When Ancestor Xuanming transformed into a massive, ferocious head.
When Ancestor Xuanming questioned whether Gu Qingfeng had accepted his fate.
All the Original Sin Patriarchs within the space held their breath, their expressions solemn and tense as they stared intently, including the Great Dao Patriarchs hidden within the various Creation Treasure Artifacts.
In the minds of many,
whether Gu Qingfeng accepted his fate or not seemed unimportant.
What mattered was whether Gu Qingfeng was the True Lord of Original Sin recorded in the Book of Fate.
If he was, then regardless of whether Gu Qingfeng accepted his fate or not, the Great Dao and Original Sin forces gathered in the Li Palace Space would spare no effort to eradicate him.
In other words,
once it was confirmed that Gu Qingfeng was indeed the True Lord of Original Sin recorded in the Book of Fate, his death was certain.
Given that,
did it matter whether he accepted his fate or not?
However,
in the eyes of Great Dao overlords like Black Mountain Old Monster and master schemers like Old Ancestor Green Robe, whether Gu Qingfeng accepted his fate was of utmost importance.
If Gu Qingfeng chose to accept his fate, disregarding life and death, only wishing to end it all, then killing him would not be difficult. He might not even resist when they attacked, simply giving up.
But if Gu Qingfeng did not accept his fate, then eradicating him would be no easy task.
Especially if Gu Qingfeng truly was the True Lord of Original Sin recorded in the Book of Fate—killing him would be exponentially more difficult.
On paper, the Great Dao and Original Sin sides had experts as numerous as clouds, countless Original Sin variables and destined tribulation figures, plus the presence of pillars like Xuan Yuan Wuji and Du Gu Qi Zhan. No matter how powerful Gu Qingfeng was, he absolutely could not withstand them.
Yet,
that was easier said than done.
Because if Gu Qingfeng did not accept his fate, the key issue was not how powerful he was, but how to completely eradicate him.
Defeating Gu Qingfeng was not difficult.
Suppressing him, even sealing him, was not difficult.
What was difficult was eradicating him.
It was no exaggeration to say that, to this day, neither the Great Dao side nor the Original Sin side had absolute confidence in completely eradicating Gu Qingfeng.
Yes.
No one did.
Black Mountain Old Monster did not, Old Ancestor Green Robe did not, Taiji Boundless did not, Miao Rulai did not, and that even included Xuan Yuan Wuji and Du Gu Qi Zhan.
They all knew that if Gu Qingfeng were easy to eradicate, he would not have survived to this day, not even the slightest sign indicating he was the True Lord of Original Sin recorded in the Book of Fate. They also understood that if Gu Qingfeng were so easy to eradicate, those Madames representing the Great Dao would not have risked losing themselves by scheming within his karma.
All along, they had also believed that Gu Qingfeng had truly accepted his fate.
Gu Qingfeng had said as much and acted accordingly, never showing the slightest intent to vie for the position of True Lord of Original Sin.
Great Dao overlords like Black Mountain Old Monster suspected that when Gu Qingfeng lost everything at the end of the Ancient Era, it was no accident. It might have been a scheme by the Heavenly Dao, or the Sacred Dao, or perhaps those Great Dao Madames, or even Genggu Wuming—all to make Gu Qingfeng lose his fighting spirit, to stop him from defying fate and instead submit to it.
Only if Gu Qingfeng lost his fighting spirit would his will to survive vanish, making him much easier to kill.
Before this, everyone had thought so.
If anyone still harbored a sliver of doubt, seeing Gu Qingfeng still standing leisurely on the Solitary Peak, drinking his wine, would make that last shred of doubt vanish.
Only if Gu Qingfeng had accepted his fate would he wait for death like this.
If he had not, he would have taken action long ago, at the very least not waiting for death as he was now.
No one expected Ancestor Xuanming's appearance to question whether Gu Qingfeng had accepted his fate.
And from his resolute attitude, it seemed he was convinced Gu Qingfeng had not.
Could this be true?
Everyone awaited an answer.
Finally,
Gu Qingfeng spoke.
He looked at the massive head that was Ancestor Xuanming before him and nodded. "That's right. This master indeed will not accept my fate. At least, not now."
His words caused a thousand ripples.
As soon as Gu Qingfeng's voice fell, it immediately stirred up a huge commotion. Both the Original Sin Patriarchs present and the Great Dao Patriarchs within the Creation Treasure Artifacts were utterly shocked and found it hard to believe.
Indeed.
Before this, almost everyone believed Gu Qingfeng had accepted his fate. No one expected it was all a facade.
"As I thought!
As I thought!
As I thought!"
After receiving the response, Ancestor Xuanming uttered three consecutive "as I thought"s. His tone suggested he had not been entirely certain earlier whether Gu Qingfeng had accepted his fate, hence his questioning.
Whether from disbelief or inability to accept it, Ancestor Xuanming's emotions were particularly agitated. The massive ferocious head twisted violently in the void as he roared, "So it's true!
You truly have not accepted your fate!"
Standing on the Solitary Peak,
Gu Qingfeng slightly furrowed his brows, looking at Ancestor Xuanming. One thing puzzled him deeply.
It wasn't that the news of him not accepting his fate being revealed would be disadvantageous.
Gu Qingfeng didn't care about that.
What truly puzzled him was: how did Ancestor Xuanming learn that he had not accepted his fate?
Beside him,
Da Xing the Mad Monk was also perplexed, unsure how Ancestor Xuanming had learned Gu Qingfeng had not accepted his fate.
Could he have seen it?
Unlikely!
Gu Qingfeng's existence couldn't even be detected by divine sense. No one under heaven could see through his heart, let alone know his inner thoughts.
Moreover, Gu Qingfeng was an Original Sin variable with incredibly chaotic karma; others couldn't deduce it either.
If Gu Qingfeng hadn't told him personally, even Da Xing the Mad Monk wouldn't have known.
"This master is quite curious—how did you know I haven't accepted my fate?"
Gu Qingfeng asked casually.
"Someone told me!"
"Who?"
Gu Qingfeng was surprised and suspicious, wondering who had such capability to know whether he had accepted his fate.
Ancestor Xuanming did not answer this question. Instead, he countered, "Since you have not accepted your fate, does that mean all your previous actions were indeed an act?
Your goal was to make all existences in heaven and earth believe you had accepted your fate, that you didn't care about life or death, only wanting to end it all?"
"An act?
Heh!"
Suddenly,
a laugh echoed through the void. It sounded strange, playful, and somewhat mocking.
However,
the laughter did not come from Gu Qingfeng, but from someone else.
Everyone looked around for the source but found nothing. Then the voice spoke again.
"Ancestor Xuanming, for someone who barely qualifies as a senior expert, you speak such utterly foolish words. You say he's been acting all along?
Hehehe, this is truly the funniest joke this palace has heard in the Modern Era. You overestimate him, and you think his existence is far too complex. This palace can tell you with full responsibility: he cannot act. He does not possess such exquisite acting skills to deceive all existences across the Ancient and Modern Eras."