Beyond the Nine Heavens, known as the Forbidden Zone of Heaven.
It is also one of the most chaotic, unstable, and dangerous places between heaven and earth, where various terrifying chaotic flows often appear.
These chaotic flows are far more terrifying than the astral winds above the clouds. A powerful chaotic flow could reduce even an immortal to ashes. If one encounters a spatial chaotic flow, they might be instantly swept into a bizarre, inexplicable space.
Furthermore, the natural storms here are more brutal and violent than anywhere else—raging winds, torrential rain, endless snow and ice, the four seasons alternating, yin and yang reversed, and the five elements thrown into disarray.
Boom!
Crack!
Moreover, the heavenly might here is more dreadful than anywhere else. The so-called Nine Heavens Heavenly Thunder is comparable to a judgment of the Great Dao.
A woman, her body shimmering with a cold, desolate, lifeless dark moonlight, exuding an eerie, demonic aura like a ghostly moon, was gazing at the firmament, screaming madly.
"Who am I!
Who in the world am I!
Tell me who I am!
—" The woman was none other than Han Dong.
Not far away.
Gu Qingfeng stood watching, his expression solemn as he stared intently.
He had been following Han Dong all along, never intervening, just following and observing, because he too wanted to know who this Han Dong truly was.
After watching for so long, he was almost certain that Han Dong's condition was not caused by the fusion with the Demon Moon's Heart being influenced by the lingering mental imprints of the successive palace masters of the Demon Moon Palace, leading to mental confusion. Those mental imprints might affect the mind, but they would never be this intense.
As for the exact reason.
Gu Qingfeng couldn't figure it out for the moment, only vaguely sensing some connection between Han Dong and Feng Zhuyue. Perhaps it wasn't just Feng Zhuyue, but also that mysterious founding ancestor of the Demon Moon Palace.
"Who am I!
Who in the world am I!"
Han Dong screamed madly, the ghostly demon moonlight around her growing increasingly radiant. Her face was deathly pale, her features blurring and contorting, and her eyes were shifting unpredictably.
"I am Han Dong!
Yes!
I am Han Dong!
No!
I am not Han Dong!
I am not!
Han Dong is not the true self!
It's not!"
"I am Feng Zhuyue!
Yes!
I am Feng Zhuyue!
I remember now, I am Feng Zhuyue!
I...
am waiting for someone, waiting for someone...
waiting for someone with whom I share Karma, who is he...
who is he..." Suddenly.
Han Dong turned around, staring fixedly at Gu Qingfeng. In that moment, it was as if time itself had stopped. She just stared, her gaze shifting from initial unfamiliarity to suspicion, then from suspicion to certainty, and from certainty to agitation.
"It's you!
It really is you!"
"You've really returned!
You've truly come back!"
Opposite her.
Gu Qingfeng asked, "Are you Feng Zhuyue?"
Han Dong's transformation left Gu Qingfeng uncertain. He couldn't be sure if this Han Dong was truly Feng Zhuyue.
"It really is you..." Han Dong's figure flashed and appeared before Gu Qingfeng. She reached out, touching his cheek, her agitated expression turning melancholic as she murmured, "But...
why did you have to return...
why must you come back..." "Didn't you just say you were waiting for me?"
"Yes...
I was waiting for you...
I've always been waiting for you..." "Why were you waiting for me?
What were you waiting for?"
"What was I waiting for?"
Han Dong's eyes seemed to become lost, murmuring, "Yes...
what was I waiting for..." "Was it for Karma?"
"Karma?
Was it really for Karma?
Do we truly share Karma?
Are you really him?"
"Who is this 'him' you speak of?"
"A Curse, a terrible Curse."
"A Curse?"
"Yes, a Curse."
"What do you mean?"
Gu Qingfeng couldn't understand Han Dong's words, not even a little. He tried to inquire, but Han Dong seemed even more lost and confused than he was. Simultaneously, the look in her eyes as she gazed at Gu Qingfeng shifted from the earlier agitation to calmness, and then from calmness to suspicion.
"No!
You are not him."
"Who exactly is this 'him' you keep mentioning?"
"No!
You are not him. I've been to that mountain. During the ancient cataclysm, I went there. You are not him...
you're not..." "Which mountain?"
"Wu Dao Mountain..." Upon hearing this, Gu Qingfeng's heart jolted violently. This wasn't the first time he had heard the name Wu Dao Mountain. Yun Nishang had mentioned Wu Dao Mountain before, saying that going there would reveal everything. But where exactly was that mountain? Gu Qingfeng still didn't know. He took out the painting Yun Nishang had given him earlier. Yun Nishang had said the painting depicted Wu Dao Mountain.
"Is the Wu Dao Mountain you mentioned this mountain?"
"Wu Dao Mountain...
that's it."
"Where is this mountain located?"
"It's in the Great Northwest..." The Great Northwest?
Gu Qingfeng himself was born in the Great Northwest and was intimately familiar with everything there. He had never heard of any Wu Dao Mountain there. He asked, "Where in the Great Northwest?"
"You know."
"I don't know."
"You come from Wu Dao Mountain, how could you not know?"
This only confused Gu Qingfeng further. He continued questioning, "I come from Wu Dao Mountain?"
"You all come from Wu Dao Mountain."
"'We'? Who are 'we'?"
"You should ask yourself that question, not me..." Gu Qingfeng grew more and more bewildered the more he listened, to the point of becoming utterly confused. He looked at Han Dong and asked, "You said earlier you were waiting for me, so why did you suddenly disappear later?"
"I was waiting for you to understand the Karma between us. I disappeared...
because I already understood the Karma between us."
"What Karma exists between us?"
"It's terrible...
a terrible Karma...
so terrible I dare not face it..." Han Dong shook her head slightly, as if recalling something, and said, "A long, long time ago...
I deduced the Karma I share with you...
I've been waiting for you...
If I couldn't wait in this lifetime, I'd wait in the next. If I couldn't wait in this life, I'd reincarnate and wait...
I kept waiting...
until one day, you finally appeared..." "I knew my Karma was connected to the mysterious Wu Dao era...
I also knew my Karma was a Karma bearing a Curse...
I just never imagined it would be so terrible...
so terrible..." It's the same again.
What you fear most always comes to pass.
Gu Qingfeng had hesitated before about whether to ask Feng Zhuyue, fearing precisely that she might share some so-called past-life Karma with him. And sure enough, that was exactly the case.
First Jun Xuanji.
Then Yun Nishang.
And now, Feng Zhuyue as well.
Jun Xuanji had also deduced her Karma with him long ago and had begun making arrangements. Yun Nishang was the same. And now Feng Zhuyue was no different.
Jun Xuanji had said the Karma with him was terrible, so terrible she would rather lose herself than face it.
Yun Nishang had also said the Karma with him was terrible, so terrible she would rather bury her soul with her bloodline than face it.
Now Feng Zhuyue was saying the Karma with him was terrible. While she hadn't chosen to lose herself or bury her soul with her bloodline, her choice was no better than losing oneself or burying one's soul.