn't the true Fate that erased it, it was a false Fate. At the very least, it must have been related to Fate."
"In other words, Fate does not wish for Original Sin to slaughter the Great Dao and open the Wu Dao Age. Not only does it not wish it, it would even take action to stop it—and it already did so once in the Primordial Era."
"Yet the Book of Fate records that when Original Sin finds its True Lord, the Great Dao will fall, the present era will end, Heaven and Earth will be reborn, and the Wu Dao Age will open..."
"Before, I didn't understand. I didn't understand why, when the Book of Fate clearly records this, Fate would still take action to stop it in the Primordial Era. Later, I gradually came to realize..." Cang Yan poured wine for herself, drinking several cups in succession. "The Primordial Black Hole is a calamity—a calamity of defying Heaven and altering Fate. Not only is the Great Dao defying Heaven and altering Fate, but Original Sin is also defying Heaven and altering Fate. Even Fate itself is defying Heaven and altering Fate!"
"Isn't that right?"
Cang Yan gazed at Genggu Wuming with that inscrutable smile, asking once more.
Genggu Wuming met her gaze but still did not respond.
"You once said that the cycles of heavenly principle, cause and effect, encompass all things in Heaven and Earth. I think the existence of Original Sin is neither coincidence nor accident. There must be various antecedent causes, which is why Original Sin exists. These antecedent causes must also be related to this Great Dao and Heaven and Earth."
Drinking again, Cang Yan shook her head slightly, closed her eyes, and muttered to herself once more, "'The True Essence of the Great Dao, the Heaven and Earth Mysteries—all lie within Original Sin, yet all are Illusion'..."
After a moment of silence, Cang Yan seemed to be pondering this phrase. "When it opened the Wu Dao Age back then, it must have seen the so-called truth...
It must have seen it...
Only...
No matter how hard I try, I cannot imagine what kind of truth the Wu Dao Age conceals that would make it utter such strange words."
"As Buddhism says, all phenomena are Illusion."
"All are Illusion..." Cang Yan kept repeating the word 'Illusion,' who knows how many times, until finally she shook her head and did not continue.
Opening her eyes, she poured another cup of wine. Looking at the silent Genggu Wuming, she asked with a rather serious expression, "Nameless, may I ask you a question?"
Genggu Wuming held a cup of wine in her hand—a cup she had been holding all this time, yet to drink. She raised her head, met Cang Yan's gaze, and responded softly, "You want to ask me why I do not seek to reclaim my true self."
Cang Yan nodded in affirmation. "Exactly."
This time, Genggu Wuming still did not answer. She merely brought the cup of fine wine she had kept until now to her lips, tilted her head back slightly, and drank it all in one go.
Genggu Wuming understood Cang Yan, so even before Cang Yan spoke, she knew what Cang Yan would ask.
And Cang Yan likewise understood Genggu Wuming. Though Genggu Wuming did not answer her question this time, she already knew the answer in her heart.
Just now, Cang Yan had said many things. Some were her talking to herself, some were her questioning Genggu Wuming.
And Genggu Wiming had remained silent throughout, never answering.
Cang Yan understood clearly in her heart: it wasn't that Genggu Wuming did not want to answer, but that she did not know the answers to the questions Cang Yan asked.
Or perhaps it should be said, Genggu Wuming did not want to know the answers.
Cang Yan knew perfectly well that if Genggu Wuming were willing, there would be no more secrets in all of Heaven and Earth, past or present, to her.
If Genggu Wuming were willing, she truly could know the past and future, wield Fate and causality, deduce the cosmos and the primordial chaos, comprehend the mysteries of Heaven and Earth...
Become the true incarnation of causality, become the true messenger of Fate.
The prerequisite was simply that she be willing.
Willing to reclaim the true self that belonged to her.