The Sage Who Transcended Samsara

If a person was standing on a mountain, he could not see through it. Standing at the foot of the Holy Mountain, Meng Qi could only see the majestic shape of the mountain in front of him.

Looking around, he did not see the entrance. Even so, he was not worried about that at all, because he would leave for the main world on the eighth day when the Samsara task was over.

“Should we climb the mountain?” Holding the Sword of the Sun-Penetrating Rainbow, Jiang Zhiwei stayed alert to enemies’ sneak-attacks. She was not afraid of a normal Holy Mountain where the merciful Buddha and Bodhisattvas were. However, it had been centuries since the Holy Mountain was controlled by the Great Sages. She did not know what it looked like now. It might be quite dangerous.

They all looked at Meng Qi in unison. In their eyes, Meng Qi was the only one who knew the Holy Mountain.

With the horizontal board of the Big Leiyin Temple under his arm and the Whisper Sword and Meridian sheathed on his back, he held the Purple Decease Sword with his right hand. He said confidently, “Let’s climb.”

After walking 3,000 meters, they saw an about 8,000-meter-wide river traverse the mountain. Its current was very swift, causing big waves.

“There is a bridge over there…” Luo Shengyi saw a single-plank bridge, and a board erected on the bridge that read: “Skycloud Crossing”.

He suddenly stopped speaking because the bridge was half-broken. Although the other half of the bridge was intact, there were still about 2,500 meters to reach the other side. And what was worse, their Lightness Skills were not good enough for them to fly to the opposite side.

“Should we throw logs into the water to use as footholds for us to jump over, or should we swim across it?” Jiang Zhiwei asked Meng Qi for his suggestions. Since they could not fly, there were only two options left.

Meng Qi shook his head. “According to the Sutras, we should be cautious if a river is strange. Let’s try a log first.”

They all agreed with him. Qi Zhengyan found a piece of rotten wood and threw it into the river.

Like a piece of gold or a stone, it directly sank into the river. They all looked at each other in surprise, wondering how they could cross it.

They would definitely end up at the bottom of the river if they chose either to use logs as their footholds to jump over the river, or to swim across it.

Meng Qi had seen this coming, and he pointed at the horizontal board. “We’ll use this. Since it belongs to Siddhartha Gautama, it should help us cross the river.”

As he spoke, he put the horizontal board into the river. Out of their expectations, it fluctuated with the waves, but did not sink.

“Can it carry the five of us?” asked Luo Shengyi. The small horizontal board seemed to fit all of them only when they stood back to back.

Meng Qi seriously said, “Siddhartha Gautama has mercy on all creatures, not to mention us.”

He took the lead to step onto the horizontal board. It rocked as usual, but did not sink at all.

And then, Ruan Yushu stepped on the board with his back against Meng Qi’s. Jiang Zhiwei stood in front of her face to face. Behind Jiang Zhiwei was Qi Zhengyan, who turned his back to hers. The last one was Luo Shengyi. He stood at the edge of the horizontal board, tightly clinging onto Qi Zhengyan.

The horizontal board was still afloat, even though it was carrying all of them.

Luo Shengyi released his Genuine Qi to push the horizontal board forward.

As soon as the horizontal board left the shore, Meng Qi felt refreshed, as if the impurities inside his body were removed. With his last relating acupore point naturally concentrated, his Mouth Aperture took the initiative to open up, making his heart vibrant and strong. His heart smoothly delivered fresh blood, transported the impurities into his lungs, and then excreted them via his Nose and Mouth Apertures.

His liver was full of energy, his kidney with the Spiritual Core, and his lungs with fresh air. His heart continuously supplied the Initial Blood, and the impurities were wiped away. Meng Qi accomplished a primary level in body circulation, and the small world inside his body initially came into being.

And then, his Five Solid and Six Hollow Organs naturally started to harmonize and became unified. Furthermore, two lower abdominal acupores seemed to open up, ushering in abundant and vigorous Spiritual Core and Genuine Qi.

Since the Inner World reached the primary level, his Energy and Vital Qi, the two Secret Chambers, spontaneously opened up.

More importantly, with the Immortal Pressing Art and richer Genuine Qi than his peers, Meng Qi became a human-shaped ferocious beast.

His dark gold glow became apparent with cracking sounds, as if it was refining some impurities. Affected by the Flying Bird’s burning flames, he had almost achieved the sixth level of the Golden Bell Shield, but now, the sixth level was completed.

He became more powerful than ever.

Aside from his throat, mid-brows, and Nine Inborn Apertures, his Dantian and temples were not his weak points anymore.

Additionally, the Eight Nine Mysteries had also progressed. When he consummated it, his Ear Apertures could hear and identify every faint sound.

He turned his head and saw five bodies float down the river. To his surprise, they were their corpses.

“What?” Surprised and frightened, Luo Shengyi and Qi Zhengyan blurted out.

Jiang Zhiwei and Ruan Yushu also felt astonished with confusion on their faces. At the same time, they were fully aware of the improvements in their body and strength.

Meng Qi gave a smile to them. “Congratulations! We’ve all gotten rid of our common bodies.”

The improvement in strength was very obvious, but quite trivial. More importantly, abandoning their common bodies, their Vital Spirits integrated with the bodies, thus, greatly enhancing their body potentials. If they had overcome 81 obstacles, and taken the Bottomless Ship to cross the river, their body potentials would have been equivalent to those of the Dharmakaya masters. Even so, Qi Zhengyan and Luo Shengyi, who had the worst body potentials, underwent a huge change. Now, they were as good as most of the enlightened masters.

In order to strengthen his body potentials, Meng Qi had practiced the Chapter of Muscle and Vessel Changing and Bone Forging. However, he now found that his body potentials had changed completely. He became as strong as Jiang Zhiwei was before, so he could stop cultivating it.

Already highly talented, Jiang Zhiwei and Ruan Yushu became even more outstanding, and their bodies even became a little ethereal.

Meng Qi and the others would be immune to many special methods and items targeted at the common bodies.

Generally speaking, when a person achieved the Dharmakaya, he could abandon his common body. Now that they had easily gotten rid of their common bodies, they had made this trip fruitful.

Although they coincidentally had gotten rid of their common bodies, they were not as strong as Dharmakaya masters. Even so, they were also quite powerful, not to mention that they still had chances to claim the Dharmakaya and to remold themselves in the future.

Their bodies did not outwardly demonstrate any improvements, so they needed to practice as usual. But they would get double the results with half of the effort in cultivation.

These were the benefits that Meng Qi looked forward to obtaining in the Holy Mountain. Since they had lost their common bodies, they had already made this trip fruitful. If the journey ahead was dangerous, they would hide somewhere until their strength had progressed to some degree.

Now that they had removed their common bodies, they should not be greedy.

Jiang Zhiwei instantly understood, pointing at the floating “Meng Qi” and “Jiang Zhiwei”. She said with a smile, “That’s you. And that’s me.”

“It’s me. It’s me.” Ruan Yushu revealed a rare smile, making them feel warm, as if spring was coming.

Qi Zhengyan and Luo Shengyi could not understand them, but they all could not help smiling, for they knew that they were stripped of their common bodies, and that they had become stronger than before.

“I’ve enlightened the Seven Apertures. My Inner World has taken shape, and I’ve also gotten my Energy and Vital Qi opened up.” Meng Qi delivered a rough description of his improvements so that they would tactfully collaborate with each other in a fight with enemies.

Jiang Zhiwei nodded her head. “I’ve refined all acupore points, leaving just one step to achieve opening the Nine Apertures.”

With Nine Apertures opened, she would use the Anatta Sword twice, becoming as powerful as Su Wuming.

“I have the same situation as Meng Qi,” Ruan Yushu said briefly.

“I still have half a step to open my Mouth Apertue, but the Azure Blizzard is about to achieve an advanced success.” Qi Zhengyan also shared his condition with the others, but held back the information about his improvement of the body potentials.

Luo Shengyi also said with a smile, “My Inner World’s connection with the Outer World has become more intensified. Besides, my will is likely to affect nature a little bit.”

When an Exterior movement could affect nature, the knife intent, intent of fist, and a master’s will would respond accordingly.

When the Exterior changed the world, the Interior would outwardly represent itself, merge with the heaven and earth, and connect nature. But varying Inner Worlds could sense different Heaven-earths, Dharma and Logos, and laws. Thus, they might have different Exteriors to display. For instance, some could usher in rain and wind; some could call in thunder and electricity; some could be able to anticipate cause and effect; and some could be capable of One Heart Affecting Another.

But, why were the Inner Worlds different from each other? Because different masters with varied comprehension abilities practiced different Kung Fu. Plus, they could also make different, but subtle, changes in the Inner Worlds. And thus, for example, the Sword Emperor often wondered: “What’s a sword?” “Why is it a sword?” Or “Where is a sword in his own life and Kung Fu? What does it stand for in the Heaven-earth and the Dharma and Logos?”

Only when a master knew the answers to such questions could he make his own Inner World get closer to either the Heaven-earth or the Dharma and Logos. Under these circumstances, he could open the life-and-death Hidden Latch, leading the Inner World to connect with the Outer World.

Different answers would lead to different roads endowed with their own unique landscapes.

As a matter of fact, Luo Shengyi was saying that he had gotten closer to the Half-step Exterior Scenery.

When the Exterior, or the Dharmakaya and heart sutras, coordinated with movements and styles, the Inner World would naturally reach an almost harmonious status with nature, thus, Meng Qi and the others could trigger the Knife Intent and sword will. As long as they wielded their swords, the Heaven-earth would give a corresponding reflection. This was also why they were stronger than regular Aperture masters. Otherwise, Meng Qi could not use his heartto influence others’ hearts, and engender the Purple Thunder.

“Since we’ve all enhanced our strength, we’re likely to accomplish the task,” Meng Qi said with an exhale.

Luo Shengyi continued to push the ship forward using Genuine Qi. After a while, they arrived at the opposite shore, and saw towering mountains and grotesque stones.

Meng Qi led them to continuously climb the Holy Mountain with the horizontal board under his arm and the Purple Decease Sword in his hand.

On the other side of the river suddenly appeared a glazed Buddha light. After it drew an arc, a bullhead monster emerged. It was Murky.

He had guarded the Buddha treasure several hundred ago. Using it, he had silently entered the Holy Mountain. He had not killed Meng Qi and the others at first sight because he did not know what dangers would be ahead of him—he needed them to be the bait.

However, the Buddha treasure had lost control because of the Buddhist breath at the bank of the river. After several struggles, it finally broke, exposing Murky.

“They’ve removed their common bodies…” Murky was also eager to get rid of his common body after hearing Meng Qi’s congratulations, but he could not cross the river.

“When they lose their value as bait, I’ll grab the horizontal board and use it to cross the river…” Murky used his own waves to envelop himself, and directly flew to the opposite shore. He did not dare to touch the water in the river, because he was afraid of sinking into it.

After a while, Meng Qi and the others saw a grand, dilapidated stone door. It blocked their view and isolated all sounds, making the main Holy Mountain even more mysterious.

“Passing the door, we can roughly see the Big Leiyin Temple, monasteries, the Merit Pond, as well as the green lotus…” Meng Qi made a speculation, but he also guessed that they might be in ruins.

They all held their breath when they approached the abode of Siddhartha Gautama. As soon as they gingerly walked through the door, everything in front of them went dark.

Yes, everything went dim. Black gaps appeared in the air, and a gale was blowing, turning the gaps into numberless giant dragons. Through them, Meng Qi and the others could see an iron rod that touched the sky and stretched to the ground. Aside from that, the iron rod was as wide as the top of a mountain, and had two golden bands on each end.

It was surrounded by electricity and thunder as well as green lotuses. One lotus withered, and another one bloomed. Each Thunder Light and lotus seemed to have hidden a world where life and death naturally happened, and stars hanging high in the sky became clouds and a vast galaxy.

Piercing through the ancient times, furious shouts came over to their ears.

“I’ll never expect the next life!”