"But, having said that, Old Gu, this big show you put on this time... it wasn't just to test things, was it?"
"Test what?"
"Test which of the beings secretly watching you want to kill you to protect the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth, which want to kill you to scheme for the position of True Lord of Original Sin, and also test out who has their own little schemes brewing around you!"
"Correct! That's exactly it."
Gu Qingfeng nodded with a laugh. "Aren't you, you old bald donkey, one of the ones I tested out!"
"Here we go again! I'm saying, Old Gu, can we be serious for a moment? This Old Monk has no mind to joke with you!" Da Xing the Mad Monk pressed, "Seriously, were you actually testing or not?"
"I'm telling you, Da Xing, do you really think I'm so bored my balls ache? Perfectly fine with nothing to do, so I torment myself to test you lot? Are you lot even worth me testing? You're really putting on airs, aren't you?"
Da Xing the Mad Monk curled his lip, his old face flushing red. He could hear that Gu Qingfeng's words included him too, mocking him in a roundabout way. To this, Da Xing the Mad Monk could only play dumb. In truth, he also felt it was unlikely Gu Qingfeng would stir up such a huge commotion just for the sake of testing. Based on his understanding of Gu Qingfeng, he reckoned Gu Qingfeng simply didn't care who wanted to kill him to protect the heavens and earth, or who wanted to kill him to scheme for the True Lord of Original Sin. He also didn't care who was plotting around him, or what those plots were. If Gu Qingfeng truly cared and really wanted to test, he would have acted long ago. He definitely wouldn't have waited until now.
"So that means... that Demonic Thought Beyond the Great Dao really did intend to devour your ego consciousness at the time?"
Gu Qingfeng shook his head in response. "Perhaps."
"What do you mean, 'perhaps'?" Da Xing the Mad Monk wondered if he had misheard, asking incredulously, "You don't even know if it devoured your ego consciousness or not?"
"Truly don't know."
Seeing that Gu Qingfeng didn't seem to be joking, Da Xing the Mad Monk suppressed the confusion in his heart and pressed further. "What exactly was the situation back then? Can you explain in detail? This Old Monk might be able to help analyze it a bit."
"How to put it..." Gu Qingfeng continued deeper into the void of the Li Palace, recalling the events of that time.
Back then, he only felt that Omen Object begin to stir restlessly, and the feeling grew stronger and stronger. Then he started trying to suppress it, but it was utterly useless. Yes. It wasn't that he couldn't suppress it, nor that he was unable to suppress it, but that it had no effect whatsoever. Because when the Omen Object stirred restlessly, Gu Qingfeng's mind also began to stir restlessly. He didn't know if his mind was influenced by the Omen Object, or if the Omen Object was influenced by his mind. He didn't even know if it was the Omen Object stirring restlessly or his own mind stirring restlessly. Even more inconceivable was that as the Omen Object's restlessness grew more intense, he could no longer distinguish whether he was still himself. He seemed like himself, yet also like the Omen Object. It felt as if he was the Omen Object, and the Omen Object was him, as if they were fundamentally indistinguishable. Moreover, from beginning to end, his ego consciousness remained perfectly clear. He was fully aware when slaughtering those Great Dao experts lurking in the shadows. To say the Omen Object devoured his consciousness... in Gu Qingfeng's view, that was simply impossible. At that time, he and the Omen Object were indistinguishable, as if they were a single existence. If that was the case, what talk of devouring was there? How could one devour one's own consciousness?
"And then?" Da Xing the Mad Monk asked with surprise and suspicion.
"There is no 'and then'."
"What do you mean, 'no and then'? You haven't said anything!"
"Nothing happened. What do you want me to say?" Gu Qingfeng's voice came through.
Da Xing the Mad Monk opened his mouth, words caught in his throat, and he stood there dumbfounded, his heart a tumult of mixed feelings. When he had discovered something was wrong with Gu Qingfeng back then, Da Xing the Mad Monk's heart had been burning with anxiety. When he realized Gu Qingfeng's madness might mean he had been devoured by the Demonic Thought Beyond the Great Dao, Da Xing the Mad Monk had been utterly despairing, all hope lost. He believed that besides himself, those beings lurking in the shadows who had pinned their hopes on Gu Qingfeng must have felt the same, their hearts ready for death—probably even Genggu Wuming was no exception. But what did Gu Qingfeng say? He actually said nothing happened? They had all been scared half to death by him, and this kid acted like nothing was wrong! Da Xing the Mad Monk wasn't unaware of Gu Qingfeng's carefree, unrestrained nature. On the contrary, he knew it, better than anyone. But even for someone so casual and free-spirited, could he really be this casual and free-spirited? Something so major happened, and this kid didn't seem to care in the slightest.
"Well then, Old Gu, even if you don't know whether the Demonic Thought Beyond the Great Dao devoured you or not, you should at least know what its current situation is, right? Or... did you devour it?"
"I already told you just now. From the very start, this matter can't be talked about in terms of devouring or not devouring. A lot of things... I can't explain to you either. I myself don't understand, so how can I tell you?"
"This..." Da Xing the Mad Monk was utterly speechless. He slowly let out a breath and said, "You should at least know when you fused with that Demonic Thought Beyond the Great Dao, right?"
"Inside a Desolate Ancient Era ruin. And a very sinister one at that."
"How sinister?"
"How sinister? Let me put it this way: in that Desolate Ancient Era ruin, I experienced firsthand what it means to have space in complete disorder."
Even now, Gu Qingfeng clearly remembered that mysterious, bizarre Desolate Ancient Era ruin. It was truly sinister. The first time he entered, he saw a mountain. The mountain had many white bones on it, and within the mountain was hidden a Cave Dwelling. Inside the Cave Dwelling was an abstruse and wondrous cave-eye, and beside it was an old man on the verge of death. When Gu Qingfeng found the Cave Dwelling, that dying old man tried to seize his body, but Gu Qingfeng erased him. Then Gu Qingfeng jumped into that cave-eye, wanting to see what mysteries lay within. But after jumping in, he discovered no mysteries at all. What was bizarre and sinister was that Gu Qingfeng inexplicably re-entered that mysterious Desolate Ancient Era ruin. Even more bizarre was that when he entered the Cave Dwelling again, the old man he had previously erased was still there, and still on the verge of death. The most sinister part was that the old man again tried to seize his body, and Gu Qingfeng erased him once more, erasing him completely. Afterwards, Gu Qingfeng entered the cave-eye again, and then once more re-entered that mysterious Desolate Ancient Era ruin. After entering the Cave Dwelling, that old man he had erased twice was, damn it, still there. So he erased the old man yet again. Just like that, he experienced the same event over and over, who knows how many times. Gu Qingfeng was nearly driven mad at the time.
"I always thought so-called spatial disorder was just a legend. I never expected it to truly exist. That time really broadened my horizons."
After hearing Gu Qingfeng's account, Da Xing the Mad Monk seemed quite calm, not surprised at all. Instead, he shot Gu Qingfeng a disdainful glance. "You only just found out?"
"What? From the sound of it... you've experienced it too?"
"This Old Monk has not only experienced it, but what I experienced was even more sinister than yours."
"How sinister?"
"This Old Monk once lost his footing in the Desolate Ancient Black Hole and fell into a Spatial Chaotic Current. Do you know how long I was trapped inside?"
"Do tell."
"How long exactly, This Old Monk isn't too sure either. But it was at least a hundred thousand years."
Gu Qingfeng laughed. "What's so sinister about that? The Desolate Ancient Black Hole is full of Spatial Chaotic Currents everywhere. If you lose your footing and fall in, if your luck is bad, being trapped for a hundred thousand years isn't strange—being trapped for a million years wouldn't be rare either."
"Indeed, what you say is correct." Da Xing the Mad Monk said very seriously, "But do you know, kid, how much time had passed in the outside world after This Old Monk finally managed to escape from that Spatial Chaotic Current?"
"How long? Wasn't it also a hundred thousand years?"
"Heh! Old Gu, if a hundred thousand years had also passed outside, then that would be too ordinary, too normal. How would This Old Monk dare say what I experienced was more sinister than yours?"
"That's true. So tell me, how long had passed outside?"
"Guess?"
"Ninety thousand years?"
"Wrong!"
"Ten thousand years?"
"Also wrong!"
"A thousand years?"
"Wrong!"
"It couldn't be a hundred years, could it?"
"Wrong!" Da Xing the Mad Monk said with a cold laugh, "Let me tell you. Back then, This Old Monk was trapped in that Spatial Chaotic Current for a hundred thousand years. The time that passed outside was neither a hundred thousand years, nor ten thousand years, nor a thousand or a hundred years. It was a single thought!"
Hearing the words 'a single thought', Gu Qingfeng, who had been advancing through the void, immediately halted. He frowned deeply, his dark eyes filled with astonishment. "Are you sure it was a single thought?"
"Nonsense! At the time, This Old Monk entered the Desolate Ancient Black Hole with my senior brother, White Brow. I lost my footing and fell into the Spatial Chaotic Current. After being trapped for a hundred thousand years and coming out, my senior brother told me only a single thought had passed."
"Good heavens!" Gu Qingfeng was utterly amazed. "Hearing you say that, it really is quite sinister! Damn, this isn't just spatial disorder anymore, this is spacetime disorder!"
"In the Desolate Ancient Black Hole, any sinister thing is possible. Like This Old Monk falling into a Spatial Chaotic Current, trapped for a hundred thousand years while only a single thought passed outside—that was This Old Monk's good fortune, you know? Back when the Great Desolation Era had just ended and the Ancient Era began, the Desolate Ancient Black Hole also appeared. There was one person who entered the Desolate Ancient Black Hole and fell into a Spatial Chaotic Current. He only fell in for an instant. When he emerged, damn it, the Ancient Era had already ended, and the Primeval Era had just begun..." Gu Qingfeng felt a chill run down his spine. "That's way too damn exaggerated! Just losing his footing and falling into a Spatial Chaotic Current for an instant, and in that instant, he went directly from the beginning of the Ancient Era to the beginning of the Primeval Era? That single instant made him miss an entire era!"
"Sinister, right? Hard to believe, right? Let me tell you, kid, if This Old Monk hadn't experienced it personally, I wouldn't dare believe it was true either." Da Xing the Mad Monk scolded, "Now you finally understand why This Old Monk urged you to be careful and cautious when we first entered the Desolate Ancient Black Hole? It's just your good luck that you only fell into a Chaotic Current of spatial disorder. If you had fallen into a Chaotic Current of spacetime disorder, maybe in the instant you fell in, by the time you came out, you'd have missed an entire era."