The Sage Who Transcended Samsara

The totem of the Hirasu tribe was a majestic golden eagle with a sharp gaze. Under the shaman’s urging, a brilliant light burst from the totem as if it was reflecting the Grand Sun.

Meng Qi could feel a faint feeling of grandeur rose around him, with a strange power being sometimes vague and sometimes distinct.

He didn’t dare to be careless in front of the totem’s ancestors. He felt himself floating in the dark universe, where imaginary and intangible gleaming lines surrounded him. The only line that he could grasp was the one slowly moving closer to him.

“Will you willingly accept this oath?” he suddenly asked, using the curt prairie language.

This shaman was just an ordinary one. Though he found it a little suspicious, he thought Meng Qi was simply being cautious. “There’s no falsehood under the watchful eyes of the External Sky and Huang Jinying,” he whispered.

The Changsheng Denomination had placed most of the totem gods of the grasslands under the dominion of the Eternal Sky.

Hearing these words, Meng Qi buried his head and became incredibly pious. The Vital Spirit executed its secret techniques, triggering the illusions. The karmic line changed its direction and floated to the shaman, attaching itself to him.

Naturally, the Eternal Sky and Huang Jinying would not really ‘focus’ on this trivial matter. They would only use their strength to witness oaths, so they showed no response to the changes in the two who were involved in the oath-taking process.

The shaman’s body unwittingly became heavier but instantly returned to normal. Thinking it was because he had consumed too much of his energy, he directed his eyes upward again. He accepted the gems and gold that Agula respectfully handed him, then left the tent arrogantly.

“Since you’ve taken the oath, we are now brothers.” Agula lost his calm attitude earlier and became so enthusiastic and amiable that it made Meng Qi suspicious of his intention. It was not like Agula was attracting powerful allies for himself. It was merely that the Wolf-slaying League had gained another master capable of contending against Wolf King. It was understandable that he was overjoyed at the thought of their revenge possibly succeeding, but his enthusiasm had exceeded what was considered normal. Of course, that was unless the Wolf-slaying League carried more meaning to him than their revenge against Wolf King.

Meng Qi nodded indifferently, still exuding the coldness of a wandering swordsman.

Agula seemed to have noticed the problem in his attitude, so he instantly restrained his smile and said, “More help means more hope of seeking revenge. When I think of how Aersilen refused to close his eyes when he was dying, I often can’t control my emotions.”

“You joined us at just the right time. In two days, the messenger from the south will be here to gather all the members nearby and pass on the information on Wolf King. He’ll also be witnessing your initiation into our league.”

“The messenger from the south…” Meng Qi nodded calmly, suddenly feeling that the Wolf-slaying League would be a rather compact organization, exceeding the standards of those spontaneous intel-sharing loose alliances.

Stepping out of the tent, Old Wuen chuckled and said, “Agula has another four sons and three daughters but none of them is as capable as Aersilen. It’s understandable for him to hold a grudge and join the Wolf-slaying League, risking the possibility of Wolf King taking revenge on him.”

“I would’ve done the same if I were in his place. Though it’s said that revenge breeds revenge, I hope it’s my enemy who will be persuaded by such a saying.” Seeing that there was no one around, Meng Qi could finally speak Mandarin, so he replied at length fluently.

…

Two days later, Meng Qi and Ba Tu followed Agula as he led them to an inconspicuous-looking tent.

“This is…” A Nine Acupores martial artist from the grassland was guarding the entrance. He looked at Meng Qi, refusing to allow him into the tent.

The guard knew both Agula and Ba Tu, but who was this wandering swordsman with a little mustache?

“This is a fighter who had just joined our ranks,” Agula whispered. “He has accepted the oath, as witnessed by the shaman.”

“Joining our ranks?” The guard stared at Meng Qi sharply, as if doubting his eligibility to join their league. Joining them was never as simple as just being willing to take up their oath!

He then noticed Meng Qi’s cold eyes and felt a sharp chill climbing up his throat, as if there was an invisible sword right on his neck. He felt as if his head would leave his body instantly if he made a rash action.

Cold sweat started beading on his forehead. He subconsciously took several steps backward and stepped out of the way to let Meng Qi pass.

Agura nodded gently, feeling satisfied with his choice of fighter.

There were several copper stoves in the tent, making it feel as warm as spring inside. The ground was covered in blankets and the walls were lined with felt, with gold ornaments placed orderly. The tent was luxuriously decorated without looking uncouth. It was a complete one-eighty from its inconspicuous appearance.

Inside, an old man was seated cross-legged with his eyes slightly closed. Smoking a speciality grass-leaf from the grasslands, his expression appeared quite relaxed.

Laying next to him was a dark and silky fur coat.

“Te Mu’er, the snow has closed off the grassland. Why did you still come so early?” Agula greeted the old man familiarly in a casual tone.

Te Mu’er put down his rolled cigar and exhaled a puff of white fog, then he said, “That’s precisely the reason why I left early. Who is this?”

“He’s Zhe Bie, the member that I initiated into the league. He’s a master capable of preserving his life in front of Wolf King.” Agula then turned to Meng Qi and said, “This is Te Mu’er, a famed master from Zhelimu. His most favored disciple died in the hands of Wolf King.”

Without needing a word from Agula, Meng Qi could sense Te Mu’er’s strength on his own. Though he could not make an accurate assessment, he could at least tell that Te Mu’er’s power had surpassed that of ordinary Nine Acupores masters. He could only determine if Te Mu’er was a Half-step Exterior Scenery expert when he sees him in action.

“I’ve gotten old. If I meet Wolf King on my own, I fear I won’t be able to leave alive.” Te Mu’er looked deep into Meng Qi’s eyes.

Agula sat down cross-legged and casually asked, “What about the rest?”

“They’re too busy to come. I’ll just run a few more rounds and pass them the news later on.” Te Mu’er’s voice sounded sluggish and aged. “Lately, the old tiger from Zhelimu is very interested in the goods from the south. You have to be careful.”

Agula nodded and began conversing with Te Mu’er. Wolf King never came up in their conversation, as it merely revolved around the hidden secrets of River Gegengol and Zhelimu. They also discussed the distribution channels of goods from the south and the stolen properties.

Meng Qi sat next to them without joining the conversation. He was a little shocked as he listened to their conversation. News often signaled opportunities, so the exchange of information between Agula and Te Mu’er was beneficial to both sides. With Agula’s status and Te Mu’er’s strength, them working together would not result in just simple collaboration.

“It was likely that there was no shortage of members who were not good enough for high posts yet too proud to accept a low one in the Wolf-slaying League. Alone, they were not worthy of mention. United, however, they could exchange information throughout the entire grassland and support each other, hence becoming a force that should not be overlooked…” Meng Qi fell into deep thought. “Even if they killed Wolf King, It wouldn’t be likely for them to dissolve the Wolf-slaying League even after having the sweet taste of success.”

Just then, a hearty laughter came from outside the entrance of the tent. “I heard there’s a hero joining us?”

Without needing to turn his head, Meng Qi already had the face of the visitor conjured up on his mind. “He has thick eyebrows and big eyes, wears a leather hat and a luxurious outfit, with a golden short knife hanging at the waist for decoration—the man doesn’t look old, perhaps he’s about 30 years old.”

“This is Dari Achi, our messenger from the south and a famous wandering warrior of the grassland. His younger brother was killed by Wolf King…” Agula made the introductions.

Dari Achi’s every movement seemed to carry the force of heaven and earth. Meng Qi was certain that he had already opened his Primal Acupore at Mid-brows. Since he was young and strong, Meng Qi was sure his strength was above that of Te Mu’er.

Dari Achi took off his fur coat and sat down without regarding himself as an outsider. He took a deep breath and said, “I wouldn’t doubt Agula’s judgment. I believe Brother Zhe Die wouldn’t be much weaker than Wolf King. He’ll be a good addition to our mission to kill Wolf King and to the league. Once my affairs here are finished and the snow has melted, I’ll take you to meet our president.”

When the president was mentioned, both Te Mu’er and Agula displayed a slight expression of reverence but said nothing. It made the president seem quite mysterious.

Dari Achi did not mention much about the president either, instead he changed the topic and said, “Since we’re all family now, I won’t say unrelated stuff or be hypocritical. Brother Zhe Bie, let me tell you about Tie Sheng that mongrel.”

“Okay.” This was precisely Meng Qi’s objective of this visit.

“Let’s put aside other things since I’m sure you’re already aware of it. I’ll just tell you what we Wolf-slaying League have found out,” Dari Achi said solemnly. “Though it appears that Tie Sheng the mongrel kills just about any master, we found out that—discounting a small minority of weaklings—his targets were always those who had seen a gradual increase in their strength.”

Dari Achi’s explanation was clear. He mentioned the league’s realization of the regularity of Wolf King’s killings: at regular intervals, Wolf King’s targets would see an exponential growth in their strengths before stabilizing at their levels. This process would repeat for a few more times. Of course, there were cases when his targets were much stronger or weaker than Wolf King, but they were in the minority. If those targets could not be easily killed, he would run far away and wait for another chance to kill them again.

“We suspect that the period in which he selects much more powerful targets is the period in which Tie Sheng is about to make a breakthrough. He’d take the risk to kill targets much stronger than himself to break his barriers,” Agula added.

Recalling the information he had read, Meng Qi nodded to show his agreement.

He estimated that it was about time for Wolf King to heal completely from the injuries he had caused. Considering Wolf King’s previous realm, he was now likely at the stage where he would be seeking a breakthrough. If this was true, they might have a chance to locate Wolf King and seek their revenge. The problem was that there was a decent pool of targets that Wolf King could draw from in the grassland, so it would be hard to determine his final pick.

Of course, this was all working under the assumption that Wolf King did not have any special encounters which might help him recover sooner than expected. Judging from the number of times he had killed in the past six months, however, this possibility was pretty low.

Dari Achi then confirmed Meng Qi’s thoughts, saying, “Although Tie Sheng rarely killed after returning from the Central Plains and seemed to be nearing his breakthrough, there are still many strong grassland warriors who can meet his breakthrough needs after we exclude the descendents of Jinzhang and the Changsheng Denomination. Thus we can only choose to focus on the important few.”

“But…” He changed the topic and continued, “I suspect Tie Sheng isn’t truly a lone wolf to be able to so accurately select his breakthrough targets. Furthermore, he had killed five warriors before going south. Two of them were our secret members. How could this be a coincidence?”

“So you’ve been investigating from this aspect?” Meng Qi tried very hard to speak the language of the grassland. His mind felt a little numb from listening to Dari Achi’s long explanation and nearly failed to catch onto the meaning of his words.

Dari Achi nodded. “We’ve leaked some news on purpose and traced it to discover three suspects; one of them is in Gegengol. It’s one of the reasons why I’m here.”

“Who is it?” Agula and Te Mu’er’s gazes became heated and their eyes even turned a little bloodshot.

Meng Qi remained still and retained his cold temperament, prompting Dari Achi to praise him for having the demeanor of a master.

“Narisu.” Dari Archi spat the name.

“Him?” Agula and Te Mu’er’s expressions turned grim.

“Narisu?” Meng Qi had no idea who it was.

“He was once a famed horse bandit. After reaching the Half-step Exterior Scenery, he left his group of bandits to his second-in-command and came to Gegengol to sell his goods to the many horse bandit groups here. Once he planted his roots here, he began giving out dividends in order to cultivate painstakingly in the hopes of gaining the favor of the Changsheng Demonination, as to build diplomatic relations inside and outside.”

Once a person became an Exterior master, he could be the guardian of a medium-sized tribe or join a large tribe. Compared to being a horse bandit, his status would increase a hundredfold. After all, under the reign of the Great Khan of Jinzhang, there was not any problem for the horse bandits to cause some insignificant troubles here and there. However, if the issue persisted, they would certainly be destroyed.

“We’ll once again disseminate unfavorable news about Wolf King. Brother Te Mu’er and Brother Zhe Bie, I hope you’ll keep an eye on Narisu and his men, follow them and find Wolf King!” Dari Achi raised his head ever so slightly as he said in an awe-inspiring tone.

Meng Qi gripped the handle of his saber.

“I hope your news is accurate,” he said lightly.

He then got up and turned around, leaving the tent.

Dari Achi squinted after seeing Zhe Bie’s attitude.

“I also hope you wouldn’t disappoint us,” he said quietly.

…

The moon was hidden behind the clouds as snowflakes drifted gently in the air.

Meng Qi and Te Mu’er were both lying on their stomachs on the top of their respective tents. They remained motionless, allowing the snow to cover them.

Someone secretly entered Narisu’s tent and passed on the information that he had received.

Narisu did not make any move the entire night after the informer left, prompting others to suspect that Dari Achi had made a mistake in his judgment.

However, Meng Qi and Te Mu’er both had exceptional patience. Submerged in the snow, they waited in the bitter cold for an entire night.

When dawn arrived, many of Narisu’s men entered his tent before quickly leaving. It was hard to guess who was the one who brought Narisu news, if there was any news being passed on at all.