Strange!
Truly strange.
Gu Qingfeng pondered. After he faked his death back then, deceiving both the Immortal-Demon Great Dao and the Heavenly Dao, others shouldn't have known he was still alive. Forget about others—even he himself hadn't been sure he would survive. So why did Feng Zhuyue know? And why was she so certain? Not only that, but she also firmly believed he would definitely return?
Could she have divined it?
Did Feng Zhuyue possess such ability?
He didn't know.
For a moment, Gu Qingfeng couldn't figure it out. Thinking carefully, something felt off. He clearly remembered that when he was being judged by the Immortal Dao back then, Feng Zhuyue was there too. Not only was she present, but she also desperately tried to protect him. If Gu Qingfeng hadn't intervened in the end, Feng Zhuyue might very well have died under the Immortal Dao Judgment.
In his mind, if Feng Zhuyue had divined that he wouldn't be executed by the Immortal Dao Judgment, it seemed there was no need for her to do that, right?
Could it be that she only found out after he was judged by the Immortal Dao?
Gu Qingfeng thought for a moment, then asked, "Tell me in detail exactly what happened."
"After Your Majesty left our Yaoyue Palace, having crippled his own cultivation, the Empress went alone to the Divine Land to look for you. But...
At that time, Your Majesty already had a new lover...
Although the Empress knew you were putting on an act for her, she still..." "Don't go into such detail about these messy old affairs...
What happened later?"
"Later, the Empress silently watched Your Majesty's every move, never disturbing you. Until you were judged by the Immortal Dao and turned to ashes, the Empress, overwhelmed by grief, became deeply depressed. Later...
She even...
Lost her senses and suffered a cultivation deviation..." Although Gu Qingfeng had heard from Huode before about Feng Zhuyue's cultivation deviation, hearing Feiyan say it now still left a sour taste in his heart. He also felt somewhat guilty toward Feng Zhuyue.
"After the Empress suffered the cultivation deviation, her mind was sometimes clear, sometimes confused. But she always firmly believed you were not dead and would definitely return. At first, I thought it was just the ramblings of someone who had lost her mind from grief, heartbreak, and lovesickness...
Until one day, the Empress spoke to me very seriously, and I realized her words weren't nonsense."
"What did Feng Zhuyue say to you?"
"A series of very strange words."
"How were they strange?"
"The Empress said that meeting you was all Karma."
Hearing the word 'Karma', Gu Qingfeng's heart skipped a beat. It was truly a case of fearing something and having it come to pass. Earlier, he had hesitated precisely because he was afraid of getting entangled in so-called Karma with Feng Zhuyue. Who would have thought it was indeed the case.
Gu Qingfeng closed his eyes, rubbed his forehead, and sighed. "How the hell can I not avoid it no matter how I try to dodge..." He picked up a cup of wine and added, "Continue."
"Your Majesty, you...
Just now..." "What about me just now?"
"The Empress used to say that exact phrase too."
"What phrase?"
"After the Empress regained her senses, the first thing she said was exactly what you just said: 'No matter how I try to dodge, I can never avoid it...'" "And then? What else did she say?"
"The Empress also said, 'Old Karma remains unsettled, new Karma is born. The more you try to sever it, the messier it gets; the more you try to cut it off, the more complicated it becomes. It repeats endlessly, without end...'" Old Karma?
Could there really be Karma from a Previous Life between him and Feng Zhuyue?
Gu Qingfeng had a headache.
He really disliked this feeling. Yun Nichang was already enough of a headache; he never expected Feng Zhuyue to be added to the mix now.
Gu Qingfeng had originally thought that Karma from a Previous Life was just that—from a Previous Life. He couldn't be bothered with it and didn't want to deal with it. But now, he vaguely felt that the Karma of the Previous Life and this life couldn't be clearly separated. The Karma of the Previous Life was the Karma of this life, and the Karma of this life was also the Karma of the Previous Life.
The cause from the Previous Life, the effect in this life—that's just how it is. How could it possibly be separated?
"The Empress said that although she didn't know what would happen after you were judged by the Immortal Dao and turned to ashes, she was certain you wouldn't die. I once asked the Empress why she was so sure. She just shook her head and said, 'Before the Karma is settled, you cannot die. Even if you wanted to die, someone wouldn't let you die.' She also said you owed too many debts...
You can never die until they are repaid."
This statement sounded strange to Gu Qingfeng. What did she mean, 'even if you wanted to die, someone wouldn't let you die'? He owed too many debts? What debts?
From the Previous Life or this life?
Or, damn it, from both the Previous Life and this life?
"The Empress also said...
She also said..." "Said what?" Feiyan's expression was peculiar, her brows deeply furrowed as if filled with many doubts. "She also said that Life and Death hold no meaning for you. Your life is death, your death is life. Life and death are the same for you..." Gu Qingfeng murmured Feiyan's words. This was probably the most absurd thing he had ever heard in his life.
What did it mean?
Did Feng Zhuyue know he had transcended Life and Death?
Gu Qingfeng had indeed transcended Life and Death, but only superficially. Moreover, he knew that in this world, there was no such thing as absolute transcendence of Life and Death.
"The Empress said you would definitely return, and she prepared to wait for you at Yaoyue Palace..." "If that's the case, why did she mysteriously disappear later?"
Feiyan shook her head. This was a question she couldn't figure out either.
"Did Feng Zhuyue say anything before she left?"
"Before the Empress disappeared, she became very strange, and also very terrifying...
She said a lot of nonsensical things I couldn't understand."
"What was the situation at the time?"
"I was cultivating at the time when I suddenly heard the Empress going mad, sometimes laughing hysterically, sometimes crying bitterly. She said everything was fake, it was all fake. She said there were many of you in the world, but they were all fake, including you..." "What do you mean, 'there are many of me in the world'?
And they're all fake?
What nonsense is this?"
Gu Qingfeng was getting more and more confused, as if listening to some incomprehensible scripture.
Feiyan was even less clear. "I don't know. The Empress said everything, everything was a curse."
A curse?
What curse?
Gu Qingfeng truly couldn't understand.
He leaned back in his chair, carefully pondering every word Feiyan had said. But the more he pondered, the more confused he became; the more he pondered, the more his head ached.
He tried to deduce it. If Feng Zhuyue truly shared Karma from a Previous Life with him, in other words, even if Feng Zhuyue wasn't a reincarnated person, she must have some connection to that Previous Life. And after he was judged by the Immortal Dao—or perhaps after she suffered her cultivation deviation—it might have triggered the awakening of memories from that Previous Life, hence her knowledge of the so-called Karma.
Feng Zhuyue had also said that in the end, one could not avoid Karma.
That meant her meeting him in this life might truly be due to Karma from a Previous Life. But even if that were the case, what was all that about 'everything is fake' she said later? And what did she mean by 'there are many of me in the world'?
And they're all fake?
And what was that about a curse?
What kind of nonsensical mess was this?
It was even stranger than that business with Yun Nichang. So strange it made Gu Qingfeng doubt his very existence.