"Karma, it's karma again."
"When will this cycle of cause and effect ever end?"
"Is it cause or effect? Effect or cause?"
"Endless karma, unavoidable karma, unbreakable karma, chaotic karma..."
"Can't escape it... in the end, I still can't escape it..."
"Why!"
"Why on earth!"
Han Dong's voice was strange, filled with helplessness, entanglement, anger, confusion, and hesitation.
It sounded like her own voice, yet also seemed not to be.
Feiyan didn't know what was happening. She called out twice but received no response from Han Dong.
The eerie, cold moonlight around Han Dong grew increasingly intense, her body becoming more blurred and swaying, her expression more and more pained. She shook her head forcefully, as if enduring something.
"Monarch, Dong'er she..."
"Why is she like this!"
Why?
Gu Qingfeng wasn't clear why either, but he could see that Han Dong's consciousness was currently blurred. As for why she was uttering these words, it truly surprised him.
Could it be that Han Dong had some connection with Feng Zhuyue?
Unlikely.
Han Dong was not a reincarnated person, nor did she carry any turbid aura. She couldn't possibly be Feng Zhuyue's reincarnation.
If so, why was she speaking of karma?
Or was it that Feng Zhuyue, like Yun Nishang, had used some forbidden method, like Bloodline Soul Burial?
No!
That wasn't it either.
Could it be because of the Demon Moon Heart?
The Demon Moon Heart contained the spiritual wills of several generations of Yao Yue Palace's palace mistresses. Perhaps Feng Zhuyue's spiritual will was particularly strong, so when Han Dong was merging with it, she was influenced by Feng Zhuyue's will, hence the rambling?
As he pondered, Feiyan beside him seemed to remember something and said incredulously, "Lady?"
"You think she is Feng Zhuyue?"
"No!"
Feiyan shook her head. "I remember clearly. Back when Lady was merging with the Demon Moon Heart, she was just like Dong'er now—disoriented, rambling about karma."
"There was such a thing?"
Gu Qingfeng had initially thought Han Dong's rambling was due to Feng Zhuyue's spiritual will influence. But now it seemed that wasn't the case. If Feng Zhuyue was also affected when she merged with the Demon Moon Heart back then, then what was really going on?
"False!"
"It's all false!"
"Everything is false!"
"It's all a curse, the curse of karma!"
"What a terrifying curse..." Han Dong began rambling again. She clutched her own hair with both hands, seeming to be in great pain.
"No!"
"I don't want to awaken!"
"I don't want to!"
"I want to die..."
"Let me die..."
"Let me die..."
"I've had enough..."
"Truly had enough, had enough of this cursed karma..."
Whoosh!
The eerie, cold moonlight radiance around Han Dong erupted wildly. At the same time, she abruptly stood up and, with a swoosh, leaped into the air, shooting straight toward the heavens. Gu Qingfeng, bringing Feiyan with him, followed closely behind.
It was night.
A dark moon and a strong wind.
Above the clouds.
The fierce gale howled, tearing through the void, emitting sharp whistling sounds.
Here.
Han Dong's body bloomed with an eerie, cold moonlight radiance, dazzlingly bright, as if daring to rival the true moon in the sky. She slightly raised her head, closed her eyes, and spread her arms and limbs, simply floating in mid-air.
The moonlight radiance grew increasingly intense, and Han Dong also became more and more sinister. After an unknown period, the moonlight radiance began to coalesce, gradually forming into a sphere of light. The sphere slowly rotated above Han Dong's head, containing a powerful force that even Gu Qingfeng found astonishing, and also exuding a sinister, eerie, cold majesty.
As the sphere's rotation speed increased, the power contained within grew stronger, and the sinister, eerie, cold majesty became more terrifying.
Gradually, the sphere stopped rotating. At this moment, the sphere was no longer just a sphere—it was a sinister full moon.
It truly was a full moon, as if at this very moment, two full moons had appeared in the night sky. The only difference was that the moon in the night sky was very, very distant, so distant that no one could touch it, while the full moon above Han Dong's head was very, very close, close at hand, so close it was breathtaking and awe-inspiring.
"Heavens!"
"Dharma Aspect, this is a Dharma Aspect! It's our Yao Yue Palace's Nether Demon Moon Manifestation!"
Feiyan was so excited she was incoherent, her entire body trembling.
The Nether Demon Moon Manifestation was a legend for Yao Yue Palace. No!
Not just for Yao Yue Palace, but for the entire Great Northwest, it was a terrifying legend.
Because the Nether Demon Moon Manifestation symbolized one person—that person was the Frontier Queen who dominated the Great Northwest at the end of the ancient era, Feng Zhuyue.
Back then, many remembered that on a dark night without a full moon or stars, a sinister dark moon suddenly rose slowly from Yao Yue Palace. The demonic moonlight shone down, causing the entire Great Northwest to become eerily cold and desolate.
The cold was that kind of gloomy chill, chilling to the bone, making one's heart tremble.
The desolation was that kind of lifeless barrenness, desolate as if overnight, the entire Great Northwest had lost all vitality.
It was only later that everyone learned that sinister dark moon was none other than the Nether Demon Moon Manifestation conceived by Frontier Queen Feng Zhuyue.
It was said that among all the successive palace mistresses of Yao Yue Palace, only two had conceived the Nether Demon Moon Manifestation. The first was the founding ancestor, and the second was Feng Zhuyue. Apart from these two, for ten thousand years, no other palace mistress of Yao Yue Palace had ever conceived the legendary Nether Demon Moon Manifestation. What Feiyan never expected was that Han Dong had also conceived the legendary Nether Demon Moon Manifestation. How could she not be excited?
Beside her.
Gu Qingfeng had been frowning deeply, watching intently. He could see that the Nether Demon Moon Manifestation conceived by Han Dong was extraordinary, truly remarkable, even earning his admiration. This thing, even compared to the so-called Great Sun Bright Manifestation of the Immortal Dynasty's nobles, was not inferior, perhaps even superior.
However, the Great Sun Bright Manifestation of the Immortal Dynasty's nobles was, after all, something concocted by countless immortals of the Nine Heavens. The Nine Heavens had the capability, the ability, and the resources for that.
That a small Yao Yue Palace could also concoct the Nether Demon Moon Manifestation made Gu Qingfeng admire it while also making him curious: who exactly was Yao Yue Palace's founding ancestor?
Or perhaps he should ask: what kind of existence was Feng Zhuyue? What connection did these two have with Han Dong?
Or was all this just coincidence?
He didn't know.
Gu Qingfeng also dared not speculate recklessly, because someone had once told him: never mistake coincidence for fate, nor coincidence for karma.
When the Nether Demon Moon Manifestation stopped rotating, Han Dong, with her eyes closed, slowly opened them. Those eyes were just like the demonic moon above her head—extremely sinister and bizarre, but filled even more with hesitation and confusion. Especially when she stared at Gu Qingfeng, it was even more so, as if doubting something, yet also as if questioning something.
"You..."
"Why do you feel so familiar to This Consort..."