Primordial Chaos.
Endless Primordial Chaos.
Gu Qingfeng's consciousness gradually awakened from the chaos, a complete blank.
There were no thoughts, no ideas, no trains of thought—almost nothing at all.
An unknown amount of time passed. The blank consciousness began to sprout a few threads of thought, a few notions, a few ideas.
Who am I?
Where do I come from?
Where am I going?
He did not know.
Gu Qingfeng pondered like this. Another unknown stretch of time passed. The blank consciousness began to show scattered fragments of memory. Gradually, he also learned his own identity and recalled all his memories.
I am Gu Qingfeng.
I have fused with the Blood of Original Sin.
And I have been judged by Heaven and Earth...
This is my consciousness.
Yes.
A consciousness that has just awakened...
At this thought.
Gu Qingfeng's somewhat frantic thoughts gradually settled. He carefully sensed everything around him. It seemed like a realm of chaos, and he didn't know what place this was. Just as he was puzzled, a voice inexplicably came to him.
"The Nirvana Consciousness representing life and death."
"The Great Freedom Mind representing the self."
"The Avici Asura Soul representing death."
"The Nirvana Body representing rebirth."
"No wonder you showed no fear facing the sacred judgment of Heaven and Earth. To possess such supreme attainments of life and death, even if not completely transcending them, is nearly so. Forget that the current Heaven and Earth are weak and feeble; even at their peak, wanting to judge you to utter annihilation would be extremely, extremely difficult..."
Who?
The current Gu Qingfeng was but a wisp of consciousness, a wisp of Nirvana Consciousness, and not fully awakened at that, still in a state of chaos.
He was puzzled. Who could possibly appear within his chaotic consciousness, and by the looks of it, knew him extremely well?
"No wonder it chose you...
Your attainments are truly...
very special...
very special..."
"Who are you?"
Gu Qingfeng asked. Immediately after, he seemed to sense a person within his chaotic consciousness.
It was a woman dressed in dark red formal attire.
The woman was both noble and bewitching. Appearing within the chaos, she was like a bewitching rose blooming in darkness.
Wait.
Why does this person seem so familiar?
Hmm?
Gu Qingfeng suddenly remembered someone: Canyang Wuyou.
Back in the Canyang Secret Realm, he had sent out his consciousness to investigate. Canyang Wuyou had no trace of life energy about her, just floating there. But why would she appear here now?
And...
Gu Qingfeng also discovered that the current Canyang Wuyou was not a person, but merely a wisp of Residual Consciousness.
"Are you Canyang Wuyou?"
"It is me..."
"Why has your Residual Consciousness appeared within my chaotic consciousness?"
"I was lost, so I let myself fall into slumber...
Leaving only this wisp of Residual Consciousness fused with the Blood of Original Sin. I wanted to see you, and I have some things I wish to say to you."
If it was about wanting to meet, Gu Qingfeng also very much wanted to see Canyang Wuyou, because he too had many questions. He asked, "How did you cause me to become entangled with the Blood of Original Sin?"
This was the question Gu Qingfeng most wanted answered.
He was certain he was a being of flesh and blood, at least he had been before.
Since he was a being of flesh and blood, he couldn't possibly have been born from the Blood of Original Sin.
Yet, Gu Qingfeng could clearly feel that he belonged to the Blood of Original Sin.
What profound mystery lay within this?
Even now, he couldn't figure it out.
"No, it wasn't me."
Canyang Wuyou shook her head and said, "It was the Blood of Original Sin. It was it."
"What do you mean?"
"Why you belong to the Blood of Original Sin—not only do you not understand, I don't understand either."
Canyang Wuyou sighed and said, "Back when I obtained the Blood of Original Sin, my original intention was merely to seal it away. But later, I realized I had underestimated it. It used some method to give birth to you all. When Taohua and I discovered it, we immediately tried to stop it, but it was utterly useless."
"We couldn't stop the Blood of Original Sin, so we could only exterminate you who were born from it, these people of Original Sin. But the more we killed, the more confused Taohua and I became. Killing and killing, we lost ourselves..."
Gu Qingfeng remembered Jun Xuanji saying that Canyang Wuyou wanted to end everything and had used the Blood of Original Sin to give birth to people of Original Sin like himself.
Now Canyang Wuyou was saying it wasn't her, but the Blood of Original Sin's own doing.
Gu Qingfeng didn't know whether to believe Jun Xuanji or Canyang Wuyou.
When he asked, Canyang Wuyou responded, "Jun Xuanji is lost..."
"But you are also lost..."
"Therefore, before I was lost, I left behind this wisp of still relatively clear Residual Consciousness."
This reason was plausible.
At the very least, Gu Qingfeng couldn't find any points of suspicion.
"If my existence is the Blood of Original Sin's own doing, then why did it do this? What is its purpose?"
"Believe me, if it were possible, I too would hope you could provide me with the answer to this question."
After a pause, Canyang Wuyou continued, "Perhaps fate chose you. Perhaps Karma chose you. Or perhaps it chose you. Everything is unknown. To answer this question, aside from you, I'm afraid no one else possibly can."
Gu Qingfeng was speechless. After a moment of silence, he asked another question, "Are you a person from the Wu Dao era?"
"No, I am not. I merely belong to that era...
To be precise, my Karma began in that era...
I wanted to end this strand of Karma..."
"Why end it?"
"In the beginning, like many others, I sought to understand my own Karma...
Because in legend, only by severing one's own Karma could one ascend to become a god. So, for that so-called dream of godhood, I embarked on a path of no return."
"Karma cannot be severed...
It only becomes more tangled the more you try to sever it...
Until you are lost...
Sinking into the sea of suffering...
That is a sea of suffering with no shore..."
Another person lost in the sea of suffering that is Karma.
Yun Nishang was lost.
Feng Zhuyue was lost.
Jun Xuanji was lost.
Now Canyang Wuyou was also lost...
And they all had one thing in common: they sought to understand Karma, to understand a strand of Karma belonging to the Wu Dao era.
"Where did you obtain the Blood of Original Sin?"
"Wu Dao Mountain."
Hearing of Wu Dao Mountain, Gu Qingfeng's heart stirred. He pressed, "You've been to Wu Dao Mountain?"
"Wu Dao Mountain appeared once, a very, very long time ago...
But then it collapsed...
Turning into Fragments...
Many Fragments..."
Fragments?
Gu Qingfeng couldn't help but recall the Fragments he had once found in Yun Nishang's cave dwelling. Those things seemed to be Fragments belonging to the Wu Dao era. Could they be the so-called Fragments of Wu Dao Mountain that Canyang Wuyou spoke of?
"You left a wisp of Residual Consciousness here waiting for me, just to see me?"
"I wish to ask you for a favor."
"Help me end all of this."
"How to end it?
By killing you?"
"If death could end it, I wouldn't be lost..."
"If even you don't know how to end it, I'm afraid I don't possess such great capability either."
"If there is anyone in this world between Heaven and Earth who can end all of this, then that person must be you."
"Why?"
"Because you have fused with the Blood of Original Sin. Whether fate chose you, or Karma chose you, or the Blood of Original Sin chose you...
None of that is important. What is important is that you have already fused with the Blood of Original Sin."