Hidden in the dark recesses of the Void, Da Xing the Mad Monk had also been trying to locate the mysterious woman. Unfortunately, he too was unable to detect her presence.
This wasn't the Void of the Great Wilderness, but the Void of the Desolate Ancient Nine Palaces. It was not only unpredictable but constantly shifting. Trying to locate anyone here was extremely difficult. Even the Cosmic Light Mirror in Xuan Yuan Tong's hands, which was said to leave no place to hide, could only first sense the target's existence and then lock onto it before it could function.
If the other party didn't even show their face, and the source of their voice was unknown, even the Cosmic Light Mirror was useless.
"Kid Gu, do you know this mysterious woman?"
Da Xing the Mad Monk asked. Gu Qingfeng shook his head. He couldn't detect the mysterious woman's existence either, so naturally, he didn't know her identity.
"From the sound of it, this mysterious woman seems to be speaking up for you."
Hearing this, Gu Qingfeng gave a wry smile. "I don't think so."
"Why's that?"
Just as Da Xing the Mad Monk asked, the mysterious woman's voice echoed through the Void once more.
"However...
Clever as it may be, This Consort would like to ask, are you truly prepared to move and erase You Di this time?"
"If it's like the previous times—all thunder and no rain, with many spectators but few who actually act—This Consort advises you to just forget it. It's meaningless."
"Truly!
Utterly meaningless. Even This Consort, as a mere spectator, is tired of watching. Aren't you tired?"
"You all want to erase You Di. Those in the heavens and on the earth, whether they are Great Dao Patriarchs or Original Sin Patriarchs, whether they are ordained tribulation constants or Original Sin anomalies—it's no exaggeration to say that eight or nine out of ten beings within these Desolate Ancient Nine Palaces wish to eliminate You Di."
"Precisely because everyone wants to, each believes that when the time is right, everyone will act, sparing no cost to erase You Di."
"However, what is the reality?"
"Let's not mention others. Just since You Di entered the Desolate Ancient Black Hole, there have been roughly four or five suitable opportunities, haven't there?"
"These opportunities were all extremely rare. And what about you? How many truly acted?"
"Even when they did act, without exception, they only sent out avatars to make an appearance."
"Take not long ago, for example. You Di didn't move at all, sitting cross-legged in the Void, letting you kill him. Yet none of you dared to be the first to strike. Everyone was afraid. Even though most only sent out avatars, they still didn't dare to act, wasting a perfect opportunity. What a pity!"
"Too much of a pity."
"In the end, it was You Di himself who acted, annihilating your avatars until not a trace remained."
"You Di gave you a chance to kill him, and you didn't even dare to send your true selves to act. And yet you talk about guarding the Heaven-Earth Great Dao? You talk about Ascending to the Pinnacle as the True Lord of Original Sin?"
"Don't you find yourselves utterly pathetic and laughable?"
Perhaps because the mysterious woman had articulated the very predicament they currently faced, everyone present fell silent.
The Great Dao Patriarchs said nothing. The Original Sin Patriarchs said nothing.
Though they didn't want to admit it, they had to acknowledge that what the mysterious woman said was the truth.
And this truth was known to the Great Dao Patriarchs and the Original Sin Patriarchs alike. Deep down, they were all well aware that if everyone united and worked together, they would have erased You Di long ago.
Alas, unity and cooperation were simply impossible for them.
The reason was simple.
The Great Dao side and the Original Sin side were like fire and water, fundamentally incompatible.
One guarded the Dao, the other sought to destroy it. How could they possibly unite?
Not to mention the impossibility of unity between the Great Dao and Original Sin factions, even within the Great Dao side—the Sacred Grounds, the Heavenly Dao, the Immortal Dao, and the various blessed lands and grotto-heavens—could not achieve unity. The Original Sin side was even less likely, each playing their own little game, making unity utterly impossible.
Everyone was afraid.
The Great Dao side feared that if they fought You Di to the death, they would end up paving the way for some other Original Sin anomaly to Ascend to the Pinnacle as the True Lord of Original Sin, essentially doing the work for someone else.
The Original Sin side also feared that if they fought You Di to the death, they might not only fail to Ascend to the Pinnacle as the True Lord of Original Sin but also be erased by the Great Dao side.
Precisely because they were all wary of each other, it was fundamentally impossible for them to join forces to erase You Di.
Even so.
Every time an opportunity to erase You Di arose, none of them would give it up. They would all come to join the spectacle, hoping the other side would be the one to act and erase You Di.
To be precise.
It wasn't hope.
It was waiting.
It was a test of endurance.
Seeing who had more patience.
Each opportunity to erase You Di, once missed, was one less. Now that the Desolate Ancient Nine Palaces had begun to gestate Original Sin, and the Nine Palaces' essence could appear at any moment, this meant opportunities to erase You Di were running out. This was likely the last chance.
Now it was a matter of who could outlast whom.
The Great Dao side clearly understood that many among the Original Sin faction coveted the position of True Lord of Original Sin. They believed those who coveted it would certainly not miss this final opportunity to erase You Di.
And the Original Sin side, in turn, believed that the Great Dao side would not miss this final opportunity to erase You Di.
At that moment.
The mysterious woman's voice sounded again: "What's even more pathetic and laughable is that since the beginning of the Modern Era—to be precise, since the end of the Ancient Era—you have been trying to erase You Di. You've been killing for so many years, from the Primordial Era all the way to the Modern Era. Not only have you failed to erase You Di, you haven't even managed to suppress him. Instead, you've watched him grow stronger and stronger along the way."
"You've forced a young man who was content with his lot and took life as it came, into becoming the fearless, heaven-defying You Di!"
"And, do you know?"
"If not for your attempts to erase You Di time and again back then, You Di might never have fused with the True Blood of Original Sin. He might not even have Ascended to the Pinnacle as the Nine Nether Emperor. Given his nature, he might never have left that mortal realm at all!"
"Don't think This Consort is exaggerating. Let me tell you, This Consort is not exaggerating in the slightest. If not for your presumptuous attempts to erase him back then, how could you have forced him, step by step, to leave the mortal realm and enter the Great Wilderness?"
"If not for your inability to tolerate him back then, how could you have forced him to leave the Great Wilderness and enter the Nine Nether?"
"If not for your inability to tolerate him back then, how could you have caused him to undergo nirvana rebirth in the mortal realm?"
"If not for your inability to tolerate him back then, how could you have driven him to fuse with the True Blood of Original Sin?"
"If not for your inability to tolerate him back then, how could you have forced him to set foot on the Daoless Mountain?"
"If not for your inability to tolerate him back then, how could you have caused him to awaken Original Sin?"
"If not for your inability to tolerate him back then, how could you have caused him to slumber for ten thousand years and then awaken?"
"If not for your inability to tolerate him, and your repeated probing, how could he have sunk deeper and deeper into the path of Original Sin?"
"If he hadn't sunk deeper into the path of Original Sin, how could the divine consciousness and demonic thoughts of Original Sin have sought him out?"
"Do you really think he is the greatest threat, the greatest Original Sin Anomaly?"
"No!"
"He was forced by you, step by step, to become the greatest threat, forced to become the greatest Original Sin Anomaly!"
"There has never been a destiny ordained by heaven. Everything is the fruition of cause and effect!"
"Such a simple truth. Why have you never understood it!"