Within the void of the Li Palace space, there stood a lotus pavilion.
The pavilion's roof resembled the vault of heaven, containing within it both sun and moon, as well as countless stars.
Its base was like a shifting Tai Chi, unfathomable as an abyss.
Four pillars stood like the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Black Tortoise, and Vermilion Bird.
Genggu Wuming stood quietly within the pavilion, gazing at the Li Palace vortex in the center of the arena. She had been like this from the very beginning, and throughout it all, she had not uttered a single word. Whether it was the appearance of Taiji Boundless or the arrival of Miao Rulai, she seemed not to have glanced at either. Her expression remained placid, as it always had been, never once changing. Her eyes were the same, as if everything happening here had nothing to do with her. She was merely a passerby.
In contrast, Cang Yan beside her kept talking to herself, especially when Miao Rulai appeared. She opened her mouth and said, "Interesting. It's getting more and more interesting."
Da Xing the Mad Monk found himself increasingly unable to comprehend the situation of this Original Sin Cataclysm.
Cang Yan, however, was the exact opposite. She was becoming more and more clear about the situation of this Original Sin Cataclysm.
In her mind, this Original Sin Cataclysm was a game of chess.
On the surface, it seemed like a game of chess between Wu Dao and the Great Dao.
But that was only how it seemed.
The ones truly playing the game on the chessboard were not Wu Dao and the Great Dao, but Original Sin and Fate.
Those Great Dao Patriarchs, and those Original Sin Patriarchs as well, were all chess pieces in the hands of Original Sin and Fate.
This included the Sons of Original Sin, the Original Sin Anomalies, as well as the Great Dao Destinies and the Destined Calamity Fates.
Even Wu Dao Zun Shang, and even Genggu Wuming, were also chess pieces in this game.
The difference was:
Some were merely chess pieces of Original Sin, such as Wu Dao Zun Shang.
Some were merely chess pieces of Fate, such as Genggu Wuming.
And some were chess pieces of chess pieces. For example, those Original Sin Anomalies, those Sons of Original Sin—they were perhaps all chess pieces of the chess piece that was Wu Dao Zun Shang.
For example, the Destined Calamity Fates, for example, the Great Dao Destinies—they were perhaps all chess pieces of the chess piece that was Genggu Wuming.
There were also those who were chess pieces of chess pieces of chess pieces. For example, those Original Sin Patriarchs, those Great Dao Patriarchs—they were perhaps all chess pieces of the Original Sin Anomalies or the Destined Calamity Fates.
If you are a chess piece in someone else's hand, you will never understand the game they are laying out.
Just as those Original Sin Patriarchs cannot understand the game laid out by the Original Sin Anomalies, and those Great Dao Patriarchs cannot understand the game laid out by the Destined Calamity Fates.
Similarly,
the Original Sin Anomalies perhaps also cannot understand the game laid out by Wu Dao Zun Shang, and the Destined Calamity Fates perhaps also cannot understand the game laid out by Genggu Wuming.
Whether Wu Dao Zun Shang can understand the game laid out by Original Sin, Cang Yan may not know, but she does know that Genggu Wuming definitely has not understood the game laid out by Fate.
No one is willing to be another's chess piece.
No one.
Not even Genggu Wuming, hailed as the incarnation of Causality and the envoy of Fate, is an exception.
Precisely because she could not understand the game Fate had laid out, Genggu Wuming decided to place a bet on Gu Qingfeng.
Precisely because she did not want to be a chess piece of Fate, Genggu Wuming decided to place a bet on Gu Qingfeng.
Probably,
it was precisely because Genggu Wuming decided to place a bet on Gu Qingfeng that Gu Qingfeng is not a Destined Calamity Fate.
The reason is simple.
Genggu Wuming did not want Gu Qingfeng's fate to be bound.
The world believes that Genggu Wuming is playing a game against Wu Dao Zun Shang in this chess match. Only Cang Yan knows that Genggu Wuming has never been playing against Wu Dao Zun Shang; she has always been playing a game against Fate!
Da Xing the Mad Monk could never understand why Genggu Wuming would overlook Gu Qingfeng, the greatest Original Sin Anomaly.
Cang Yan knows.
Genggu Wuming never overlooked Gu Qingfeng. Not only did she not overlook him, she cared about Gu Qingfeng more than anyone else.
She even suspected that Fate had long since set its sights on Gu Qingfeng, and it was Genggu Wuming who made Fate overlook Gu Qingfeng. She did not want Gu Qingfeng's fate to be bound.
"He was never the True Lord of Original Sin recorded in the Book of Fate, never...
The True Lord of Original Sin recorded in the Book of Fate is someone else, yet you wish for him to ascend to the position of True Lord of Original Sin..." In the past,
Cang Yan did not understand.
She did not understand whether safeguarding the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth was obeying the Mandate of Heaven, or whether opening the Wu Dao Age was obeying the Mandate of Heaven.
Now she understands.
Opening the Wu Dao Age is obeying the Mandate of Heaven.
What is recorded in the Book of Fate is that when Original Sin finds its True Lord, the Great Dao falls, Heaven and Earth are reborn, and the Wu Dao Age opens.
In other words,
Fate needs a chess piece to ascend to the position of True Lord of Original Sin and open the Wu Dao Age.
"Heh heh...
I am truly too foolish, too stupid...
To have always thought that the one who wanted to open the Wu Dao Age was Wu Dao Zun Shang...
Heh heh."
Cang Yan laughed.
A laugh filled with immense self-mockery.
Indeed.
She had always thought that Wu Dao Zun Shang wanted to defy Heaven and change Fate, to open the Wu Dao Age and break free from the shackles of Fate.
Only now, only at this moment, did she understand that the one who truly wanted to open the Wu Dao Age was never Wu Dao Zun Shang, but Fate!
Wu Dao Zun Shang, like Genggu Wuming, was merely a chess piece in Fate's hand.
Nothing more!
Before this, she had thought this gamble was a game played behind the scenes by Fate and Original Sin. Only at this moment did she realize it was not Fate and Original Sin playing behind the scenes, because this gamble, from beginning to end, was a game staged and directed by Fate itself.
Both Wu Dao Zun Shang and Genggu Wuming were chess pieces in Fate's hand.
Genggu Wuming was unwilling to be Fate's chess piece, hence she defied Heaven and changed Fate.
Similarly,
Wu Dao Zun Shang was also unwilling to be a chess piece in Fate's hand, and he too was defying Heaven and changing Fate.
Yes.
Wu Dao Zun Shang was also defying Heaven and changing Fate.
If Wu Dao Zun Shang had chosen to obey the Mandate of Heaven, back in the Desolate Era, the Wu Dao Age would not have vanished into thin air the moment it opened.
It must have been done deliberately by Wu Dao Zun Shang, because he did not want to be Fate's chess piece.
He exerted his utmost strength, sacrificed himself, causing the Wu Dao Age to turn to ashes and vanish the moment it opened.
He caused his own formidable aura to transform into the Breath of Original Sin filling the heavens, his own obsession to transform into the Light of Original Sin filling the sky, his own myriad supernatural powers to transform into Flowers of Original Sin blanketing the mountains and plains, his own spirit to transform into the Essence of Original Sin, his own soul to transform into the Spirit of Original Sin.
Wu Dao Zun Shang was laying out a game.
A game to defy Heaven and change Fate.
Thinking of this,
Cang Yan gently closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled.
Fate must have designated a True Lord of Original Sin, the one recorded in the Book of Fate.
And Genggu Wuming decided to place a bet on Gu Qingfeng. This meant that if the Wu Dao Age was destined to open, she hoped Gu Qingfeng would be the one to ascend to this position of True Lord of Original Sin, hoped Gu Qingfeng would be the one to open the Wu Dao Age.
Only,
she did not know.
On whom had Wu Dao Zun Shang placed his bet?
Whom did Wu Dao Zun Shang hope would ascend to this position of True Lord of Original Sin, who would open this Wu Dao Age?
Opening her eyes, Cang Yan gazed at Gu Qingfeng standing atop the solitary peak. She gazed at him like this for a long time. After a long while, Cang Yan suddenly laughed, a very strange laugh, and murmured, "You and Wu Dao Zun Shang...
Could it be that you are so in sync? Or is it..." She paused, then continued, "His very existence is Wu Dao Zun Shang."