What did it mean to belong to the Wu Dao Age?
How did one qualify as belonging?
Was it a past life?
If belonging to the Wu Dao Age meant a past life, then such individuals were probably not few in number. Why then did the Patriarch of Canyang Mountain specifically target him for death?
And saying that only by killing him could everything be ended—what exactly was this 'everything' that would end?
Was it truly Karma?
He didn't understand.
Gu Qingfeng couldn't figure out the reason behind it all.
As he was pondering, the words of the Taohua Old Daoist came again: "Youngster Gu, this old man knows you have many unresolved doubts in your heart, but I'd also advise you to give up investigating this matter."
"Why?"
"First, you might not necessarily be the person they are waiting for. Even Lady and Canyang Sage themselves probably cannot be certain of this."
"Second, Canyang Sage is still alive. If you continue investigating this matter, you will inevitably encounter her. By then, whether or not you are the person they await will no longer matter. She has already killed so many Life-Vein Persons; one more won't make a difference."
"Third, and most importantly, ignorance is bliss in life. Knowing many things isn't necessarily good; not knowing isn't necessarily bad. This is especially true for Karma, particularly Karma from the Wu Dao Age. Once you get entangled in it, all that awaits you, young man, is... loss."
"Loss?"
"Yes, loss. Lady is lost. Canyang Sage is lost. Over the years, every person this old man has encountered who has Karmic ties to the Wu Dao Age... has almost all been lost...
Either their minds are unclear, or their consciousness is blurred...
No one is an exception..."
"Could it all be because of a Karmic curse from the Wu Dao Age?"
"Perhaps. Who knows?"
After a long silence, Gu Qingfeng asked, "Where is Canyang Mountain?
Why can't I find it in the Northwest?"
These past days, Gu Qingfeng had been searching for the so-called Canyang Mountain, scouring almost every corner of the Great Northwest, yet he still hadn't found Canyang Mountain.
His pair of eyes could be called Fiery Golden Eyes, capable of perceiving all things in the world. No matter how deeply something was hidden, whether concealed within a formation or a secret realm, it couldn't escape his sight. In other words, as long as it was in this world, he could find it. He truly couldn't figure out what method Canyang Mountain was using to hide itself.
"Nonsense! Canyang Mountain isn't in the Northwest at all. It'd be strange if you could find it there. Don't say the Northwest; even if you searched this entire world, you wouldn't find it."
"So you're saying the so-called Canyang Mountain isn't in this world at all?"
"What do you think?"
"Then where is it?"
"Where it is, this old man doesn't know either. If you want to go to Canyang Mountain, unless a member of the Canyang clan takes you in, you won't be able to enter."
"Aren't you a member of the Canyang clan?"
"This old man is not."
"Then what are you?"
"This old man is not a 'what'."
As he spoke, the Taohua Old Daoist realized something was off and angrily retorted, "You're the one who's not a 'what'!"
Gu Qingfeng looked at him and shook his head speechlessly, which made the Taohua Old Daoist feel somewhat embarrassed.
"Old Daoist, I'll ask you one more thing."
"What is it?
This old man has already said everything he knows. What else do you want to ask?"
"Not about this matter. I want to ask you, you should be aware of those Great Dao cultivators lurking in the Great Northwest, right?"
"Indeed. What about it?"
"Are they targeting the Life Vein guarded by Canyang Mountain?"
"I say, Master Gu, Ancestor Gu, you think too highly of this old man! I'm merely a humble commoner; how would I know about matters of the Great Dao?"
Seeing Gu Qingfeng fall silent, the Taohua Old Daoist seemed to realize something and tentatively asked, "Why are you asking about this out of the blue?"
"Just asking casually."
"Just asking casually?
Is that all?
I say, youngster Gu, when you were in the Great Desolate Celestial Realm back then, did you commit some major crime? These Great Dao cultivators couldn't possibly be coming for you, could they?"
"No."
Gu Qingfeng looked at the Taohua Old Daoist and responded very seriously, "I was very well-behaved when I was in the Celestial Realm."
"Bullshit."
...
Boom! Rumble!
Crack!
Winds rose and clouds scudded; lightning flashed and thunder roared.
Rolling dark clouds gathered madly, swallowing the heavens like a tidal wave. The sun and moon had long vanished, and no one could tell whether it was day or night.
Boom—Another violent sound, as if the wrath of heaven had descended, shook the very earth.
Crack!
Lightning of various colors flashed one after another, like roaring azure dragons in a furious sea, dazzling the eyes and trembling the soul. The cultivators in the Northwest lands didn't know what was happening, but everyone had a bad premonition. No one dared to go outside; they all hid away, frantically setting up protective formations.
Jade Purity Villa.
Wolan still stood in the pavilion, quietly waiting for a person with the compound surname Xuan Yuan.
"The winds and clouds change color, lightning of myriad hues—the heavens are changing."
Beside her, Granny Lin gazed at the sky and said, "It seems the Mandate is truly about to descend...
I wonder what the Mandate of the Present Era will be."
What the Mandate of the Present Era was, Wolan didn't know, nor did she want to know.
At this moment, her mind was filled with thoughts of Canyang Mountain, worrying about the Life Vein it guarded.
Suddenly.
A voice came.
"You two, are you waiting for me?"
Hmm?
Wolan looked around in the direction of the voice and only then discovered that, at some unknown time, a person had appeared at Jade Purity Villa.
It was a woman.
A woman who looked utterly ordinary and unremarkable. Her appearance was ordinary, her aura was ordinary, everything about her was ordinary—so ordinary that not a trace of spiritual aura could be sensed from her, as if she were an ordinary person who had never absorbed spiritual energy or possessed any cultivation.
However.
Both Wolan and Granny Lin knew that this woman who had appeared so abruptly was definitely no ordinary person. If she were ordinary, they wouldn't have failed to detect her. Not only did they fail to detect her, what shocked them even more was that when they released their divine sense, they couldn't even sense this woman's existence.
They could only see her with their naked eyes.
But that was merely seeing.
As soon as they closed their eyes, it was as if this woman had never appeared, and they couldn't even remember what she looked like.
How could this be?
Wolan was astonished and suspicious. Even Granny Lin, who had cultivated for thousands of years, had never encountered such a situation.
"You are..." Wolan tentatively inquired.
"My surname is Xuan Yuan, given name Wan."
Xuan Yuan Wan?
Wolan's expression froze for a moment, and she quickly pressed, "Are you Senior Xuan Yuan?"
Her parents had only told her to come and wait for a person surnamed Xuan Yuan. Whether it was a man or a woman, Wolan didn't know. Nor did she know why she had to wait. The only thing she knew was that this Miss Xuan Yuan was very important to Canyang Mountain.
"Senior Xuan Yuan, greetings. This junior is named Wolan. My father asked me to wait for you here."
"Is your father Canyang Lu?"
"That's right."
"In that case, the clan leader of your Canyang clan, Canyang Hengshan, is your grandfather?"
"Senior, you..." Wolan didn't know how this Senior Xuan Yuan was so familiar with her parents and grandfather. Granny Lin beside her was also puzzled.
"Time is already running short. Take me to see your grandfather."
Time is running short?
What time is running short?
Wolan didn't dare to ask more. She saw her palm turn over, and a jade butterfly appeared in her palm. After the jade butterfly bloomed with light, the figures of the three instantly vanished.