This was the fundamental reason for the Old Beggar's utter despair and complete loss of hope.
The four words 'Beyond the Great Dao' were enough to crush all the hopes he had placed in Gu Qingfeng into nothingness.
No matter how much he wished otherwise in his heart, he had no choice but to accept this cruel reality.
He knew this truth, and Lady Blackwater knew it as well.
The four words 'Beyond the Great Dao' could shatter the Old Beggar's hopes.
They could equally shatter all the hopes Lady Blackwater had placed in Gu Qingfeng.
Yet, even so, her heart still clung to a sliver of hope for Gu Qingfeng.
"Old Beggar!"
Finally, Lady Blackwater, who had remained silent all this time, spoke. Her expression looked particularly grave. Her eyes had been fixed on the void filled with gray smoke from the very beginning, never leaving it. She shook her head and said, "If You Di's ego consciousness is devoured, do you know who would be the most despairing?"
"It's not you or me, nor is it Da Xing the Mad Monk, nor those existences who hoped he would ascend to Original Sin, slaughter the Three Great Daos, and open the Daoless Age!"
Hearing Lady Blackwater's voice, the Old Beggar thought for a moment. He pondered that any existence hoping for Gu Qingfeng to ascend to the True Lord of Original Sin would likely be utterly despairing.
But as for who would be the *most* despairing, he truly couldn't say. He asked, "Then who would it be?"
"Genggu Wuming!"
"Genggu Wuming?"
The Old Beggar asked, puzzled, "What does she have to despair about if that kid's ego consciousness is devoured?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, he seemed to remember something. He slapped his forehead sharply. "This old man almost forgot! Genggu Wuming also seems to hope that kid ascends to Original Sin, but... her hope is different from ours. We hope that after he ascends to the True Lord of Original Sin, he will slaughter the Three Thousand Great Daos and open the Daoless Age. Genggu Wuming hopes that after he ascends to the True Lord of Original Sin, she can take action to erase him, thus completely eliminating the scourge of Original Sin."
As was well known, karma was a Great Dao, and fate was also a Great Dao. Both were ranked among the Three Thousand Great Daos.
In the Old Beggar's mind, Genggu Wuming, hailed as the incarnation of karma and the emissary of fate, would absolutely never allow anyone to slaughter the Three Thousand Great Daos and open the Daoless Age.
Because once the Three Thousand Great Daos were slaughtered and the Daoless Age opened, so-called karma and so-called fate would no longer be able to dominate the living beings of heaven and earth.
Therefore, Genggu Wuming would definitely try every possible means to prevent anyone from ascending to the True Lord of Original Sin.
No!
Not to prevent anyone from ascending to the True Lord of Original Sin.
Even if she prevented it this time, there would be a next time. If she prevented the next time, there would be another after that. As long as the Original Sin source remained undestroyed for a single day, someone would eventually ascend to the True Lord of Original Sin.
Unless the Original Sin source could be completely eradicated.
And to completely eradicate the Original Sin source, one had to wait for someone to ascend to the True Lord of Original Sin. In a sense, the True Lord of Original Sin was equivalent to the Original Sin source.
Hence, as long as the True Lord of Original Sin was destroyed, it would be equivalent to destroying the Original Sin source.
And the prerequisite for destroying the True Lord of Original Sin was for someone to ascend to that position.
This was also why the Old Beggar said Genggu Wuming also wanted Gu Qingfeng to ascend to the True Lord of Original Sin.
He even suspected that the signs of heavenly momentum, temporal momentum, fate momentum, and fortune momentum that had appeared on Gu Qingfeng might be part of a karma game meticulously designed by Genggu Wuming.
It was possible that even the prophecy recorded in the Book of Fate—that the True Lord of Original Sin would be born in the Present-Ancient Era—had been deliberately fabricated by Genggu Wuming from the very beginning.
The purpose was to push Gu Qingfeng onto the position of True Lord of Original Sin, thereby completely eliminating the scourge of Original Sin.
Once this scourge was eliminated, no more Original Sin variables would appear in the world hereafter. The Three Thousand Great Daos would remain stable, and karma and fate would continue to dominate the living beings of heaven and earth.
"Heh heh!"
The Old Beggar couldn't help but let out a hearty laugh, grinning as if gloating. "To think even Genggu Wuming could miscalculate! This old man was always worried before, worried about how we would deal with her if that kid really did ascend to the True Lord of Original Sin in the end and she took action. Now it's fine. That kid's ego consciousness has been devoured, and no one will ascend to the True Lord of Original Sin. It means Genggu Wuming's meticulously designed karma game has come to nothing! Hahaha!"
The Old Beggar had waited for this day from the end of the Ancient Desolation Era until now, and he had waited in Gui Xu, a void so empty it could drive gods to become demons.
Witnessing Gu Qingfeng's ego consciousness being devoured with his own eyes, his utter despair and complete loss of hope stemmed from feeling that all the suffering he had endured in Gui Xu over the years had been in vain.
However, the thought that Genggu Wuming's meticulously designed karma game had also come to nothing with the devouring of Gu Qingfeng's ego consciousness suddenly made the Old Beggar's despairing heart feel much better.
"Heh heh!"
The more he thought about it, the more comfortable the Old Beggar's mood became. He laughed heartily. "As long as the Original Sin source remains undestroyed for a single day, someone will eventually ascend to the True Lord of Original Sin. Anyway, this old man has waited so many years. The suffering I should have endured, I've endured; the suffering I shouldn't have endured, I've endured too. This old man doesn't mind continuing to wait, nor does he mind suffering more. Even if you suppress me in Gui Xu again right now, from the Ancient Desolation Era to the Present-Ancient Era, this old man can endure it and wait it out. It's just that..."
"Hahaha! Genggu Wuming might not be able to wait that long! Hahaha!"
The Old Beggar sat on Blackwater Mountain, laughing with such gleeful schadenfreude. "Sister Blackwater, you're right. If that kid's ego consciousness is devoured, Genggu Wuming would indeed be the most despairing! Hahahaha!"
Beside him, Lady Blackwater turned and stared at the Old Beggar, who was laughing so hard he was rocking back and forth, with an extremely complex look in her eyes. That look was as if she were looking at an incurably foolish idiot.
The Old Beggar, who had been laughing heartily, felt somewhat embarrassed and rather awkward under Lady Blackwater's gaze. He said, "This... Sister Blackwater, what's with that look? Did this old man say something wrong?"
"Can you only think of these things?"
Lady Blackwater's question thoroughly confused the Old Beggar. "What do you mean? 'Only think of these things'? Anyway, that kid is gone, our hopes are shattered. We have to accept it whether we want to or not. There's no other way; we can only continue waiting."
"I mean, do you really think Genggu Wuming would despair?"
The Old Beggar grew more and more bewildered. "Sister Blackwater, what exactly are you trying to say? Now that kid's ego consciousness has been devoured, Genggu Wuming's meticulously designed karma game has come to nothing. What else can she do but despair?"
"Do you know when that wisp of divine sense demonic thought from Beyond the Great Dao merged into his body?"
Lady Blackwater suddenly asked this question out of the blue. The Old Beggar was very perplexed. He shook his head and replied, "This old man truly doesn't know. Not only do I not know when that kid merged with the divine sense demonic thought from Beyond the Great Dao, I didn't even detect it normally. That thing was hidden too deeply."
After speaking, the Old Beggar asked, "This old man has been secretly watching that kid all along and didn't detect it. Do *you* know?"
"I don't know either."
Lady Blackwater stared at the Old Beggar with extreme seriousness. "You and I don't know, but that doesn't mean Genggu Wuming doesn't know. You and I couldn't detect it, but that doesn't mean Genggu Wuming couldn't either."
"You and I were unable to prevent the divine sense demonic thought from Beyond the Great Dao from devouring his ego consciousness, but that doesn't mean Genggu Wuming has no way to do so."
Although the Old Beggar didn't want to admit it, he had to acknowledge that what Lady Blackwater said was true.
After all, Genggu Wuming was the incarnation of karma and the emissary of fate. Legend said she knew the past and future, controlled fate and karma, deduced the cosmos, and comprehended the mysteries of heaven and earth.
If he didn't know when Gu Qingfeng merged with the divine sense demonic thought from Beyond the Great Dao, might Genggu Wuming know?
If the divine sense demonic thought from Beyond the Great Dao within Gu Qingfeng could hide from him, might it not be able to hide from Genggu Wuming?
Thinking of this, the Old Beggar asked, "If Genggu Wuming really had a way to prevent the divine sense demonic thought from Beyond the Great Dao from devouring that kid's ego consciousness, then why didn't she take action just now?"
"That's exactly what I wanted to say to you. Why didn't Genggu Wuming take action to prevent it?"
"Yes! Why?"
"There is only one reason!"
Lady Blackwater took a deep breath and said solemnly, "That is, perhaps You Di's ego consciousness was *not* devoured by the divine sense demonic thought from Beyond the Great Dao. Genggu Wuming knows this. Precisely because she knows, she did not take action to prevent it."
"What!"
The Old Beggar was greatly shocked and stunned on the spot. After a long while, he fiercely shook his head and retorted, "Impossible! Absolutely impossible! This old man is certain that kid's ego consciousness must have been devoured. Otherwise, he wouldn't have gone mad-demonic, and his physical body wouldn't have been affected by Beyond the Great Dao and changed. If you don't believe me, take a careful look. Can you still detect that kid?"
"I can't detect him anymore. That kid's ego consciousness was devoured, and his physical body has also turned into the all-encompassing smoke. In other words, the divine sense demonic thought from Beyond the Great Dao not only devoured his ego, it very likely devoured his physical body as well."
"Moreover!" The Old Beggar also put away his smile and said gravely, "The divine sense demonic thought devouring that kid is, after all, an existence from Beyond the Great Dao. Genggu Wuming might not have a way to prevent it from devouring that kid's ego consciousness, right?"
"Even if Genggu Wuming has no way to prevent the divine sense demonic thought from Beyond the Great Dao from devouring his ego consciousness, surely she had a way to prevent him from merging with the divine sense demonic thought from Beyond the Great Dao in the first place, right? Yet Genggu Wuming precisely did not prevent it. Why? You and I could both think that the divine sense demonic thought from Beyond the Great Dao was a threat to You Di. Could it be that Genggu Wuming couldn't think of that?"
"Genggu Wuming can even deduce the future. What couldn't she think of? Since she didn't prevent You Di from merging with the divine sense demonic thought from Beyond the Great Dao back then, either she definitely has a way to prevent the Beyond the Great Dao from devouring You Di's ego consciousness!"
"Or she knows that the divine sense demonic thought from Beyond the Great Dao simply cannot devour You Di's ego consciousness."
"There is another possibility: that this wisp of divine sense demonic thought from Beyond the Great Dao might also be within the karma game meticulously arranged by Genggu Wuming."
"And regardless of which possibility, it is enough to show that You Di's ego consciousness may not necessarily have truly been devoured by the divine sense demonic thought from Beyond the Great Dao. No! Not 'may not necessarily,' but definitely!"
"As you said, you and I can afford to wait, and we can afford to lose. But Genggu Wuming cannot afford to wait, and she cannot afford to lose."
"Precisely because she cannot afford to lose, she absolutely would not do something she was not sure of!"
"I dare affirm, You Di's ego consciousness definitely has not been devoured! Definitely!"