Boom! Crash!
It was night.
The sky above was a churning mass of wind and cloud, with rolling thunder and crackling lightning. A fierce gale swept through the dark clouds, making them roll like ocean waves across the night sky. The thunderclaps shook heaven and earth, seeming to come from both the vault of the heavens and the depths below. Sharp flashes of lightning, shifting through five colors, followed one after another, roaring like thunder dragons within the black clouds.
The Great Northwest.
The Star-Moon Domain.
Taohua Temple.
A somewhat unkempt, slightly disheveled old Daoist in gray robes stood within the temple, looking up at the night sky.
This old Daoist was none other than the Taohua Old Daoist of Taohua Temple. At this moment, his expression appeared incomparably grave, his brow deeply furrowed, and his turbid eyes flickered with boundless worry.
"Clouds like an angry sea, wind like tidal waves, thunder like heavenly might, lightning like judgment..." the Taohua Old Daoist murmured, his voice as heavy as his expression. He closed his eyes again, as if quietly sensing something. "The wind and clouds begin to change color, the sun and moon begin to vanish, yin and yang begin to reverse, the five elements begin to shift...
These signs... the heavens truly are about to change...
The Heavenly Destiny of the Present Era will descend with it."
The Taohua Old Daoist opened his eyes and sighed, then muttered to himself, "The Heavenly Destiny of the Primeval Ancient Era was the Great Dao. The Heavenly Destiny of the Remote Ancient Era was the Imperial Seal. The Heavenly Destiny of the Ancient Times was the Throne. Who knows what the Heavenly Destiny of this Present Era will be."
When one era ended, heaven and earth would be reborn. Rebirth meant the opening of a new era, and the opening of a new era meant a new Heavenly Destiny would descend.
So-called Heavenly Destinies were existences born in response to fortune.
They were status, position, strength, and even more, symbols of authority.
Like the Heavenly Destiny Great Dao of the Primeval Ancient Era—if one seized and fused with it, they would become the master of the Great Dao.
Like the Heavenly Destiny Imperial Seal of the Remote Ancient Era—if one seized and fused with it, they could ascend to the majesty of a Great Emperor, like a Celestial Emperor, Demon Emperor, or Nether Emperor, becoming a Great Dao Emperor Sovereign.
The Heavenly Destiny of the Ancient Times was the Throne. If one fused with this thing, they would also become a Great Dao Throne, like a Celestial Dao Monarch, Monster Dao Monarch, and so on, becoming a Great Dao Monarch.
"The Lady said that causality had already fallen into chaos during the mysterious Daoless Age," the Taohua Old Daoist murmured these words. "Causality is the foundation of fate. If causality is in chaos, fate will also be in chaos, and the Heavenly Destiny is naturally no exception."
"The great calamity of a thousand ages is born of heaven and earth; three cycles of reincarnation manifest across eternity; past lives and present lives meet through causality; whose fate is whose depends on heaven."
"Heaven and earth have passed through the Primeval Ancient, Remote Ancient, and Ancient Times, arriving precisely at the Present Era after three cycles of reincarnation."
"If the so-called Heavenly Destiny of the Present Era is a new Heavenly Destiny, then it means the Daoless Age will not reappear in the Present Era. If the Heavenly Destiny descending upon the Present Era is the Throne of the Ancient Times, the Imperial Seal of the Remote Ancient Era, or the Great Dao of the Primeval Ancient Era...
Then it would mean the Daoless Age truly will reappear in the Present Era."
"If that really is the case... then it would be too terrifying..."
Boom!
Crash!
Another peal of thunder exploded. The night sky shifted through five colors, a truly frightening sight.
"I wonder what the situation is like over at Canyang Mountain..." The Taohua Old Daoist gazed into the distance, as if wrestling with something. He murmured, "Has the life vein of the Daoless Age they guard been affected...
I hope not...
And I also hope..." He paused, then after a long moment, added, "And I also hope the Heavenly Destiny won't descend upon this Northwest land. Otherwise..." The Taohua Old Daoist sighed and shook his head. Just as he was about to turn and return to the temple, he suddenly felt something was amiss. Turning to look, he was shocked to find a person who had appeared in the temple courtyard at some unknown time.
It was a man in white robes who looked somewhat frail.
He seemed to be in his early twenties, yet he lacked the vitality a young person should have. Instead, he carried an aura of twilight, as if dusk had fallen, or like the gloom before darkness arrives. Especially those dark, deep eyes—still as a dark abyss, enough to make one's hair stand on end.
White robes purer than snow.
An aura heavy with twilight.
Dark, profound eyes.
A figure of utter stillness.
Who else could it be but Gu Qingfeng?
"Kid Gu, you..." As if he hadn't expected Gu Qingfeng to appear so suddenly, the Taohua Old Daoist's expression was one of great surprise, mixed with profound suspicion. Because when Gu Qingfeng appeared, he hadn't sensed it in the slightest.
"You kid...
What are you doing here?"
Gu Qingfeng didn't speak. He didn't even glance at the Taohua Old Daoist. Instead, he walked straight into Taohua Temple, entered the central hall, and with a wave of his hand, a flash of light erupted. A series of crisp cracking sounds echoed through the hall, and then the entire hall grew indistinct. Immediately after, Gu Qingfeng vanished in a flicker.
"What are you doing, kid!"
The Taohua Old Daoist was stunned, and even more shocked.
Ever since returning last time and learning Gu Qingfeng had stolen his fine wine, he had canceled the teleportation array hidden in Taohua Temple that connected to his cave abode. Yet he never imagined that even so, it couldn't stop Gu Qingfeng. Without a word of explanation, the kid had just waved his hand and forcibly distorted the space of Taohua Temple.
How did he know Taohua Temple was connected to my cave abode?
And how did he distort the temple's space?
How in the heavens did this kid manage to do that?
He didn't know, couldn't figure it out, and had no time to ponder further, because his cave abode contained something of extreme importance.
What was called a cave abode looked more like a secret chamber.
In the center of the chamber was a well. The well was like a springhead, even more like a fountainhead of life.
On the wall hung a painting of a woman, ethereal as a cloud.
Gu Qingfeng glanced at the portrait, sat down by the well, casually opened a jar of Taohua wine, and began pouring and drinking by himself.
"The Taohua wine I worked so hard to brew was completely cleaned out by you last time you stole it! I haven't settled that score with you yet, and now, just a few days later, you're here again? Do you really think this old man is easy to bully?!"
Seeing Gu Qingfeng enter without a word or greeting and immediately open his personally brewed Taohua wine, the Taohua Old Daoist flew into a rage, pointing at Gu Qingfeng and berating him angrily.
Gu Qingfeng still didn't speak. He just drank his wine and watched him, letting him vent.
Perhaps sensing the profound loneliness about Gu Qingfeng here.
Or perhaps feeling that the silent Gu Qingfeng was somewhat frightening.
After a couple of angry outbursts, the Taohua Old Daoist stopped. Frowning, he stared intently at Gu Qingfeng up and down. To cover his own awkwardness, he cleared his throat twice and asked, "There's something off about you, kid."
"Old Daoist..." Gu Qingfeng pointed at the well beneath him. "This thing is the origin eye of the Taohua Secret Realm, right?"
"You!"
The Taohua Old Daoist shot forward with a whoosh, positioning himself protectively in front of the well mouth. He stared warily at Gu Qingfeng and barked, "I'm telling you, kid, you can drink the Taohua wine as you please. But if you dare set your sights on the Taohua Eye, don't blame this old man for turning hostile and recognizing no one!"
"I was just confirming. Why are you so panicked?"