The Sage Who Transcended Samsara

With Gao Lan around, their exit was just as smooth as their entry had been. The two of them crossed the Human Emperor’s Ancient Path and the front hall, and were out of the secret location in no time.

“Come, let’s go grab a drink!” Light had barely begun reflecting off the water again when Gao Lan’s voice sounded in Meng Qi’s mind. The whole world immediately began to spin, turning everything into an indistinguishable blur.

By the time he had regained his sense of the outer world, he realized he was already standing in an abandoned compound. The neglected house had not been repaired in many years and its pillars and roof beams were a mess of cobwebs. Since it was wintertime, there were not many weeds around.

They had spent much time in Dragon Platform, so night had already fallen.

“And this is?” Meng Qi fixed his eyes on Gao Lan with a questioning look.

Gao Lan casually ripped some cobwebs away as he ascended the stairs and sat cross-legged against a pillar. Then he pulled out several jugs of wine and delicacies like beef and other things out of nowhere, as if he were performing magic tricks. “I don’t know which part of River East we’re in either, in any case it’s far from Dragon platform! Your little wife has probably spread the news about it so that place is now the center of public criticism. There’s no way we can drink in peace there!”

“Little wife…” The corner of Meng Qi’s eye twitched a little. He sat down opposite Gao Lan, unsealed one of the wine jugs and was instantly hit with a rich aroma.

The mere scent of it made all of Meng Qi’s pores open. It was both relaxing and slightly intoxicating.

He knew that Gao Lan had produced the wine from something similar to the Space Ring, but remained unsuspicious of what he had said earlier about having nothing valuable on him because he had left home in a rush. His ludacris personality also made it even more believable that he would bring only wine and food, and not any valuable items.

“This wine is called Drunken Immortal. There aren’t many wines left that can make me tipsy.” Gao Lan put on the expression of a lonely master.

Even at Meng Qi’s level, it was hard for him to get drunk. Even if he did not rely on his genuine Qi to expel the tipsiness, his strong body was more than enough to prevent him from becoming inebriated. He chuckled at Gao Lan’s words. “Haha, alcohol is not the reason why we’re drunk!”

“Well said, alcohol isn’t the reason why we’re drunk! Let’s toast!” Gao Lan raised the jug of wine before him and gulped several mouthfuls down.

Meng Qi followed in his steps and lifted his jug of wine. The golden liquid shone like amber as it caught the sunlight at an angle. He could feel the tipsiness taking over his body even before he had tasted the wine.

A refreshing sweet taste flowed down his throat and into his stomach. Then, as if a volcano had erupted, a fiery heat exploded and spread towards every part of his body. It burned away the secreted blood and internal injuries as well, leaving him with an intense yet rejuvenating sensation.

The influence of the alcohol kicked in and Meng Qi’s face rapidly flushed bright red. He was already mildly tipsy. “Excellent wine!”

Gao Lan swallowed another few more mouthfuls and chewed on some beef. With a bit of a slur in his speech he said, “For the past few years, I’ve been heavily ridiculed and insulted. It’s all thanks to Drunken Immortal that I managed to pull through and make it to ‘dawn’.”

“Brother Gao, a toast to you! I wish you all the best in freeing yourself from those troubling circumstances!” Meng Qi hoisted the wine jug into the air. “After today, people will only know of Gao Lan, and not Evil Master.”

Gao Lan guffawed at Meng Qi’s blessings. He was very satisfied with them and downed another few mouths of wine. Then he smacked his lips and exclaimed, “If I had a choice, I’d rather Han Guang be alright. He can only die after I’ve had a battle with him!”

“Brother, don’t you find it strange that I’ve been considered comparable to Han Guang for so many years but we’ve never had a match?”

Meng Qi, who had always been interested in Jianghu anecdotes, exclaimed in surprise, “Brother Gao, you’ve been on par with him for so many years but you’ve never had the chance to meet him?”

If it were him, had there really been such an opponent said to be a peerless hero like him, he would definitely have gone to meet him no matter what stood in his way!

“I have gone down to the North to find him a couple of times, but he’s from the Nine Evil Paths and is very sneaky with his tracks. I was never able to meet him. And then, and then…” Gao Lan suddenly seemed to go into a trance.

He raised the wine jug and took a swig from it before changing the topic. “Brother, is that Luo Denomination woman your wife?”

“Brother Gao, you are mistaken…” Meng Qi was about to explain when Gao Lan cut in with a shake of his head. “Luo Denomination’s demoness is very strange and you never know what she’s thinking. She is admittedly seductive, but if you marry her, you might not be able to tame her. She’s no good, and do you have any other close female friends?”

“No, no, I don’t.” Meng Qi hurriedly denied it.

Gao Lan’s eyes grew wide. “You’re among the top few on the Ranking List of Young Masters, uh, probably, aren’t you? How could you not have a few close female friends?”

He had been detained for several years and had only recently managed to somehow remove himself from the difficult situation. As such, he knew nothing about the current Ranking List of Young Masters. However, given his level of cultivation, he could roughly estimate Meng Qi’s strength just by looking at him, and he could tell that Meng Qi was among the top few ranks on the list.

“There really isn’t. I’m a very serious person who is brave, heroic, compassionate…” Drunken Immortal was potent indeed, for Meng Qi had already had a bit too much to drink. “It’s just that two of my sworn buddies who’ve risked their lives together with me are females.”

“That’s okay too. Let’s hear it.” Gao Lan’s speech was increasingly unclear.

“One of them is the legal wife’s daughter of one of the best aristocratic families. She has both beauty and talent, and appears cold on the outside but is actually very playful…” Meng Qi rambled as he held the wine jug.

Gao Lan clicked his tongue in disapproval. “Top-notch aristocratic families have the most rules, and I know that much better than you do. If you marry her, haha, you’ll really get it. She’s no good either. How about the other one?”

“The other one’s the heir of a mainstream martial arts sect. She’s brimming with talent and shines brightly. She keeps swordwill in her heart, and acts decisively. She is always cheerful and generous…” Meng Qi grabbed a piece of beef jerky to stuff in his mouth.

Meanwhile, Gao Lan had already emptied one of the wine jugs. “Sounds like someone who’s persistent about Kung Fu. She’s more like a martial arts companion than a lover. This one’s no good either.”

After three consecutive dismissals, Meng Qi could not help but feel a little frustrated. “Who are you to talk about my friends in that way?”

“Brother Gao, you keep saying none of them are good. I’m afraid you might already have an ideal type in your heart,” retorted Meng Qi.

Gao Lan slapped the side of the wine jug and cried, “Of course!”

“She is even more beautiful than fairies, noble but not arrogant, and treats everyone equally with a compassionate heart. She also has a childish temper, occasionally grumbling coquettishly and often doing things that leave one unsure of whether to laugh or cry. She looks like someone who can’t handle any hardships, but despite all the difficulties and suffering she’s been put through. I’ve never heard her utter a single word of complaint…”

“…I was the one who hurt her…”

As he spoke, Gao Lan’s facial muscles began to contort and the rims of his eyes turned red. He seemed to be on the verge of bursting into tears.

Meng Qi, who was not that drunk, was about to offer some words of comfort when Gao Lan gulped down some wine in an almost deranged manner. “Men don’t cry, they bleed!”

He slammed the wine jug down and inhaled. “But, they can sing wildly instead of crying!”

Slapping the floor, he belted out in a rough voice,

“Life goes by like a butterfly in a dream, but when one looks back he is filled with deep emotion.”

“Spring comes today, and the flowers wilt tomorrow. Quickly drink up before the lights go out late at night.”

…

“Life is short, just like how there’s a limit to how much one can drink. How many Double Ninth Festivals can one celebrate in his life?”

He was singing “Autumn Thoughts”, a song that Meng Qi had heard of in his previous life. It was considered a part of Yuan operas. Although Gao Lan’s singing was mediocre, there was a lot of sincere emotion and depth to it. Meng Qi could hear Gao Lan’s sadness and pain flowing out of the words, and his husky voice only made the autumn wind seem even harsher. The forlorn autumn feeling made one want to clap along to the beat and sing his sorrows, perhaps thinking about his hometown or someone from his past.

Meng Qi would never get to meet his family and friends from his previous life again, and he could be separated from his close friends in his current life by death. Affected by Gao Lan’s emotional singing fraught with agony as well as the alcohol, Meng Qi clapped along to the beat as he lifted the wine jug to his lips.

Gao Lan slowly got to his feet and stumbled outside holding on to his jug of wine. Then, he began bursting into song again as he gulped down more wine and pointed at the brightly lit half moon in the night sky.

“…I fear loneliness but dusk suddenly falls, I have not done anything yet my soul is weary, fresh tearstains mask old ones, and a broken heart recalls another…”

The song was supposed to take on the tone of melancholic brooding, but Gao Lan sounded more like a howling wolf, intensifying the feeling of heartache.

Meng Qi was deeply intoxicated and full of sadness thanks to Gao Lan’s singing. He rose from the floor as well and staggered to where Gao Lan was, and released all his emotions into his song,

“…I fear loneliness but dusk suddenly falls…a broken heart recalls another!”

The two of them sang and drank, and drank and sang. They lumbered out of the compound and collapsed against a wall in the alley.

There was an inn nearby and its second and third floors were completely booked. In one of the rooms was a clean and fair-skinned young lady with well-proportioned features who was anxiously staring at her father. The maid beside her was trembling in trepidation as she stood absolutely still, afraid to do anything.

“…I fear loneliness but dusk suddenly falls…a broken heart recalls another…” Rough but sorrowful muddled voices cut through the tension all of a sudden, causing the middle-aged man who had been pacing back and forth with his hands behind his back to slightly furrow his eyebrows.

The young lady turned around and motioned at the maid to open the window and check out what was happening below.

Upon reaching the window, the maid poked her head out and looked in the direction of the noise. “Miss, two drunkards are wailing downstairs.”

“Two drunkards?” The young lady’s curiosity was piqued. She looked over, only to see two figures slumped against the wall in the mouth of the left alley. One of them had a face so densely covered in facial hair that she could not tell his age, while the other person appeared like a young man. Several jugs of wine were splayed before them, and they belted out that same song from time to time in a state of madness.

“Miss, shall I go down and remind them to keep quiet lest they disturb the peaceful night?” The maid gingerly proposed.

“There’s no need.” The one who replied was the middle-aged man instead. “Take it from this dying man. What’s the point of caring about those kinds of things?”

“Father…” The young lady was choking back sobs.

The middle-aged man sighed heavily. “I was the one who provoked such a powerful enemy. If I give them my life, you and your mother won’t be implicated. After tonight, go to Luoyang with your mother and stay with your aunt. She’ll still be willing to take you in for my sake…”

“How powerful are they? Are they better than Six Fan School?” The young lady’s hands were clenched into fists.

With a bitter laugh, the middle-aged man replied, “It’s my fault for making a mistake. Even if Six Fan School stepped in, it would be tough for me to escape death. And you and your mother might still be targeted for revenge. There are simply too many possible troubles. I’d rather exchange my life for your peace of mind.”

The young lady was about to say something when the maid stuttered, “They’ve, they’ve arrived.”

She looked back and spotted a group of people marching over from another street. They were all clad in black robes and appeared demonic. The man leading the pack had an especially terrifying air about him, speaking volumes of his strength.

“Haha, at least three of them can easily kill me…” It seemed like the middle-aged man had lost all his strength and was being solely supported by his willpower.

Fat teardrops rolled down the helpless young lady’s cheeks.

“…I fear loneliness but dusk suddenly falls…a broken heart recalls another…” The group of men in black were passing by the mouth of the alley when they suddenly heard the wild singing.

The leader’s brows were knitted together as he ordered, “Two drunkards, how unlucky. Beat them up and toss them far away lest they see something. If they resist…”

He slid his finger across his throat.

Immediately, a few of his subordinates dashed over and unsheathed their swords, all ready to teach Meng Qi and Gao Lan a lesson.

Meng Qi stared at them, clearly inebriated. “What, what are you guys doing here?”

“What are we doing here? Ha, we’re here to make sure you guys won’t be able to get drunk for the rest of your lives.” One of the underlings had a sinister smile plastered across his face.

At the sight of such a scene, the middle-aged man did not know whether to laugh or cry. “Those two drunkards really brought it upon themselves…”

With tears brimming in her eyes, the young lady glanced over. Out of the blue, a flash of knife energy sliced through the darkness, producing a silvery-white light that spread out like a dragon.

By the time the light had dispersed, there was a pile of corpses on the ground, including the leader of the group who had been standing a few feet away. Only the drunkard wielding the saber teetered backward.

“Br-Brother Gao, why, why did their genuine Qi suddenly disappear?” That had been one of Meng Qi’s heartiest slaughters. With only a single stroke, he had wiped out the entire group of men.

Gao Lan loudly chuckled. “Heavens’ Fist… If I don’t want them to have any Qi, then they shall never have any!”

“Excellent, excellent fist style…” Meng Qi’s high-minded attitude came over him and he gulped another mouth of wine down. “Let’s change the song. There’s, there’s no point in being sad and dreary all the time. Jiang-Jianghu people should have lofty sentiments!”

He belted out a rhythm as he sang, “The ocean laughs, while waves surge upon both shores…”

Gao Lan listened, and though he found Meng Qi’s tune a little unusual, he was even more intrigued and continued, “…when the waves grow old, the mortal world still goes on…”

“The clear winds laugh…” Their singing traveled all the way to the room, startling the middle-aged man and the young lady out of their daze.

“Father, shall we go, go and thank them?” The young lady asked rather blankly.

The middle-aged man exhaled. “No. These are extraordinary masters who treat the mortal world as their playground. They hate being told such things.”

“The commonfolk laugh…” Meng Qi and Gao Lan finished the final verse together. They felt so carefree and on top of the world as their eyes met and they grinned at each other.

Gao Lan slapped his thigh and exclaimed, “Brother, it’s, it’s been such a long time since I’ve gotten along so well with a friend! Let’s become sworn brothers! Come, let’s become sworn brothers!”

“S-sure.” Meng Qi was struggling to hold his eyes open. He no longer knew what he was doing anymore.