The Sage Who Transcended Samsara

Qi Zhengyan’s indigo robe was tattered. Black blood started to flow out from his wounds throughout his body. However, his eyes were clear and he looked fine. His injuries seemed to be not that serious.

When he entered the temple, he felt it hard to see due to the bright light inside. He raised his free hand to block out the strong light and asked with concern, “Are you all right?”

“When you saw the dead fish lying outside, you must’ve known that we’re fine.” The moment he saw Senior Brother Qi return safe, Meng Qi felt happy and made a joke. “How about you, Senior Brother Qi?”

He sheathed the Purple Decease Sword on his waist. Since his left hand was badly injured, he could only use his right hand. Moreover, due to his present state, he could not wield the Purple Decease Sword.

Qi Zhengyan coughed and put down his left hand which covered his face just now. He could clearly see now. As usual, he had a dull expression on his face, which lacked the fervor at his age. He said, “Just a little injury. It’s just the corpse poison that invaded my body, nothing serious.”

Meng Qi searched for Fu Zhenzhen’s medicine. Instructed by Jiang Zhiwei and Ruan Yushu, he found the medicine bottle for uprooting both the corpse and Yin poison, and passed it to Qi Zhengyan.

After taking the elixir, Qi Zhengyan crossed his legs and began to harmonize Qi-circulation. Meng Qi helped Jiang Zhiwei and Ruan Yushu to sit comfortably and let them continue healing. After that, he sprayed some healing powder on his left hand and wrapped it with a piece of cloth from his clothing. Then, he took several elixirs to regain his spirit and strength.

After that, he carried his “Meridian” with difficulty to inspect the situation of this Great Buddha’s Hall with the help of his full genuine Qi. There must have been a lot of Buddha treasures but they had been ruined by years of erosion. As a matter of fact, the moment Meng Qi touched an indigo lotus, it turned into dust.

“Eh, did the corpse of Luohan once sit here?” Meng Qi found a place where the dead odor could slip into the gold tiles. It was the shadow that was just in front of the bluish white lamp. It seemed to be guarding it!

“This bluish white lamp should not be completely ruined…” When Meng Qi used the Golden Bell Shield, a dark gold glow appeared on his left hand, which indicated the presence of Buddhism. Then, he carefully reached out to hold the bluish white lamp.

The lamp was not that cold. Its body was made of an unknown material and had not been broken yet. Its flame, though quite weak, never went out. Plus, its light was clear and pure, illuminating and warming both human hearts and the evil spirits.

“It should be a treasure.” Meng Qi murmured. Although his left palm was seriously injured to the point where he could not use his sword, he was still able to hold the lamp.

When the light shone on the blood “bandage”, Meng Qi immediately felt lesser pain and that the Golden Bell Shield was running more smoothly, which made him confirm his speculation. He then brought the lamp and went back to Jiang Zhiwei and the others.

After some treatment, Qi Zhengyan’s black blood turned to a much lighter color and gradually turned dark red. He opened his eyes and wrapped his wounds, and turned his head to look out of the temple. He said, “Murky’s corpse is still there. I’m going to pick it up. We can use it to exchange for Karma points.”

“Don’t worry. It won’t be long before we can return.” Meng Qi felt afraid that the lamp would burn the things in the Space Ring, so he kept holding it in his hand. He said with a smile, “Senior Brother Qi, I thought you would hide someplace after you escaped from the monster. I never expected that you would catch up to us.”

Qi Zheng slowly turned back to look at Meng Qi, who was leaning against a pillar, and said calmly, “I was planning to join you for I could badly injure Murky at least. His remaining strength was at most as strong as an Eight Acupoints master. Since I have the ‘Book of the Chaos’, I could manage to get rid of him. Therefore, I ran and found a chance to help you. However, just when I caught up with you, I found Murky already lying in the ruins.”

His brotherly feelings touched Meng Qi very much. After making great efforts to get rid of the monster, the first thing Qi Zhengyan did was to hurry off to help them! How great his friendship was!

“Senior Brother Qi, how did you get rid of the monster?” Asked Meng Qi curiously.

Qi Zhengyan’s face fell at once. It seemed that the experience was too unpleasant to recall. After pausing for a short time, he said, “It was really dangerous! When I reached a cliff, there’s no way ahead of me and the monster was still desperately chasing me, which made me hopeless. Fortunately, the monster, though very powerful, was not smart. I managed to lead it to fall off the cliff at the risk of losing my life.”

Perhaps because of his experience, he was a bit wordy and described the struggle in great detail.

“Everyone hasn’t had it easy. Such is the Death Task!” Meng Qi sighed heavily. Jiang Zhiwei, who was curing her wounds, agreed with him.

Ruan Yushu’s wounds were almost healed but both her mind and strength were worn out. She did not want to do anything but sit in repose with her eyes closed. However, upon hearing Meng Qi’s words, she tried her best to take out some dried dragon fish and ate it to reward herself in relief.

After the conversation, Meng Qi put the lamp in front of Jiang Zhiwei and went out with Qi Zhengyan. They peeled off Murky’s black scales, fishskin, locking armour, Purple Gold Crown, Cloud-walking boots and other things with considerable efforts, only leaving his entrails and flesh behind.

“Whir…” After the loots were taken into the Spatial Ring, Meng Qi uttered a sigh of relief and rested against a pillar, waiting for the task to end.

However, he did not lower his guard. After all, they were not home yet. Though they had the Golden Body Luohan and the lamp to protect them, no one thought it was safe.

Qi Zhengyan approached Meng Qi and leaned against the other side of the pillar, looking at the wounded Jiang Zhiwei and Ruan Yushu. He then said eloquently, “Before, we were just in the mortal world, but right now, we nearly fought with the monsters in the demon world. The Death Task really deserved its title. Who knows what’s next?”

Meng Qi looked at the darkness outside the temple. The back of his head kept hitting the pillar lightly. “We might encounter the martial arts of the Exterior. We can get the chance to learn it in the next task.”

In the former tasks, they hardly fought with anyone of the Exterior, let alone had a chance to learn their kung fu. The only way to get it was by exchanging Karma points. However, after this Death Task, their rewards and opportunities would definitely increase, and it would be possible for them to get in touch with the relics of the divine monsters and fairy saints.

“After this, I want to resign as Manager and explore the world. I should no longer be trapped in Yedu. As you can see, I can’ make full use of the ‘Book of the Chaos’ here, so it’s difficult to for me to challenge myself.” Qi Zhengyan suddenly spoke his intentions. He raised his head to stare at the roof beams above.

Meng Qi, still looking at the outside, said, “Me too. I want to accept the invitation of the Six Fan School and serve as their Secret-searching Nark. It can be a chance to promote and challenge myself instead of passively waiting.”

“It’s also time for me to find out about my past so as not to meet with any accidents in Shengdu.”

“I wonder how’s Gu Changqing with his new life in shengdu…”

“I’d like to go to River East. It has been guarded by the Wang family since the ancient time. A catastrophe-free environment and the most prosperous place in the world. In addition, heroes on the Ranking List of Young Masters tend to gather there, so it is the best choice for the young masters from each state to improve themselves…”

Apart from River East, the other choices were Shengdu, Changle, Juyuan and so on.

“If I had another opportunity, I also would go to River East because ‘Master Lotus’, ‘The Astounding’, ‘The Unstoppable’, ‘Ledgerkeeper of Lives’, and ‘Shapeless Sword’ are all there. They’re the greatest heroes I’m dying to learn from…” Meng Qi admiringly said, for they were the top ten people on the Ranking List of Young Masters, or once had a place in the top ten.

Apart from them, there were a lot of other experts on the Ranking List of Young Masters too. Thus, River East was home of the famous heroes.

While the two were talking about their plans, Jiang Zhiwei and Ruan Yushu were harmonizing Qi-circulation with their eyes closed. Peace and warmth permeated the atmosphere in the Great Buddha’s Hall.

After some time, the Dominator of Samsara in Six Realms’ indifferent voice came into Meng Qi’s ears,

“It’s the sunrise of the eighth morning. The main task has been completed. You may return.”

“Each of you will receive 1000 Karma points and a Samsara talisman.”

“At last, we’ve finished the task…The Death Task is completed…” Meng Qi was truly relieved. At the same time, he felt worn out and full of vicissitudes.

Although it was only seven days, he seemed to have spent 70 years on the Death Task. After experiencing the partings between life and death, he had a mixed feeling of the fickle world.

The brilliant rays changed from gloom to brightness in front of him. The mist around him rose up and cooled his heart, making him quite comfortable. The wounds on his left hand quickly recovered and his broken ribs were restored one by one. The dark gold glow began to burst into bloom, the light of which changed from gloominess to brightness and pureness with continuous cracking sounds.

Meanwhile, Meng Qi got a blue green Samsara talisman.

“I’ll invite Zhiwei and the others to explore Zhenwu’s Decoy Grave some time later.”Meng Qi made up his mind. Of course, considering that everyone was exhausted for the time being, they had to digest the harvest of this task and adjust themselves to the best state. If they acted now, it would be easy for them to have a mental breakdown.

He looked around only to find three light pillars, and suddenly felt sad. It seemed that Lao Luo had not escaped this nightmare.

When the light pillars disappeared, Meng Qi stepped out and found that Qi Zhengyan was fine. Obviously, Qi Zhengyan had not been injured as badly as himself.

A moment later, Jiang Zhiwei and Ruan Yushu also finished their treatment. Their right arms were intact again.

“It’s as flexible as usual.” Jiang Zhiwei moved her right hand, affirming the Dominator of Samsara in Six Realms’ healing ability.

Ruan Yushu lifted her zither with her left hand and quickly plucked the strings with the other, and heard its melodious sound again.

Then she rewarded herself with a piece of dried dragon fish…

“First of all, let’s check our items and exchange them for Karma points. Then we’ll equally divide them.” They fell into silence as they mourned the loss of their teammate Luo Shengyi for a while. Then Meng Qi frankly said, “The Buddha’s relic was obtained by my execration but the horizontal board of the ‘Big Leiyin Temple’ was gained at the risk of losing my teammates’ lives. How could I feel free to occupy them alone?”

He first placed the bluish white lamp in his hand into the Central Light Pillar and requested a public identification.

“The nearly destroyed Buddha’s Lamp, an item in front of the Sakyamuni, was one of the Magical Arms when it was in good condition. It could give out the endless light and illuminate thousands of square miles. It also could tame Heterodox Doctrines and ghosts. Moreover, it could burn the karma and protect itself, preventing any evil invading it. Unfortunately, it nearly turned to ruins. Apart from its ability to restrain the Yin pathogen and evil spirits, it could burn forever and shrink to the size of a little pea; but, without being activated, its flame would never burn anything. It can be regarded as an ordinary Precious Weapon now, worth 1600 Karma points. If you want to mend it well, you should pay 52000 Karma points for it.”

“Plus, it will cost you 30000 Karma points if you intend to forcibly decode the successor of the looking-like cold Jade Buddha.”

Hearing this, Meng Qi and his teammates stared at each other, aghast. The lamp in good condition turned out to be so powerful, and the small jade joss had a successor.

“We entered the Holy Mountain pure land through your small jade joss, so this lamp should belong to you. Please keep it.” Said Jiang Zhiwei with a generous smile.

Simultaneously, Qi Zhengyan and Ruan Yushu quickly nodded in agreement.