Gu Qingfeng did not move, allowing the mysterious crimson phantom to grip his throat.
His black hair danced wildly; the woman's white hair danced wildly as well.
His white robes fluttered; the woman's blood-red robes fluttered as well.
His face was cold and unfeeling; the woman's countenance was full of melancholy and complexity.
His dark eyes were calm; the woman's blood-colored eyes were furious.
The solitary moon, stained crimson.
It filled the entire sky.
At this moment, space seemed to stop rotating, time seemed to cease flowing, everything was frozen in this instant.
Gu Qingfeng gazed at the woman opposite him, and the memories he had sealed away surged forth in his mind like a roaring river.
Back then, he had defied the Immortal Dao above, defied the Monster Dao below, defied immortals, demons, and even Heaven itself, provoking the wrath of the Nine Heavens and awakening the slumbering World-Venerable Lady, Jun Xuanji.
Back then, Jun Xuanji, in the name of the World's Order, had declared to the world the execution of Lord Chixiao.
The two fought inextricably, a battle that shook heaven and earth, leaving this world riddled with holes. By chance, they both fell into a mysterious space, where they spent a very, very long time together. How long exactly, Gu Qingfeng did not know, for within that mysterious space, there was no concept of time at all.
It felt like a single thought.
Or a single instant.
Or even a whole lifetime.
He didn't know, and he couldn't recall clearly.
There, they had faced life and death together, weathered calamities together, and it was there that their feelings for each other transformed—from initial enemies to friends, from friends to confidants, and finally to a soulmate…
Even lovers.
Within that mysterious space, Gu Qingfeng possessed his most unforgettable memories. At least, he believed so.
Even now, he still thought so.
Because that period was the life he had dreamt of all his days: rising with the sun, resting with its setting, soaring side by side like a pair of lovebirds, sharing kisses upon the moon, playing the qin upon the clouds, drinking wine upon the sun, speaking of love upon the rainbow bridge, playing in the waters of the river of life, dancing with swords at the edge of the chasm…
Speaking of love atop the dome of the heavens…
Too many beautiful memories, countless and uncountable. Every corner of that mysterious space bore traces of their figures.
Back then, he wore white robes.
Back then, she wore red attire.
If it were possible, Gu Qingfeng truly, truly wished he could have stayed forever in that mysterious, unknown space. Even if there was no time, even if there were no other living beings, even if there was nothing at all, he wouldn't have cared, as long as Jun Xuanji was there.
Gu Qingfeng had genuinely thought this way.
He did not like bustle.
He never had, from the very beginning.
He did not like killing.
He never had, from the very beginning either.
He also did not like cultivation, never had, and disliked that mundane world even more. That had always been the case.
And the life within that mysterious space could satisfy all his yearnings for existence.
He had once thought that he and Jun Xuanji would remain in that mysterious space forever. It was only later that he realized this was all his own wishful thinking. It was also later that he learned it was all a deception from the start—a dream, a dream meticulously crafted by Jun Xuanji, a dream that still stirred a faint anger within Gu Qingfeng whenever he recalled it.
Gazing at the crimson solitary phantom opposite him, gazing at that face that had once caused him heart-wrenching agony, Gu Qingfeng did not reveal any emotion. No pain, no anger, nothing at all. Like his eyes, he was calm, so calm there wasn't a single ripple.
Compared to him, that crimson solitary phantom appeared far, far more complex. On a stunningly beautiful face that seemed not to belong to the mortal realm, there seemed to be agitation, longing, hesitation, entanglement, melancholy, and anger…
Countless emotions jumbled together, ineffably complex.
She no longer gripped Gu Qingfeng's throat. Instead, she reached out a hand as if to caress his face. Yet, just as her slender jade-like fingers touched his cheek, a hand clasped her wrist. It was none other than Gu Qingfeng.
"Why bother..."
"Even now...
you still...
think I was deceiving you back then...
hmm?"
"It's all in the past..."
"The past?
Heh heh..." The crimson solitary phantom laughed bitterly, gazing at Gu Qingfeng with profound melancholy. "It cannot pass...
It cannot pass...
It truly cannot pass..."
"Whether it passes for you is your own affair. As long as it has passed for me, that's enough..."
"Heh heh heh heh..." The woman laughed strangely, seeming hesitant, bewildered, and even sorrowful. "You cannot pass it...
You can never...
never pass it..."
"Jun Xuanji, do you find this amusing?"
Gu Qingfeng had never been able to see through Jun Xuanji, not in the past, and not now either.
"You are already trapped...
You were trapped from the very beginning...
And you sink deeper and deeper, so how could you possibly pass it..." Gu Qingfeng did not respond, only watched.
"Abandon the Karma...
Can you?"
Jun Xuanji's voice came through. Gu Qingfeng's heart stirred. "So it was you who took the Yanyang Heart."
"It was me...
and yet...
it was not me..." Hearing Jun Xuanji's answer, Gu Qingfeng was not surprised, for the Jun Xuanji he knew was always like this.
Jun Xuanji gazed at Gu Qingfeng with deep affection and said softly once more, "Abandon the Karma...
Can you?"
"Why."
"I said you are already trapped...
I do not wish...
I do not wish for you to sink deeper...
You should understand...
Some things are not as beautiful as you imagine, especially...
Karma...
particularly...
your Karma...
Let it go, alright?"
Gu Qingfeng asked again, "Why?"
"Since you have forgotten...
then forget forever..." Jun Xuanji murmured softly. "Do not seek to uncover it...
Do not...
You said...
it has passed...
so let it pass...
Alright?"
"Jun Xuanji, do you know what I hate most in this world?"
"You said, what you hate most in this life are those who speak in cryptic, mystical ways..."
"Since you know, why must you still act so mysteriously before me!" Gu Qingfeng said with an expressionless face. "After all these years...
Why have you not changed one bit? You were cryptic and mystical back then, and I never thought after so many years, you would still be cryptic and mystical!"
"Do you remember?
Do you remember what I said to you when I left back then?"
"I don't remember!"
Though Gu Qingfeng said he didn't remember, how could he not? He wished to forget, yet he simply couldn't. Not only couldn't he forget, everything about Jun Xuanji became clearer and clearer, as if it had happened yesterday, clear beyond clarity.
He remembered what Jun Xuanji had said when she left back then: she was going to search for her true self...
This statement Gu Qingfeng did not understand back then, and even today, he still did not understand.
"I said...
I was going to pursue my true self...
Heh heh...
I cannot find it...
Do you know?
I cannot find it...
I am lost...
I am utterly lost...
Many...
many memories that belong to me...
are forgotten...
truly forgotten...
Heh heh...
Lost...
I truly, truly wish to tell you...
But I have truly forgotten...
I don't even...
know who I am..."