Does Original Sin possess consciousness?
The answer is affirmative; it certainly does.
The Unrighteous Lord of the Primordial Era, who slaughtered the Three Thousand Great Daos and opened the Daoless Age, was an incarnation of Original Sin's consciousness.
And once Gu Qingfeng ascends to the pinnacle as the True Lord of Original Sin, he will inevitably face the devouring of Original Sin's consciousness.
The reason is simple.
Original Sin choosing a True Lord does not mean that whoever is chosen becomes Original Sin's master, able to dominate it. On the contrary, the one chosen by Original Sin is not its master; there is a high probability they will become Original Sin's puppet. To be precise, they are not even puppets, because after consciousness is devoured, for Original Sin, your existence is merely a memory, nothing more.
Rather than saying Original Sin is choosing a True Lord, it is more accurate to say Original Sin is seeking a suitable Incarnation for itself.
And in its search for a suitable Incarnation, Original Sin can be said to have scattered beans to create soldiers.
Is that an exaggeration?
No!
Not in the slightest.
Throughout the ages, anyone touched by Original Sin can almost be considered an Incarnation of Original Sin. Whether it's the Original Sin Retribution Body that has lost consciousness, the Original Sin Dharma Body that has re-conceived consciousness, or even Original Sin itself—including the very essence of Original Sin—all are without exception Incarnations of Original Sin.
If Original Sin's consciousness is its True Self, its original form,
then the so-called Original Sin itself is the Self Incarnation it has conceived.
And the so-called Original Sin's own being is the Ego Incarnation it has conceived.
As for the Original Sin Dharma Body, perhaps it is the Delusional Incarnation it has conceived.
Those so-called Original Sin Retribution Bodies, which don't even possess an 'I' of Original Sin, can at best be considered Puppet Incarnations conceived by Original Sin.
In other words,
whether it's an Original Sin Anomaly or an Original Sin Child, whether it's Original Sin's own being or Original Sin itself, once one ascends to the pinnacle as the True Lord of Original Sin, no one can avoid the devouring of Original Sin's True Self consciousness.
Given this, why have so many experts throughout history been tainted by Original Sin, scheming for the position of True Lord of Original Sin?
There are three answers.
First,
most people believe that as long as they ascend to the pinnacle as the True Lord of Original Sin, they can become the true master of Original Sin, dominate the Primordial Source of Original Sin, and become the Unrighteous Lord.
Second,
as they sink deeper and deeper on the path of Original Sin—from Original Sin Retribution Body, to Original Sin Dharma Body, to Original Sin's own being, and even to Original Sin itself—perhaps they have already realized that even if they finally ascend to the pinnacle as the True Lord of Original Sin, they cannot avoid the devouring of Original Sin's True Self consciousness. But by then, it is already too late.
Once you set foot on the path of Original Sin, there is no turning back. One lifetime with Original Sin means all lifetimes with Original Sin.
For example, the Old Beggar, Great Immortal Hu Li, Old Immortal Qingmu, and many other Original Sin Ancestors of the Guixu are all like this. It's not that they don't know that even ascending to the pinnacle as the True Lord of Original Sin cannot avoid the devouring of Original Sin's True Self; it's that they have no retreat, and can only pin their hopes on someone else ascending to that pinnacle.
Third,
there is a small minority who want to gamble. They know they cannot avoid the devouring of Original Sin's True Self, yet they still scheme for the position of True Lord of Original Sin. They gamble that after ascending to the pinnacle, they will fight to the death against Original Sin's True Self consciousness—either you devour me, or I devour you. They will either succeed or perish.
Although the hope of counter-devouring Original Sin's True Self consciousness after ascending to the pinnacle is slim, there is still hope. As long as there is hope, even a sliver, many ambitious existences want to take this gamble.
In their minds, since there is no retreat anyway, they might as well gamble spectacularly. If they lose, they lose. But what if they win?
The Old Beggar does not want to fight to the death with Original Sin's True Self consciousness. He also has no confidence in devouring Original Sin's True Self and replacing it—not even a shred. Therefore, he can only place his hopes on Gu Qingfeng. Based on his observations of Gu Qingfeng, he feels that Gu Qingfeng, whether it's the innate arrogance and defiance in his bones, or the persistence and stubbornness in his consciousness, has a decent hope of defying fate and counter-devouring Original Sin's True Self.
But later, a mysterious Divine Sense Demonic Thought from beyond the Great Dao inexplicably emerged from Gu Qingfeng, causing the Old Beggar's confidence in him to plummet.
Facing just Original Sin's True Self, Gu Qingfeng's chances of winning, while not great, were not too small either.
But if you add a Divine Sense Demonic Thought from beyond the Great Dao, Gu Qingfeng's chances become far, far too small.
What troubles the Old Beggar even more is that if Gu Qingfeng truly is a Causality Incarnation planted by Genggu Wuming, then when Gu Qingfeng ascends to the pinnacle as the True Lord of Original Sin, he will face not only Original Sin's True Self, but also the entity from beyond the Great Dao, and Genggu Wuming herself.
These three existences are each more terrifying than the last. If Gu Qingfeng is a rabbit, then these three existences are tigers, leopards, and wolves. Facing just one of them, Gu Qingfeng's chances are already slim. If he faces all three simultaneously, does Gu Qingfeng have any chance of winning at all?
It's likely that the moment he ascends to the pinnacle as the True Lord of Original Sin, Gu Qingfeng's ego consciousness would be devoured by these three existences without a trace left.
Then, the True Lord of Original Sin would be either Original Sin's True Self, the entity from beyond the Great Dao, or Genggu Wuming.
If it's Genggu Wuming, without a doubt, she would seize this opportunity to completely slaughter Original Sin.
Whether those so-called people with Original Sin would dissipate along with the collapse of the Original Sin Primordial Source is currently unknown. Even if they don't dissipate with it, their future days likely won't be good. The Ancestors of the Great Dao certainly won't tolerate them. To thoroughly eliminate Original Sin and prevent its resurgence, they might even massacre every last one of these people with Original Sin.
As for what purpose the entity from beyond the Great Dao would have in ascending to the pinnacle as the True Lord of Original Sin, the Old Beggar doesn't know and cannot imagine.
If Original Sin's True Self consciousness ultimately ascends to the pinnacle, the outcome for these so-called people with Original Sin probably won't be good either. The reason these people with Original Sin exist is entirely because Original Sin needs to choose a suitable Incarnation. Now that a suitable Incarnation has been found, these people with Original Sin have no further use. Not only are they useless, they might even pose a threat to the True Lord of Original Sin.
After all, throughout the ages, there are so many Original Sin Children, so many Original Sin Anomalies, Original Sin itself, and Original Sin's own being—all these existences could potentially threaten the True Lord of Original Sin.
It doesn't take much imagination to know that after Original Sin's True Self seizes Gu Qingfeng's body, it would certainly also massacre or devour all people with Original Sin. Anyone tainted by Original Sin, even those who are Original Sin Retribution Bodies that have lost consciousness, probably wouldn't escape.
Thinking it over, only if Gu Qingfeng himself ascends to the pinnacle as the True Lord of Original Sin can these people with Original Sin preserve their measly lives.
Gu Qingfeng has no ambition. Even if he ascends to the pinnacle, it would be out of necessity. Precisely because of this, after Gu Qingfeng ascends, he wouldn't go about massacring other people with Original Sin.
The problem is, can Gu Qingfeng ascend to the pinnacle as the True Lord of Original Sin?
No matter how you look at it, the hope seems slim.
The Old Beggar now only hopes that Gu Qingfeng is not a Causality Incarnation planted by Genggu Wuming. That way, without the threat of Genggu Wuming, Gu Qingfeng's hope of ascending to the pinnacle would be somewhat greater.