The Sage Who Transcended Samsara

The door was soon solidified as the three pieces of the Dongyang seal threw themselves into the misty green light. Looking like amber and jade instead of cloud and mist, it diffused a peculiar sense of beauty.

While everyone was in a daze, the door of the inner villa gradually opened up in a heavy and slow manner. Burdened with the heaviness of time, it penetrated the thick vicissitudes of life.

At this moment, including Jiang Hengchuan, Wang Bingyao, and Ruan Yaoguang, who were all staring inside from behind the door, no one would take the first step. Would it be worthy of the cause of what happened in Maoling?

In the darkness, what came first to Meng Qi’s eyes was a twisted crack, which looked like a dying centipede that kept expanding the wound of the void.

Through the crack, Meng Qi saw the diffusing black gas, from which indistinct shapes of mountains and rivers appeared, as well as the sun, moon, and stars.

At the same time, the unimaginably strong, evil atmosphere began to spread through the air. As a Top Class Master Pro, Ruan Yaoguang could not help shivering for a second.

“Nine Serenities…” Wang Siyuan’s whisper traveled a long way in that quiet environment.

“Nine Serenities?”  Meng Qi suddenly awakened.

At the same moment, a giant palm reached out from the darkness and grabbed onto the crack!

That palm was purely black. With no light on it, it seemed that the palm could devour anything in sight. As soon as it had appeared, the void began to tremble, bringing waves of ripples, which dispersed the black gas and continued expanding the crack.

After the darkness was cleared out, Meng Qi and the others saw a long river lying across the void. It flowed quietly with a turbid appearance of blood. No one saw where it came from and no one knew where it would go.

A black sun rapidly approached the crack, which made the void collapse like an impending doom.

Since the dark palm had appeared, Meng Qi and the others had been unable to move. Their bodies and souls were all frightened by the extremely horrible deterrence. The void became a cage that kept shrinking.

What a horrible evil spirit!

As the black sun kept approaching, Meng Qi felt that his body was becoming heavier and heavier. His bones, muscles, and viscera creaked under the great pressure, and it seemed that they were about to become piles of mud at any time.

Dongyang Villa was completely immersed in the darkness. That was not because there was no light source, but because all the light was thrown into the crack and rushed toward the black sun.

The rising tide suddenly burst out and turned into a wave that was more than 10 feet high.

The mountains and rivers surrounding Maoling, as well as the risen sun, were all covered with a layer of a colorful halo, which was dreamily beautiful.

Beside the Chinese Pagoda Tree, an old man who was was carving a wooden statue had put the chisel and the blocks of wood down. Staring in the direction of the Jin River, he seemed to have witnessed this wonder through layers of obstacles.

There were recollections and a sweetness in his eyes, but eventually, they all turned into a gentle sigh:

“Ah.”

Then, he picked up the inconspicuous long sword with its black scabbard, which lay beside him.

In Dongyang Villa, as the black sun continued to approach, Meng Qi felt that even his thinking had become slow. This was even more desperate than the Luohan Zombies that they dealt with on the Holy Mountain.

“Dust to dust, earth to earth. Since the Nine Serenities have secluded themselves, why do you have to appear again?”

The familiar voice wormed its way into Meng Qi’s ear. As the layers of void were broken, a thread of sword light arrived leisurely.

His thinking could not keep up with this change. After hearing the sound and seeing the sword light, what was left in his eye was merely a vast expanse of white. It was just like the sun had come right in front of him with its insanely burning light.

As his body was lit up, the pressure that had almost squashed him was gone. Meng Qi regained his ability to think and his thoughts emerged like a flowing river.

“Why is there a Nine Serenities in Dongyang Villa?”

“He comes here every year to watch the tide. Does he ever think about preventing that crack from getting out of control?”

“No, he is a devoted man. He wouldn’t just stand by. He may just lend a helping hand after seeing this…”

“I have guessed before that if the change was unexpected to the Xuan Tian Sect, as a superior of righteousness, he wouldn’t remain indifferent to all of this.”

A figure appeared in the vast expanse of white. As Meng Qi tried to identify him, suddenly, he saw threads of a light-green light emerge and wrap up Jiang Hengchuan’s figure.

Seemingly aware that Meng Qi was looking at him, Jiang Hengchuan smiled at him and nodded his head, then he disappeared.

“Reincarnation Charm…” Meng Qi was not surprised by it. But he was not calm, either. Because it felt like something finally had happened as he had predicted long ago. He could not help s ighing.’

“‘The Myths’ and ‘the Immortals’ must have countless ties with Dominator of Samsara in S ix Realms!’

“As for what kind of ties, research is needed. Maybe some of the full or preparatory members were Samsara travelers, or they appeared in another form.’

“Of course, it’s obvious that organizations such as Chu Guan and Snake King, which barely touched the threshold of being “the Myths”, can only develop their peripheral force by tricks like bribing, collaborating, threatening, and so on.”

Seeing Jiang Hengchuan blending confidently, Meng Qi twitched the corner of his mouth. “Well, you have a Reincarnation Charm, no wonder you behaved so calmly. Just as I thought, how can a Civil Star not have a backup plan?’

“Nevertheless, Master Wang didn’t know the mystery of the Reincarnation Charm, how can I not know?”

When it came to getting into the mission world, there was a difference between using a Reincarnation Charm and being pulled by Dominator of Samsara in Six Realms. There would be a gap of several hours when returning. For instance, when they were in Yedu, if Gu Xiaosang had entered the gate of the Celestial Court and returned immediately, she would have been caught by those Exteriors who had heard what happened. And the last time that Meng Qi used a Reincarnation Charm at midnight, the sun had almost risen when he had returned.

It was the time difference that made it easier to get rid of those chasing even if the returning location did not change. After all, if the enemies did not know what this was all about, how could they remain there for hours?

Besides, in the World of Samsara, not to mention their growth of power, they could sell what they had to obtain enough Karma points to have Dominator of Samsara in Six Realms erase the halo when returning, and they could exchange it for talismans or containers that could make them invisible. In that way, even if there was an enemy that waited for days by coincidence, they could blend in and get away without any trace.

Meng Qi thought that it was better to be well-prepared when using a Reincarnation Charm in danger. After all, caution is the parent of safety.

“Fortunately, I didn’t use it in front of Jiang Hengchuan…” He felt relieved. Of course, he still had a chance to flee because the return time was not accurate and he could use the help of the talisman.

“Humph, how dare you stab me in the back. I’ll be the one waiting for your ‘corpse’ this time!’

“I am this narrow-minded, so what?”

As the vast expanse of white completely dissipated, the centipede-like Nine Serenities crack began to coil itself and become smaller and smaller until it entirely disappeared after turning into a pinhead.

“Master Lu?” Wang Buchi looked back at Maoling, who had a weather-worn face.

The founder of Huanmei Heights in the North Zhou Dynasty, Master Lu, the “Wholehearted Sword”, who claimed his Heptaureate Immortal Body and ranked fourth on the Celestial Rankings, was the best swordsman in the world!

Wang Siyuan totally went mad. Things became out of his control like a runaway horse, which gave rise to a burning flame in his heart.

“No wonder, no wonder…” He whispered words that no one else could understand.

Jiang Zhiwei and Ruan Yushu were not surprised because Meng Qi had told them that he had met a Superior who appeared to be the “Wholehearted Sword”.

During that time, Jiang Zhiwei thought about visiting Master Lu. But she decided to give it up after considering it several times because she was in the process of exploring the “Inner World”. Indeed, it was good for her to draw as many lessons as she could from sword art. Yet, her path could be easily twisted if she met a swordmaster who was far more powerful. So it was better to reconsider it after she had passed this period. As for coming back to visit her Master, she did not even add it to her plan.

“10 years without stepping into Jianghu, yet the Nine Serenities road was cut off in one day…” Ruan Yaoguang sighed emotionally.

They all discovered Jiang Hengchaun’s disappearance. But there was no clue left, so they could only regard it as a random escape from the change that just occurred.

As the Nine Serenities crack disappeared, the inner villa opened up. There were only a stone bed and a stone desk. The shabbiness and plainness made the owner appear to be a Superior Daoist who wandered through the woods, instead of a human Dharmakaya bearing the title of God.

There was nothing on the bed, but there were four things lying on the stone desk: a green book, a purple ruler, a golden flame that was burning the black gas around it, and a plain ring.

The book was greenish with halos around it, which made it look like something immortal. In Meng Qi’s eyes, it might have been the most precious thing there and was probably the impartation of Dongyang God.

“Donghua’s Green Book…” Anyone who understood the ancient seal characters read out the name. Ruan Yaoguang and Wang Buchi were slightly confused.

Wang Siyuan was unusually excited, but his voice still sounded calm. “As one of the impartations of the emperor’s branch, ‘Donghua’s Green Book’ is not very good, but it’s not entirely useless, either.”

“Since this is not the main villa, it seems that it’s just a book that Dongyang God read randomly…” Meng Qi tried to correct his wrong judgment. But still, it should be a good Exterior art, since Wang said that it was “not entirely useless”.

Beside the book, the jade ruler was covered by purple clouds. Anyone would regard it as priceless as a Precious Weapon.

“Fire essence of the sun.” Ruan Yaoguang stared at the burning flame.

Wang Buchi said with a sigh, “If we found it thousands of years earlier, this fire essence could have been used to forge Magical Arms. But after all these years of depletion, I’m afraid that it only can be a normal Exterior item.”

As for the plain ring, both Jiang Zhiwei and Ruan Yushu told Meng Qi that it was a Space Ring via the Secret Voice-sending.

Among these four items, its value was the most difficult to estimate because no one knew if there was something else in it. If it was empty, then it would be the least valuable among the four. But, if there were many collections in it, then it would exceed the other three.

“Master Lu is right outside, so we can’t be laughed at,” Ruan Yaoguang said suddenly. She did not want to compete with the Wang family.

Wang Buchi raised his head and looked at the gradually restoring smoke outside the villa. “Makes sense.”

“Besides, with all that mess and the broken shield of the villa, it wouldn’t take a long time for others to arrive.”

He meant that others would take advantage of them if they were fighting.

Wang Siyuan “flew” onto the shore from the shallop with a flush left on his cheeks. “How about we split them in half?”

Ruan Yaoguang gave Meng Qi a questioning look. After all, she was just his assistant.

“I have no opinion.” Meng Qi had always been a person without greed. Although his side had gained the upper hand, that was all they had gotten. Master Wang did not earn his reputation for nothing.

However, Meng Qi also raised a question. “But who picks first?”

With the long sword in his hand, Wang Siyuan cleared his throat awkwardly, then he looked at Jiang Zhiwei and Meng Qi. “How about this: excluding two seniors, let’s have two battles. You can send one after the other. If you can make me defend in 10 moves, I lose. You can pick first after I have lost one battle.”

After those words were spoken, the spiritual confrontation began.

After Jiang Zhiwei and Meng Qi looked into each other’s eyes, she took a step forward.

“Okay.” She was so unperturbed that her whole body was like a sword hidden in a sheath.