The mountains and rivers held no vitality.
The streams and rivers held no vitality.
The flowers, grass, and trees—all held no vitality.
Everything within this ancient space, dead yet not dispersed, was devoid of any trace of life, resembling a magnificent landscape painting, as if time had ceased its flow, frozen in this moment.
It gave one a very eerie feeling.
It wasn't desolation, nor was it barren. It wasn't mystery, nor was it fear. Rather, it was a sensation of profound emptiness and ethereality.
As if all of this were an illusion.
Yet, to call it an illusion didn't seem entirely accurate either.
Because the aura of Original Sin grew denser and purer by the moment, like billowing clouds and mist enveloping the entire space.
The light of Original Sin also grew brighter and more dazzling, shimmering like the radiant stars in the night sky.
Looking out, the various flowers of Original Sin bloomed everywhere, sprouting like bamboo shoots after rain, like all things reviving as winter gave way to spring.
In the void.
Some moved in small groups of three or five, some in lines of over ten, others in large, chaotic bands scurrying about. In this ancient space, dead yet not dispersed, there was nowhere to hide. Some unleashed their divine abilities to envelop themselves, concealing their spiritual auras and identities. Others directly burrowed into magical treasures, using the artifacts as cover to hide their identities. However, quite a few made no special effort to conceal themselves, striding about openly and without pretense.
Gu Qingfeng continued to wander alone. He neither used any divine ability to shroud himself nor hid within any magical treasure. He couldn't be bothered to conceal his identity back in the Li Palace void, let alone here.
It wasn't a habit of his, nor was it a preference.
In a word:
He disdained such actions and couldn't be bothered with them.
It had been this way since he was young. No matter where he went, no matter how perilous the situation, he had never hidden. Since the Ancient Times, he had been deemed unacceptable by Heaven and Earth, a status that persisted into the Present Era. He had never deliberately concealed his identity, not even once.
After parting with Gu Changfeng, his Mental State had gradually begun to change.
It wasn't because Gu Changfeng had told him that this time, those Original Sin Patriarchs, Original Sin Variables, and Sons of Original Sin would come to intercept him. Nor was it because it seemed those Great Dao Patriarchs, Great Dao Heavenly Mandates, and Calamity-Response True Fates would also come to wait for their opportunity. Not even because the four pillars known as the Pillars of the Heavens—Floating Life Emperor Lord, Great Sun Radiance Emperor, Xuanyuan Wuji, and Dugu Qizhan—would enter to eradicate him.
To be honest.
Whether it was the Great Dao or Original Sin.
Whether Variables or Constants.
Heavenly Mandates or True Fates.
Be it the Nine Holy Sons of the Sacred Grounds, the Nine Sons of Heaven of the Heavenly Dao, or the Four Pillars of the Heavens.
Gu Qingfeng felt no fear towards them. Not only no fear, he didn't even give them a second thought. To speak without exaggeration, Gu Qingfeng had never placed these people in his eyes, nor had he ever taken them seriously.
The real reason his Mental State had changed was that he refused to bear a black mark on his name his entire life only to discover, in the end, he had been bearing it for someone else. He was unwilling to live his entire life only to realize, in the end, he had been living for someone else.
In the past, he had chosen to go with the flow and resign himself to fate because he didn't care about life or death, couldn't be bothered with pointless struggles, and had no interest in whether the Great Dao existed or not.
But now, it was no longer a simple matter of life and death, nor was it a question of his interest in the Great Dao.
It was, damn it, a matter concerning dignity.
Gu Qingfeng might not place supreme importance on dignity, but that didn't mean he had none, nor did it mean his dignity had no bottom line.
On the contrary.
His dignity had always had a bottom line, a line like an inverse scale that tolerated no trampling from anyone.
He didn't mind being a chess piece, but if being a chess piece meant bearing a lifelong black mark for someone else, living an entire life for someone else, that had already completely crossed Gu Qingfeng's bottom line.
Taking a step back ten thousand paces, even if he were to discard his own dignity, he still had to give an account for this life of his.
Otherwise, this lifetime would have been utterly wasted.
Of course.
Having said that.
Although Gu Qingfeng's Mental State had begun to change, it didn't mean he would recklessly fight to seize the title of True Lord of Original Sin.
The reason was simple.
He still couldn't be one hundred percent certain whether he was truly the Causal Incarnation of Genggu Wuming.
Nor could he be certain whether Original Sin was using him as a calculated pawn, a scapegoat to bear the blame, in order to protect the true master of Original Sin.
If that wasn't the case, then everything was fine. Whatever happened, happened. Fate, Original Sin, the Great Dao, Wu Dao—Gu Qingfeng couldn't be bothered to worry about them.
If the facts truly were as suspected, then Gu Qingfeng would have no choice but to harden his heart, fight Original Sin to the bitter end, and wage a bloody war against Fate until one side perished.
If Fate wished to protect the Great Dao, he would destroy the Great Dao.
If Original Sin wished to initiate Wu Dao, he would destroy Wu Dao.
Whether it was the Great Dao or Wu Dao, as long as Gu Qingfeng had a breath left in him, damn it, no one would be allowed to dominate this Heaven and Earth!
If this chess game, filled with all manner of conspiracies, was truly laid out by Heaven and Earth, then Gu Qingfeng would inevitably overturn the board and slaughter this Heaven and Earth!
If you won't let me live in peace, damn it, then no one will live in peace.
Having made up his mind, for some reason, Gu Qingfeng felt his blood boiling, his Fighting Spirit surging. Even his perpetually lifeless physical body felt as if it had been ignited, burning with a familiar yet unfamiliar sensation.
It was a long-lost feeling, one both familiar and strange.
Familiar because, in his youth, from the mortal world to the Great Wilderness, through the Nine Nether and burning the Nine Heavens, this feeling had always accompanied him, never disappearing.
Strange because ever since the end of the Ancient Times, when his cultivation was crippled and he underwent Nirvana Rebirth in the mortal world, this feeling had vanished. It was as if it had disappeared along with his cultivation, his Fortune, his Heavenly Mandate, never to appear again, not even once.
That time, not only did Gu Qingfeng's cultivation and Fortune vanish, but his Fighting Spirit disappeared as well, along with his vigor and vitality.
Even in later encounters, whether it was merging with the True Blood of Original Sin, contending with the Immortal and Buddha Great Daos, or even confronting the Heavenly Dao, the vanished Fighting Spirit and lost vigor never resurfaced.
The Gu Qingfeng who underwent Nirvana Rebirth was alive, but merely alive.
Without Fighting Spirit, without dreams, without vigor and vitality, even being alive was like being a walking corpse.
The reason Gu Qingfeng's Mental State had gradually shifted towards going with the flow and resigning himself to fate was directly related to his loss of Fighting Spirit and vitality.
Suddenly.
Gu Qingfeng remembered something.
At the end of the Ancient Times, who exactly had taken away his Fighting Spirit? And who had taken away his vigor and vitality?
He had always believed that being able to undergo Nirvana Rebirth in the Present Era after the Ancient Times ended was a stroke of luck amidst misfortune. He had always thought it was due to his good fortune and high destiny.
Now, it seemed that his Nirvana Rebirth back then might not have been due to good luck or high destiny at all. It might have been part of a meticulously designed conspiracy.