"I don't want to face such terrifying karma, I really don't... I'd rather die...
Die completely..." "I thought that after dying completely, there would be no so-called karma anymore. I truly died completely...
Died cleanly, died thoroughly, but so what?
I still reincarnated. After reincarnating, I returned to the Demon Moon Palace...
And fused with the Yao Yue Heart...
Memories from my previous life surfaced bit by bit...
Heh..." "Only now do I know that even dying completely is useless. Karma won't stop just because you die completely. What is destined to come will come. Your karma... you can never escape it..." "Can't avoid it...
Really... can't avoid it..."
Hearing this, Gu Qingfeng finally understood that Feng Zhuyue hadn't mysteriously disappeared back then, but had chosen to die completely, then reincarnated...
It was reincarnation, not samsara.
These were two different concepts.
Samsara was the cycle of the soul, still retaining memories of past lives.
Reincarnation was just natural rebirth, the replacement of life. It was no longer the soul of the previous life, nor did it possess the memories of the previous life. After reincarnating, one was no longer that person from the previous life.
If the reincarnated Feng Zhuyue hadn't returned to the Demon Moon Palace, then she truly would have been just Han Dong, pure and simple, not Feng Zhuyue.
But fate loved to play tricks. Not only did she return to the Demon Moon Palace, she also fused with the Yao Yue Heart, encountered the spiritual will of her previous life, and her past memories emerged as a result.
Thinking of this, Gu Qingfeng couldn't help but sigh. Could karma really not be avoided?
Perhaps.
Thinking carefully, it seemed truly so.
Gu Qingfeng had returned to find Feng Zhuyue out of guilt from the past. And if he hadn't appeared, Han Dong, under the threat of Second Elder Feilu, probably wouldn't have been able to fuse with the Yao Yue Heart either.
Why did he feel guilt?
And why did he want to find Feng Zhuyue?
It was also because of the memories from that time he lived in seclusion at the Demon Moon Palace...
All of this, all of it, had traceable karma...
Now, Gu Qingfeng more or less finally understood why Jun Xuanji chose to lose herself, and could understand why Yun Nishang chose to bury her soul with her bloodline. Presumably, they all knew that karma fundamentally couldn't be avoided. Only by losing oneself, only by burying one's soul... this might still not avoid karma, but at least one wouldn't have to face it in fear and trepidation, just like how Ouyang Ye lived carefree after Yun Nishang buried her soul.
"You came back...
For karma, right?"
Gu Qingfeng shook his head, then nodded.
He shook his head because the purpose of his return was only to repay a debt.
He nodded because he was becoming increasingly certain of one thing: repaying a debt was also repaying karma.
"Don't...
Don't seek karma...
You'll fall into it..." "Is there a difference?
As you said, karma can't even be avoided. What meaning is there in whether I seek it or not?
Could it be that if I don't seek it, karma will stop?
However, there's one question I've never been able to understand. What exactly is so terrifying about the karma between us? Why do you all...
one by one..." "When you become curious about karma, you are destined to fall into it...
It's an abyss, a bottomless abyss..." "It's a sea of bitterness, an endless sea of bitterness..."
Sea of bitterness?
Gu Qingfeng remembered that when he encountered the lost Jun Xuanji at the Tai Xuan Monument, she also mentioned the sea of bitterness.
What exactly did these two words represent, and what relation did they have to his own karma? He truly didn't understand. Just as he was about to ask, he suddenly sensed something was wrong. Here, the Nether Demon Moon aura surrounding Han Dong was growing weaker and weaker, and her essence, energy, and spirit were rapidly draining away.
"What are you doing!"
Gu Qingfeng released his divine sense to sweep over her and was greatly shocked. He discovered Han Dong's soul was fusing with the Yao Yue Heart!
No!
That wasn't fusion, but sealing!
She was preparing to seal her own soul inside the Yao Yue Heart!
Without further thought, Gu Qingfeng wanted to intervene and stop her, but Han Dong's weak voice came through: "Don't...
Don't stop me...
Please let me...
Let me fall into slumber, okay?
For the sake of...
For the sake of our acquaintance, and for the sake of our love back then...
Let me slumber, okay?"
"Why...
Why must you do this?"
"I really...
don't want to face...
that terrifying karma...
Really don't want to...
I can't avoid it...
I can only slumber..." "If our karma is truly that terrifying, I can face it with you. You don't have to do this." "The karma you face...
Is more terrifying than the karma I face...
If you take me along...
You'll only make me sink deeper..." "But you can't just..."
He didn't know when it started, but whenever karma was mentioned, everyone treated him like a plague god. Jun Xuanji did, Yun Nishang did, and now Feng Zhuyue did too. He was truly baffled. What kind of terrifying karma could make women like Jun Xuanji, Yun Nishang, and Feng Zhuyue so fearful they didn't even have the courage to face it?
Looking at Han Dong, whose consciousness was growing weaker, Gu Qingfeng wanted to stop her, but didn't know how.
How to stop her?
She had already said he would make her sink deeper. Stopping her would only make things worse, wouldn't it?
"Since you want to slumber, then slumber. I won't stop you...
But, can you tell me, where exactly is Wudao Mountain?
If karma is truly that terrifying, I'm interested in seeing it for myself."
"You will...
regret it..." "Compared to regret, I fear regret more, and I also want to know the answer more." "On the path of karma...
there is never, ever an answer...
There is only endless karmic samsara."
"Feng Zhuyue, are you truly unwilling to tell me the location of Wudao Mountain?"
"It's not that I don't want to, but that I don't know. I only went there during the Upper Ancient Calamity..." "Then why did you say earlier it was in the Great Northwest?" "The Great Northwest has a path leading to...
leading to Wudao Mountain..." "Where is that path?" "The lifeline of the Northwest..."
The lifeline of the Great Northwest?
That thing only existed in legends. At the very least, Gu Qingfeng had no idea what the lifeline of the Great Northwest actually was. He had only heard that the Can Yang Mountain of the Northwest and the nine ancient cave mansions seemed to be guarding the so-called lifeline of the Northwest.
Just as he was about to say something more, the words died on his lips. Because Han Dong here had already fallen unconscious. To be precise, she had already sealed her own soul within the Yao Yue Heart, forever, forever falling into slumber.
To avoid facing karma.
Jun Xuanji chose to lose herself.
Yun Nishang chose to bury her soul.
Feng Zhuyue chose to slumber.
Holding Han Dong, Gu Qingfeng just held her, and gazed at her, stroking her cheek. Closing his eyes, his mind was filled with bits and pieces from the past with Feng Zhuyue. From meeting, to acquaintance, to understanding...
From parting, to leaving, to departure...
All of it was still vivid in his mind, as if it happened yesterday. He didn't know how much time passed before he opened his eyes, sighed, raised his head, looked up at the Nine Heavens firmament, and said not a word.