"How... are you now?" Zuo Changlu felt as though he had forgotten how to speak.
"Now..."
Blind Hong gave a bitter laugh. "This time, I truly have little lifespan left... and the backlash this time was more vicious than anything I have ever seen. Becoming a Qi-Reading Adept in this life and coming to Phoenix City to read this feng shui configuration was surely... the greatest mistake of my life! And the unluckiest thing, too! The Heavenly Dao turns in cycles, and today my turn has come. It was not that retribution would never come, only that its time had not yet arrived!"
"...Phoenix City's Feng Shui Formation originally followed heaven's course and arose in accordance with destiny, but I forcibly changed it into one that defied heaven. Then someone else turned it back... the karma involved is already more than I alone can bear!"
"More than you alone can bear? What do you mean?"
"It means... this karma will fall upon my reincarnations..."
Blind Hong stamped his foot and sighed deeply. "I will have to endure this backlash lifetime after lifetime, with no telling when it will end... at the very least, I will have to carry it until... long after this configuration of the Heavenly Dao takes shape..."
Zuo Changlu's eyes could not help brightening at this. "What... do you mean?"
"I don't know the specifics either. The only certainty is that this time, drawing in my primordial soul to bear the backlash and enclosing my true spirit to link it to the karma was predestined. There is no avoiding or escaping it..."
Blind Hong had no tears left to shed. "Although I don't know what I will be in my next life, I can already say for certain that I will have to repay this life's debts