Lady Wuyue's expression was incomparably complex as she watched Gu Qingfeng letting go of everything. The hope within her heart gradually faded away alongside Gu Qingfeng's release.
She could only watch.
And she could only watch like this.
Apart from watching, she could do nothing.
Stop Gu Qingfeng from letting go of everything?
She lacked the skill and the capability.
In all of heaven and earth, no one could stop Gu Qingfeng from letting go of everything.
The hope in her heart was disappearing bit by bit, replaced by despair, a deep despair.
However.
It wasn't just Lady Wuyue who was in despair.
At the same time, there was Da Xing the Mad Monk atop the solitary peak, and the Old Beggar and Lady Heishui on Blackwater Mountain. They too had placed their hopes in Gu Qingfeng.
Gu Qingfeng letting go of everything was equivalent to letting go of their hopes.
The moment she realized Gu Qingfeng was letting go of everything, Lady Heishui's heart could no longer remain calm. Her expression was no longer as placid as before, but instead revealed panic, disarray, bewilderment, hesitation, and also despair.
Like Lady Wuyue, facing Gu Qingfeng's release, she too lacked the ability to stop it. She could only watch like this, her hope fading, sinking into deep despair.
At the same time.
In a mysterious lotus pavilion within the void.
Cang Yan, Master of Langya, stood with arms crossed, watching Gu Qingfeng letting himself go. Her peerlessly beautiful face wore an expression of myriad complexities.
She had not planted any Karmic Seeds on Gu Qingfeng. However, Gu Qingfeng carried the hopes of Demon Emperor Blood River, so in a sense, he also carried her hopes.
Now that Gu Qingfeng was letting himself go, it was equivalent to letting go of the all-or-nothing hope that Demon Emperor Blood River had staked everything on. Naturally, Cang Yan's heart was heavy.
"Heh."
Cang Yan shook her head and smiled, a smile full of self-mockery, helplessness, and even more so, hesitation.
She turned around, no longer looking.
Instead, she picked up a wine pot and poured herself a cup of fine wine, murmuring softly, "He said...
Whether what should happen will happen, he doesn't know, but what shouldn't happen will definitely happen..." "I originally thought he would act against his own will to do things he didn't want to do, thus avoiding the influence of those Karmic Seeds. I never expected...
He would actually...
Actually let himself go completely..." "This is truly too unexpected..." "He knows..." "He has always known, known that you all want to force him onto this dead-end path of losing himself."
"Even though he knows that even if you don't force him, he only has the path of losing himself left."
"Even though he knows that the path of losing himself is both a dead end and the only way out."
"Yet he stubbornly refuses to walk this path!"
"Why?"
Cang Yan raised the cup of fine wine and drank it all in one gulp, saying, "If you didn't force him, perhaps he would have set foot on the path of losing himself."
"If this path wasn't the only one fate left for him, perhaps he would also have set foot on the path of losing himself."
"Unfortunately...
Unfortunately, there are no 'ifs'."
"He has let himself go, let everything go. I think...
He just wants to make you, all existences, this great Dao, this Original Sin, this heaven and earth, this fate understand one truth."
She poured more wine.
Drank it all again in one gulp.
Continued, "His fate, he decides!"
Having said that, Cang Yan looked again at Genggu Wuming beside her.
Genggu Wuming resembled a young girl.
Ethereal and elusive, like clouds and mist, appearing and disappearing, as if she didn't exist, yet also as if she changed along with the void.
She just stood there, just watched.
Expressionless, from beginning to end.
"You...
Aren't you going to stop him?"
Cang Yan asked.
She knew that Gu Qingfeng not only carried the hopes of Demon Emperor Blood River, but also the hopes of Genggu Wuming.
Gu Qingfeng letting go of everything was equivalent to letting go of Genggu Wuming's hopes.
This, Cang Yan was certain of.
Genggu Wuming shook her head slightly, responding softly, "I...
cannot stop it."
If Genggu Wuming said she couldn't stop it, then in all of heaven and earth, no one could stop Gu Qingfeng from letting himself go.
"Will he truly let himself go?"
Genggu Wuming responded, "I do not know."
"Will a miracle happen?"
"I do not know."
Cang Yan was not surprised by Genggu Wuming's repeated 'I do not know's.
When Genggu Wuming said she didn't know, it meant she truly didn't know.
If Genggu Wuming knew, she wouldn't have chosen to gamble on Gu Qingfeng.
It was precisely because she didn't know that she had to gamble.
"Sigh!"
Cang Yan sighed, murmuring, "Now we can only hope for a miracle to happen..." Black Smoke!
Rolling black smoke was everywhere.
The terrifying Primordial Sin Spirit contained within the black smoke enveloped the heart of every person in the Separate Palace Space, suppressing their bodies, intimidating their souls. No one dared to move, no one dared to speak.
What exactly this black smoke was, no one knew.
They only knew the sky-filled black smoke changed endlessly.
Suddenly.
Everyone sensed something strange. It was as if a terrifying existence was hidden within the sky-filled black smoke.
No!
Not one, but three terrifying existences.
These three terrifying existences were hidden within the black smoke, roaring and stirring up chaos like three azure dragons, as if they were inseparable from the black smoke. The black smoke was the three terrifying existences, and the three terrifying existences were the black smoke. The black smoke dominated the three terrifying existences, and the three terrifying existences also dominated the black smoke.
Immediately after, a series of eerie sounds came from somewhere unknown.
These sounds were like demonic howls and demonic roars, utterly evil.
The demonic roars were savage roars, the demonic howls were violent howls!
At the same time, the sky-filled black smoke changed wildly.
Transforming into sky-filled ferocious ghosts, transforming into sky-filled demons.
The ferocious ghosts roared with bared fangs and brandished claws, the demons bellowed with fierce and malevolent expressions.
Then it transformed again into sky-filled Immortals and Buddhas.
However, these were not Immortals of light, nor Buddhas of holiness, but bloodthirsty Immortals, cruel Buddhas, filling the sky like a riot of demons.
The patriarchs present were all experienced and knowledgeable. With just one glance, they recognized this as the image of hell.
At some unknown time.
The sounds of demonic howls and roars disappeared, replaced by another kind of eerie sound.
Like ghostly wails and Buddha-like howls.
The ghostly wails were heart-rending, the Buddha-like howls were filled with agony!
The sky-filled black smoke changed wildly again, burning like raging flames.
Within the sea of fire, there were also sky-filled demon monsters and ghosts. However, these demon monsters and ghosts no longer roared or shrieked, but were weeping, crying heart-rendingly!
Within the sea of fire, there were also sky-filled Immortals and Buddhas. These Immortals and Buddhas were not the bloodthirsty Immortals and cruel Buddhas from before, but more like Immortals and Buddhas who had fallen into the sea of fire, emitting waves of agonized wails!
Within the sea of fire, there were also sky-filled birds and beasts, azure dragons, phoenixes, lions, tigers, everything imaginable. Like those demon monsters, ghosts, Immortals, and Buddhas, they all seemed to have fallen into the sea of fire, struggling violently, weeping, wailing.
If the earlier changes of the sky-filled black smoke were the image of hell, then the current changes of the sky-filled black smoke were the image of purgatory.
Only from hell would come the utterly evil demonic howls and roars!
Only from purgatory would come the agonizing ghostly wails and Buddha-like howls!