Jun Xuanji.
A legendary woman.
This was true both in the Great Desolate Celestial Realm and in This World.
She had once been the Mystic Maiden of the Nine Heavens, and also the Demoness of the Nine Netherworlds. She had stormed the Nine Heavens to slay immortals, and plunged into the Nine Netherworlds to slaughter demons. She had fallen into demonhood, and also attained Buddhahood. She had represented the existence of light, and also the existence of darkness. She had been shrouded in sanctity, and also enveloped in evil.
She was the most mysterious woman between heaven and earth, so mysterious that no one knew where she came from, where she belonged, or where she was going.
She was also the most troublesome, most unwanted-to-provoke woman between heaven and earth, a woman who gave Gu Qingfeng headaches and whom the Myriad Great Daos did not wish to provoke.
She was also the World-Venerable.
The Supreme of This World.
She wielded the origin of This World, and also presided over its Laws.
In other words.
In This World, she was the greatest.
Whether you were an immortal or a demon, even a Buddha, in This World, you had to abide by her Laws.
Not to mention the people of the Great Dao of This World; even the people of the Great Dao from between heaven and earth, upon coming to This World, could do nothing to her.
Not only that.
If she so wished.
The Immortal Dao would have to immediately get the hell out of This World.
Without her nod of approval, even the Heavenly Dao could not taint This World.
What was a World-Venerable?
This was a World-Venerable.
Possessing absolute dominion in This World, which none could defy.
"Don't...
Don't fuse with it...
Alright?"
Jun Xuanji had the ability, the qualification, and the strength to stop Gu Qingfeng. At the very least, when facing Jun Xuanji, Gu Qingfeng's heart was always filled with a deep sense of powerlessness. It had been so in the past, and it remained so now. Even though he possessed the indestructible Absolute Force, the ever-flowing Prismatic Spirit Radiance, the Myriad Form Stupas with All Beings Paying Homage, and the most terrifying Primordial Taboo, when facing Jun Xuanji, he still felt a baffling sense of powerlessness.
Was it because Jun Xuanji was the ruler of This World?
No.
Absolutely not.
As for why...
Gu Qingfeng didn't understand either, finding it utterly baffling.
He glanced at Jun Xuanji and responded indifferently, "Do you think I have a choice?"
"But...
If you fuse with it, you will...
You will be judged..."
"Judgment, that's all. It's not the first time."
"But...
This time is different..."
"For me, it's all the same. There's no difference."
Jun Xuanji was lost, hesitant, bewildered, worried, and conflicted.
No one knew what she was lost about, hesitant about, worried about, or conflicted about.
She simply gazed at Gu Qingfeng with a profound, distant look and spoke haltingly, "You will die..."
"Death, that's all. It's not the first time either."
"This time...
It's truly different..."
"For me, it's all the same. There's no difference."
A very simple conversation.
A very strange conversation.
Also a conversation that was utterly inscrutable.
Jun Xuanji was filled with worry, while Gu Qingfeng appeared incomparably indifferent—so indifferent it was as if judgment and death were as commonplace and simple to him as daily meals. He didn't care, had never cared, and never took them seriously.
After a silence, Jun Xuanji seemed to sense something. She looked at the ever-changing Myriad Form Stupas, then at the Primordial Taboo lurking in the void, as if understanding something. Staring at Gu Qingfeng, she murmured, "You know...
You really do...
Know...
You originally belong to it, so how could you not know..."
"You don't want to fuse with it. You never wanted to from the very beginning. Even now, with no choice, you still don't want to...
Nor will you fuse..."
"You originally...
Originally placed your hopes on the Three Thousand...
Three Thousand Great Daos...
Hoping...
Hoping they could Seal...
Seal it, right?"
"But...
The Three Thousand Great Daos cannot...
They...
They can't even...
Even take it away from This World..."
"You can't rely on them...
The Three Thousand Great Daos, you can only...
Only rely on yourself..."
"But...
Facing...
Facing it, you are also powerless...
Right?
You...
Don't know if you can Seal it, and you don't want to know either...
Because...
Because you simply cannot act against it...
Right?
You belong to it...
You simply cannot lift a hand against it..."
"So...
So...
Having no other choice, you...
You had no choice but to...
Not gestate the Taiji Golden Cores..."
"You know...
From the very beginning...
You knew, at the very least, you had a feeling...
You must have been able to sense its existence, so...
You gestated the Taiji Golden Cores...
From the very beginning, it wasn't to threaten...
Threaten the Three Thousand Great Daos...
But...
But for today...
Right?"
"You know...
You know...
The Myriad Form Stupas, the Primordial Taboo, definitely...
Definitely will not be tolerated by heaven and earth..."
"You have no choice, so...
You are preparing...
Preparing to gamble...
Right?"
"You are gambling on whether your life is tougher, or...
Its life is tougher, right?"
"No, you are not just gambling, you are also probing..."
"You are probing karma?
Right?"
The lost Jun Xuanji spoke haltingly, as if questioning Gu Qingfeng, yet also as if murmuring to herself.
Her words, when they reached the distant Xuanyuan Wan and the others, shocked them profoundly.
Although Jun Xuanji's words left them utterly bewildered, not understanding their meaning, there was one point they all grasped clearly.
Gu Qingfeng truly did not want to fuse with the Blood of Original Sin, and he truly had wanted the Three Thousand Great Daos to Seal the Blood of Original Sin away.
Even if Jun Xuanji hadn't said it, they would have known this. However, Jun Xuanji's subsequent words left them somewhat confused.
What did it mean that Gu Qingfeng's achievement of a body full of Taiji Golden Cores, from the very beginning, wasn't to threaten the Three Thousand Great Daos, but was for the Blood of Original Sin?
And that his gestating of the Myriad Form Stupas and the Primordial Taboo wasn't to deal with the Three Thousand Great Daos either, but was also to deal with the Blood of Original Sin?
Earlier.
When the Four-Sided Great Cauldron carrying the Blood of Original Sin inexplicably returned from the Heavenly Forbidden Zone, Gu Qingfeng had been furious, furiously cursing the Three Thousand Great Daos as a bunch of trash.
At that time, Xuanyuan Wan and the others hadn't understood. Now they finally did.
Yes.
They understood.
They understood that Gu Qingfeng, from start to finish, had never placed the Three Thousand Great Daos in his eyes, not even a tiny bit. Not only had he not placed them in his eyes, he hadn't even had the slightest interest in fighting them. From beginning to end, his target had only been one: the Blood of Original Sin.
Heh.
Xuanyuan Wan, at this very moment, really wanted to laugh—to laugh at the Three Thousand Great Daos, and to laugh at herself.
To laugh at the ignorance of the Three Thousand Great Daos, and even more at her own ignorance.
To laugh at the pitifulness of the Three Thousand Great Daos, and also at her own pitifulness.
The Three Thousand Great Daos had always thought he wanted to fuse with the Blood of Original Sin, but in fact, he did not.
The Three Thousand Great Daos had always thought he was a threat, but in reality, he hadn't even placed them in his eyes, so why would he threaten them?
Would a person threaten three thousand ants?
The answer was also certain.
A person would not threaten ants. If in a good mood, they might play with the ants; if not in the mood, they wouldn't even have the interest to play.
And clearly, this person was Gu Qingfeng.
The Three Thousand Great Daos were merely ants in his eyes, nothing more.