A single flower is a world, a single tree a floating life, a single blade of grass a paradise, a single leaf a Tathagata, a single grain of sand a supreme bliss, a single direction a pure land, a single smile a worldly fate, a single thought a state of tranquility.
Between heaven and earth, as long as one's realm is high enough, everywhere can be a world, everywhere can be a paradise, everywhere can be a pure land, everywhere can be tranquility.
At this very moment, within a world both ethereal and faintly discernible.
Jun Xuanji floated quietly like a wisp of smoke.
A blood-red robe, three thousand strands of white hair.
Her heartbreakingly beautiful and stunning face was filled with a dazed and bewildered expression. She gazed softly and murmured, "You...
Are you alright?"
Opposite her, another faint, solitary figure floated.
It resembled Gu Qingfeng in his white robes and three thousand black hairs, yet also resembled the three-headed, six-armed, nine-eyed Avici Uninterrupted Evil Asura that was like a god, like a Buddha, and like a demon.
"No hindrance!"
Gu Qingfeng replied.
At this moment, he was himself, yet also the Avici Uninterrupted Evil Asura. Whether it was him or the Avici Uninterrupted Evil Asura, no one could distinguish clearly, not even Gu Qingfeng himself.
As the saying goes, inviting a god is easy, sending one away is hard.
After Gu Qingfeng transformed into the Avici Uninterrupted Evil Asura, returning to his original self would likely be the hardest of difficulties.
After all, the Avici Uninterrupted Evil Asura was the pinnacle of evil between heaven and earth. After the transformation, Gu Qingfeng's spirit, will, and even soul were being assimilated bit by bit by the Avici Uninterrupted Evil Asura, growing increasingly evil. Once he succumbed, he would no longer be himself, but would become the true Avici Uninterrupted Evil Asura.
He had succumbed once before.
Gu Qingfeng was not unaware of this.
It was just that he had no other choice; he could only do this.
"Is it worth it?"
"I'm not doing this for you, but for my karma."
"Does it matter?"
Jun Xuanji gazed at him softly, bewildered and lost, saying, "Your karma is me, I am your karma."
"Heh!"
Gu Qingfeng laughed.
Even though the evil nature of the Avici Uninterrupted Evil Asura was growing increasingly frenzied at this moment, madly devouring his spirit and will, he still managed to laugh.
"Enough, you should leave."
"Leave?"
Jun Xuanji closed her eyes and shook her head slightly. "Where should I go?
Where can I go?"
"Go wherever you love, it has nothing to do with me. I don't want to, nor am I interested in knowing."
"Has nothing to do with you?
Hehehe..." Hearing these words, Jun Xuanji let out a bitter laugh. "If you wish to avoid me, why seek karma? If you seek karma, how can you avoid me?
I've said it before, your karma is me, I am your karma. If you insist on seeking karma, you are destined to be unable to circumvent me in this lifetime..."
"Jun Xuanji, why must you insist that I abandon karma?"
"If I said I no longer wish to have any connection with you, which is why I want you to abandon karma, would you...
believe me?"
"Should I believe you?"
"I don't know."
Jun Xuanji shook her head again, her expression growing more dazed and bewildered. "I truly don't know, I know nothing. I want you to seek karma, yet I also want you to abandon it. I want you to seek it because I don't want to be separated from you; I want you to abandon it because I don't want to meet you again...
It's contradictory. I don't know why it's like this..."
"Since you don't know, simply stop thinking about it. Let things take their natural course."
"Let things take their natural course...
Heh..." Jun Xuanji pondered for a long while before asking again, "Why must you seek karma?"
"You shouldn't ask me that question; you should ask yourself. Your actions back then made me deeply understand the meaning of the word 'karma'. My desire to seek karma may not be entirely because of you, but it absolutely began because of you."
Looking back.
Looking back on the past, looking back on those years with Jun Xuanji—from meeting to fighting, from fighting to understanding, from understanding to falling in love, from love to affection, from affection back to fighting, from fighting back to understanding...
From understanding to reunion...
Everything, everything, was related to karma.
"Began because of me..." Jun Xuanji murmured these four words, as if remembering something, as if afraid of something, even more as if terrified of something. She, who had originally seemed somewhat calm, gradually grew flustered, grew mad.
"Began because of me?
Why...
Why is it like this!
How could it be like this..."
"Why!"
"Why did it begin because of me...
Why!"
"I only wanted to sever...
I only wanted to sever the karma with you, why...
In the end, your seeking karma began because of me...
Why!"
"Can it not be severed?"
"No!
I have already severed the karma!
I am certain I severed the karma!
Why did it begin because of me again!"
"Why!"
Jun Xuanji went mad, clutching her hair, her expression one of extreme pain as she cried out, "Why in the end!"
Beside her, Gu Qingfeng had been suppressing the Avici Uninterrupted Evil Asura. However, the more he suppressed it, the greater the evil nature of the Avici Uninterrupted Evil Asura became. He could clearly sense his own consciousness, spirit, and soul being madly eroded by the evil nature of the Avici Uninterrupted Evil Asura; his original self-awareness grew fainter and fainter.
"I remember...
I...
I think I remember!"
The maddened Jun Xuanji held her head, her expression pained as she muttered to herself, "Back then...
Back then, after I parted with you, I went to search for myself. I...
I found it...
I truly found it, and I knew, I knew everything. But...
But...
Why did I suddenly become lost again..."
"Lost...
Lost...
It was me...
It was me...
It was I who wanted to be lost..."
"Yes!
It wasn't karma that made me lost, it was me...
It was I who wanted to be lost...
It was I who wanted to forget."
"Why did I want to be lost, why did I want to forget..."
"Why in the end!"
"No!
This isn't me!
Absolutely not me!"
"I am not Jun Xuanji!
No!
I am Jun Xuanji!"
"Who am I!"
"Who exactly am I!"
"Who am I?
Who in the world am I—"
"Have I awakened?
I shouldn't have awakened!
I should be sleeping...
Sleeping...
Why did I awaken...
Why!"
"No!
I am dead!
I should be dead...
The Sea of Bitterness!"
"The Sea of Bitterness..."
"Heh...
The Sea of Bitterness..." Suddenly, Jun Xuanji raised her head and looked at Gu Qingfeng, just looked at him. The maddened her grew calm again, murmuring, "The Sea of Bitterness, everything is the Sea of Bitterness. So everything is the Sea of Bitterness, so it's true...
Everything is true..."
"I have never awakened...
I have never slept..."
"I have also never forgotten, never been lost..."
"So everything is the Sea of Bitterness..."
"So everything is true..."
"Have you already forgotten me?
Haven't you?"
"You have forgotten...
You have even forgotten yourself...
How could you remember me..."
"You said...
To let me wait for you..."
"I will...
I will always wait for you..."
"Always...
Wait on..."
"Even for a thousand ages, even for ten thousand ages...
I will always wait for you..."