The Sage Who Transcended Samsara

Flames were supposed to be scorching bright and warm, but these seemed green and miserable, like will-o’-the-wisps in a cemetery shifting between bright and dim.

“Be careful!” Faced with such a queer situation, Meng Qi could not help but shout. He raised the Evil Ordeal and swung it, creating a smear of silver light.

Just as he finished his sentence, a distorted, dark green shadow came flying out of the rubble. It did not look like a tangible object, but rather a reflection in the water, swaying with the waves.

A shrill howling sound rang out.

The illusion’s wails were thick with fear. The terrifying deterrence of it made Meng Qi shudder.

Its awe-inspiring state was not beast-like, nor was it similar to the feeling of insignificance before natural disasters. Instead, it came from the depths of his soul, as though the distorted green shadow ruled over his life and his soul, making it inevitable for him to shiver in fear!

The strange, evil shadow was rushing at the very swordsman who had attempted to kill Meng Qi that day. He was a Nine Apertures Master who could still maintain a steady pace despite being intimidated, capable of slaughtering his targets swiftly and ferociously.

“It’s the Evil Avatar! Get back!” Wang Zai hollered as his gaze froze. He drew his long sword like it was a mace and activated his Noble Spirit, which filled up the surrounding area. His Noble Spirit was far-reaching and righteous, the perfect tool for wiping out evil.

When his sword was swung, it was still seven or eight feet away from the Evil Avatar, but before it hit its target, Wang Zai’s entire body had followed the sword power to be shifted to within only a single foot from the Evil Avatar. It was as though he had used the Stealth skill!

By the time the swordsman had heard Wang Zai’s shouts, the latter’s Knife Qi had already cut into the green shadow. Yet the shadow seemed to be nothing more than an illusion, only briefly rippling for a moment. Instead, the force of the blade slipped right through and snapped a burning wooden beam into half.

The evil shadow was as fast as a ghost. It directly smashed into the long sword but passed right through it, overlapping with the swordsman’s body in an instant.

The swordsman’s Protective Upstanding Qi had no response. His flesh and blood were like snowfall meeting sunlight, subtly melting away. Before Wang Zai could wield his “Right-guarding Sword”, the green shadow slipped through the swordsman’s body and launched itself at a constable. In his place was now mere strands of hair drifting in the air, all of which had turned white from their initial raven color.

Such a scene gave everyone goosebumps and cold sweat. The Evil Avatar was too terrifying!

Swords and blades were useless, energy and force were futile; the devilish shadow that devoured flesh and blood was unstoppable!

Martial Artists in their enlightenment period trained their internal energy and were brimming with vitality, and thus were invulnerable to small and weak evils. On top of that, they used many different Dharma Access to adjust their Yang Qi and other Qi which ensured that they would not be helpless if they encountered evil ghosts or other supernatural beings. However, this was not any run-of-the-mill evil spirit they were facing, but an Evil Avatar. All those usual tricks they had learned from Enlightening their Aperturesappeared to be completely ineffective!

The Elder from the Ling family who was armed with the “Cloud-churning Knife” was deeply affected by the Evil Avatar’s deterrence and its frightening attack. His mind was in a state of disarray as he grit his teeth and enabled his Precious Weapon.

“Wait…” Wang Zai’s caution was drowned out by the deafening rumbling of what could have been heaven and earth collapsing. Moonlight reversed and a lonely burst of Knife Energy, seemingly unpredictable, aimed straight for the Evil Avatar.

The Evil Avatar suddenly dispersed and transformed into several dark green flames, flying everywhere.

The Knife Energy swallowed the Evil Avatar and everything turned dark once more. Moonlight returned and shone brightly over the rubble.

The Ling family Elder panted heavily. He had barely relaxed a little when his pupils constricted all of a sudden. Before his eyes, several dark green flames were gathering to reform the shadow. Although it was much fainter than before, the deterrence of its Evil Qi remained unchanged.

The Evil Avatar attacked, and flesh and blood began melting once more. White strands of hair fell to the ground as the Ling family Elder was turned into a “blood sacrifice”. If the sharpness of the Cloud-churning Knife was not exposed, even those armed with weapons would not be able to escape this calamity.

“The Evil Avatar gathers and disperses as it likes, so the Noble Spirit must be used to hold it in place before Precious Weapons can be used to kill it!” Wang Zai cried, his voice a mix of urgency, pity and righteousness.

Once the Evil Avatar had countercharged, its Nether Spirit and Incense Stove would both perish, eliminating any chance of resurrection. However, the Evil Avatar’s body could gather and disperse as it pleased and was thus difficult to lock onto to kill. Attacks were only effective when a special Dharma Access was employed to hold it in place or during the split second when it was devouring humans. Hence Six Fan School and the aristocratic family sects viewed the Evil Avatar as a hidden peril that had to be eliminated.

The Evil Avatar seemed to know that Wang Zai’s Noble Spirit was capable of holding on to it and floated away like an illusion, carefully avoiding Wang Zai. Within a few short breaths, four or five shrieks tore through the air– the Elder Foreign Officials of the three families had been hit.

The dark green Evil Avatar swayed again and zipped towards Meng Qi like a shadow in the night.

Meng Qi’s Immortal Pressing Art activated, projecting his spirit outwards. His intentions were guarded from within, and his soul was calm and quiet as it reflected his surroundings. At the same time, it initiated the Ananda Oath-breaking Bladesmanship to feel out the Evil Avatar’s thoughts.

Brutality, murder, bloodiness… The Evil Avatar was like a congregation of countless negative thoughts, twisted and ugly. They were so filthy and so in line with worldly affairs that it was impossible for Meng Qi to use the Peace Quietude Split or Mortal Dust Fall on it.

The moment his thoughts changed, the Evil Ordeal raged and slammed down on the Evil Avatar’s head like thunder on a sunny day.

Meng Qi put all his strength into this move, which resembled a Thunderclap sent from the heavens as punishment. It was fierce and merciless, absorbing the airflow and vitality around it, activating the Evil Ordeal’s thunder force.

The Knife Energy transformed into a bolt of Green Thunder and split the sky in a mighty stroke. The onlookers felt like heaven and earth had shrunk in that moment, with the thunder taking up their space.

The Evil Avatar was blurry at first, but then a crack surfaced on it out of the blue, and from the gap, two creepy, demonic eyes appeared. The green light turned into an arrow that dodged the Thunderclap and was swifter than the Knife Energy. It aimed straight for Meng Qi’s head!

Meng Qi had expected the Evil Avatar’s attack on his Vital Spirit and constricted his outward spirit-projection. He guarded his mid-brows closely, his right hand as steady as mountains. Not a single tremor ran through his body.

Noiselessly, the arrow pierced Meng Qi. The world around him spun and a sharp pain began tearing him apart as a low buzz rang out in his head. Two streams of blood flowed out of his nostrils. His ears, eyes, and sides of his mouth also had traces of blood!

The Evil Ordeal slowed for a moment, but then stabilized itself immediately and struck down with the same ferocity and strength.

Crackling sounds could be heard as the Long Knife passed through the Evil Avatar. However, there were flashes of lightning leaping about, causing some of the Yin Qi to dissipate.

The Evil Avatar went numb in that moment, just in time for Wang Zai to rush over and shout,

“Unstoppable Strike!”

His entire body appeared to be shrouded in a layer of radiance and his breath was steadily building up. The Noble Spirit flooded the entire courtyard, suppressing the Evil Avatar to the extent that it started quivering, as though it were sluggish.

Meng Qi took a few steps back and steadied his injured Vital Spirit to recover from his vertigo. However, his eyes were on Wang Zai the whole time, not wanting to let the opportunity of viewing the Noble Spirit in action slip by.

The Unstoppable Strike. This is one of the Noble Spirit’s major Dharma Access…Meng Qi felt a chill in his heart.

That move could only be used when one’s Noble Spirit had attained a higher level. It would absorb all the noble spirit present between heaven and earth and grew stronger with every strong opponent encountered. Such was the Unstoppable Strike!

Apparently there had once been a disciple of the Wang family who had mastered this move when he had been at the Seven Apertureslevel. When he ran into a Half-step Exterior Scenery enemy after that, he became stronger than his powerful opponent and killed him off after a bloody battle.

The effects of the “Unstoppable Strike” far exceeded that of Meng Qi’s Sacrifice Formula, and its after-effects were much less as well. In Meng Qi’s words, it was basically cheating! The man just had to go all out!

Of course, it had its own downsides too. It could not exceed the total breath of the oponent it was facing unlike the Sacrifice Formula, which had its user as a standard.

The Right-guarding Sword swung down and cleaved the Evil Avatar in a righteous manner.

The Evil Avatar trembled all over. Wisps of air that appeared both dark green and black began escaping and dispersing from it, while it stayed frozen in place.

Wang Zai retrieved his sword and quickly stumbled back. The Elder of the Wan family understood his hint. He raised his Prairie Fire Spear and rushed forward!

Shadows of the spear filled the entire sky while the spearhead remained constant amidst the countless changes. Bright red flames gathered together to form a highly concentrated flame.

This time, nothing in the surroundings got burnt, and there was no spontaneous reaction to it. The flickering flame was well-controlled and reserved; it followed the spearhead and stabbed the flesh of the Evil Avatar.

With a rumble, the red flame exploded. It consumed the evil Qi as fuel and turned the Evil Avatar into a blazing torch in a flash.

The Noble Spirit surrounding Wang Zai’s body vanished. His forehead was drenched in cold sweat, a clear sign that the countercharge from using the “Unstoppable Strike” had been quite severe. The Wan and Ling family Elders armed with their weapons were even more exhausted, to the point where they seemed to have to pause to catch their breath every few steps.

The good news was that the Evil Avatar had been eliminated. Everyone could finally heave a sigh of relief, for thankfully, no serious ramifications had been resulted.

All of a sudden, the sound of a burning piece of wood dropping rang out. A brilliant purple sword drifted out from within, and behind it was a dull, dark green flame. The flame gradually grew longer and larger into a shadow in the shape of a human!

“It’s still not dead?”

“Just a little bit more!”

Everyone was shocked and horrified. The Evil Avatar was way too hard to kill! If it could recover by devouring flesh and blood, everyone who was present, and even the entire city, would have no escape from death!

Qi Zhengyan gritted his teeth and was about to give the Book of the Chaos a shot, but it did not specialize in defeating evil spirits and thus he was unsure of its efficacy. The rest of the Foreign Official Elders all cast their gazes on Wang Zai in hopes of him mustering up whatever remaining courage he had to destroy that final shred of the Evil Avatar.

Wang Zai’s face was pale. He quickly harmonized his Qi-circulation and regulated his strength to recover while he still had the time.

Right at this juncture, a shadow dashed forward.

“Gentleman Tang Er!”

“Young one!”

“Tang Jing!”

The series of exclamations made it apparent that the identity of the shadow was none other than Meng Qi!

Meng Qi wielded the Evil Ordeal and flashes of thunder began swirling around it, giving off the vibe of vanquishing evil. He swung it and it squarely struck the dark green flame.

The flame flickered wildly as it was continuously shocked with lightning, causing it to disperse. However, it still did not go out, and stubbornly launched itself at Meng Qi.

Everyone held their breaths in anticipation.

As the evil Qi rushed into his face and the demonic force neared, Meng Qi ground his teeth and activated the strands of Purple Thunder Force he had concentrated in his Dantian.

Clap!

Bolts of purple thunder flew out, powerful and unyielding, and honorable and dignified. They chased after the Evil Avatar and completely defeated it, even extinguishing the faint shadow.

Meng Qi had not mastered the Purple Thunder Bladesmanship yet and had merely used the Purple Thunder Force, but it was unexpectedly more effective than he had thought!

A single dark green object fell from amidst the twisting purple thunder. Meng Qi reached out his left hand and quietly caught it.

It was an eye, more specifically, a demonic, dark green eye!

The purple thunder vanished as the yin Qi in the courtyard fully disintegrated. With a clatter, the Purple Decease Sword dropped onto the ground.