Watching Gu Qingfeng roaring with laughter, Da Xing the Mad Monk felt an inexplicable sense of familiar strangeness.
He wouldn't dare claim to understand Gu Qingfeng inside out, much less call himself a worm in Gu Qingfeng's belly, able to guess his innermost thoughts.
However,
Da Xing was still very familiar with Gu Qingfeng's character, temperament, and disposition.
In his memory,
In his youth, Gu Qingfeng was aloof, domineering, willful, and arrogant to the extreme. He never paid any heed to the Three Thousand Great Daos, rampaged across Heaven and Earth with no one able to rival him. Even Fate—Gu Qingfeng would defy it if he wished. For him, it wasn't a matter of daring or not, but of wanting or not.
Yet ever since the end of the Ancient Era and the rebirth of the Present-Ancient Era, the aloof and domineering Gu Qingfeng was gone. The willful Gu Qingfeng was gone. The arrogant, Heaven-and-Earth-rampaging Gu Qingfeng was gone. In his place appeared a Gu Qingfeng who went with the flow, even resigning himself to Fate.
Perhaps it was because he had experienced too much, or comprehended too much, seen through too much, and seen past too much. Gu Qingfeng's state of mind grew increasingly accepting of the natural flow, his attitude increasingly one of resignation to Fate.
Because of this,
Da Xing had always tried to awaken that aloof, domineering, and arrogant Gu Qingfeng of old. Sadly, no matter what method he used, it was useless. Not only useless, but Gu Qingfeng's state of mind grew ever more accepting, his attitude ever more resigned.
In the end, Da Xing could only give up. He had no choice but to follow Gu Qingfeng in going with the flow and resigning to Fate.
But the words Gu Qingfeng had just spoken made Da Xing feel more and more that something was off.
First was the change in attitude, saying he no longer wanted to die, nor did he want to end everything quickly.
Now he even said something about not believing in Fate.
Yes.
Da Xing knew Gu Qingfeng never believed in Fate, but not believing didn't mean not accepting. Not believing didn't mean Fate wouldn't descend. Those weren't his words, but Gu Qingfeng's own.
So why was this fellow now saying Fate was meant to be changed? What couldn't be changed was called a law; what could be changed was called Fate. He didn't understand this principle before, but now he more or less did.
Was that all?
No.
This fellow even asked him if he had ever seen anyone change Fate. If not, he would let him broaden his horizons and gain some insight?
What did he mean?
Was this fellow planning to let him witness how he changed Fate?
Yes.
It must be.
Da Xing could hear it. He just didn't understand. He didn't understand why, before the Li Palace vortex appeared, Gu Qingfeng kept saying he didn't care about life or death and just wanted to end everything quickly. How could he change so drastically in the blink of an eye? Not only did he not want to die, but he also didn't want to end everything, and even wanted to defy Heaven and change Fate?
Why!
Why did this fellow suddenly undergo such a massive change?
Wait!
Something's off!
Da Xing felt more and more that something was wrong, but he couldn't pinpoint exactly what. For a moment, he couldn't say. He stared intently at Gu Qingfeng here, discovering that Gu Qingfeng seemed different from before.
The previous Gu Qingfeng gave people a lifeless feeling, as if he was only alive to wait for death. One couldn't sense any grand ambitions on him—forget grand ambitions, not even vitality, not even a trace of human presence.
The current Gu Qingfeng, however, gave people a feeling of surging passion, like a War God reborn from flames. No longer lifeless, but brimming with vitality, vitality like raging fire, burning wildly.
Although one still couldn't sense any grand ambitions on him, although he still sat casually on the ground as before, although he still leisurely drank his wine as before, although a faint, casual smile still hung at the corner of his mouth.
But.
That willfulness was no longer aimless willfulness, but a lawless, I-am-the-only-supreme willfulness.
That leisurely ease was no longer idle, boring leisure, but a leisure that looked down upon Heaven and Earth and scorned all living beings.
That casual indifference was no longer dull, tasteless indifference, but a wild, unrestrained indifference that laughed proudly at the world.
Changed!
Gu Qingfeng had changed.
Da Xing could feel it, and the feeling grew stronger and stronger.
"Kid Gu, you...
You..." Da Xing had just opened his mouth, ready to ask what was going on, but the words caught in his throat. It wasn't that he didn't want to say, nor that he didn't dare, but because he suddenly discovered something even more shocking, more bizarre, more inconceivable.
He saw a continuous stream of Breath of Original Sin madly gathering towards Gu Qingfeng, as if something on Gu Qingfeng was attracting them.
No!
It wasn't that the Breath of Original Sin was gathering towards Gu Qingfeng's physical body, but that Gu Qingfeng's physical body was madly devouring the continuous stream of Breath of Original Sin.
Because the Breath of Original Sin within this Li Palace space was far too dense, dense enough to fill the sky, everywhere, like the chaotic currents of the Endless Sea.
So much so that Da Xing hadn't noticed anything unusual, hadn't sensed any anomaly, despite Gu Qingfeng madly devouring the Breath of Original Sin here.
If he hadn't sensed that something was off with Gu Qingfeng, Da Xing probably still wouldn't have discovered it now.
He instinctively released his Divine Sense, wanting to carefully investigate what was happening. However, after releasing it, he couldn't detect anything.
Only then did Da Xing snap back to reality, cursing himself inwardly for being too foolish. He had actually forgotten that Gu Qingfeng was an Original Sin variable; Divine Sense simply couldn't detect his existence.
Fortunately,
It was only that Divine Sense couldn't detect him; the naked eye could still see.
Although often, the naked eye could only see the surface, utterly incapable of perceiving the essence, let alone the mysteries.
But facing an Original Sin variable like Gu Qingfeng who couldn't be detected, Da Xing had no other method besides using his naked eye.
Fortunately,
Da Xing's naked eyes were extraordinary. They had long since cultivated into the Unconfused Dharma Eye, capable of penetrating the surface to observe the essence.
Thus, Da Xing opened his Dharma Eye. Opening it was no trivial matter—it immediately scared him so much his scalp went numb, and he felt the heavens and earth spinning.
Through the Dharma Eye, Da Xing saw the continuous stream of Breath of Original Sin pouring into the Acupoints all over Gu Qingfeng's body.
And each of the Acupoints all over Gu Qingfeng's body was like an endless black hole, madly devouring the Breath of Original Sin. Each Acupoint formed its own Heaven and Earth, with infinite transformations within, resembling the interweaving of Yin and Yang, like the Supreme Ultimate, even more like Chaos.
Wait!
That's not right!
Da Xing remembered very clearly that ever since Gu Qingfeng's physical body ignited the Original Sin Karmic Fire on the Mountain of No Dao, it had become lifeless and devoid of any vitality, like a rotten, stubborn stone. Not only could no one in Heaven or Earth shake it, even Gu Qingfeng himself couldn't move it.
This point Da Xing remembered extremely clearly because after Gu Qingfeng awoke from his ten-thousand-year slumber, he had personally investigated Gu Qingfeng's physical body. The Acupoints were sealed, the meridians blocked, the sinews and bones disordered, and the interior was filled with countless impurities.
So why were all the Acupoints all over Gu Qingfeng's body now open?