The Sage Who Transcended Samsara

Meng Qi had just noticed the difference in the Phoenix-perching Zither when the palm abruptly reached for him. It was silent and carried no Upstanding Qi, only dark residual shadows.

There was a distance of more than several meters between the two, but the fake Ruan Yushu’s palm seemed to have penetrated through the void, or layers of water screen, causing fine ripples in the air. In a flash, it arrived in front of Meng Qi. He did not know if she was using stealth skills, making use of the cover of the dreamland formation, or had truly found a crack in the void.

Thump!

He thrust his sword that carried a blazing flame and blocked the palm, making a muffled sound on contact.

He leaned his body at an angle and slashed his sword at nearly the same time. The sword traveled in a strange direction, surrounded by silvery-white electric lights.

Clang! With the added attack of his saber, Meng Qi felt his right hand go numb. There was a feeling of tearing at his meridians, bones, flesh, and blood.

This was a situation that had yet to emerge in his fights against Aunt Bai. Since he had abruptly thrust his saber, he was not able to strike his opponent’s weak spots. The other reason was due to his opponent’s strange cultivation method and superior strength!

Unable to bear his opponent’s force, Meng Qi took a step backward and then used the opportunity to unleash his Body Movements. Pretending that he was retreating, he evaded the following palm coming from the fake Ruan Yushu.

It was only then that Meng Qi realized the change in his opponent’s breath after the attack. The person could no longer pretend to be Ruan Yushu. His face became indistinct and his body turned large and muscular. It was not anyone that Meng Qi knew.

He extended his hand to grab his sword, Flowing Fire, which he had thrown earlier. This time, he wielded both his saber and sword, not daring to be careless.

This was an opponent even more dangerous than Aunt Bai!

Furthermore, this was an opponent filled with murderous intent!

The man’s speed was incredible as he appeared to dissolve into dark shadows. Meng Qi had just barely gripped his sword when the man’s palms came charging at him. He did not even give him a chance to catch his breath.

Unlike the sneak attack earlier which required him to hide his momentum, this attack was accompanied with resounding whizzing noises. His palm was darkened as if tainted with filthy dirt, displaying the color of metal.

Meng Qi had long consummated his Oneness of Heaven and Men realm and returned to his original state. He could conform to nature at all times and his surroundings surfaced in his mind little by little – the boulders, running water, wasteland, dusky sky, even the operating of heaven and earth imitated by the dreamland formation, all appeared detailed in his mind. He could also sense the vast sea of Vital Qi diffusing into his body to restore his genuine Qi, physical strength and mental state.

However, the mysterious state of being one with heaven and earth instantly changed once the palm came striking at him. He felt a sudden and violent surge in his vast sea of Vital Qi alongside his turbulent feelings of permeation.

The ‘boulder’ was smashed into pieces, the ‘running water’ dried up, the ‘wasteland’ was split open, and the ‘sky’ turned pitch-black. The scene running through his mind was like that of doomsday. It became a struggle for him to maintain the Oneness of Heaven and Men and borrow the strength of heaven and earth!

“Six-annihilation Palms?”

“Six-annihilation Devilman?”

“He’s a perfect Half-step master!”

The thought suddenly crossed his mind after experiencing the dreadful feeling in secret.

He did not let the thought disturb his calmness. Changing his Body Movements, he leaned at an angle and swung his saber in an arc. His saber was sometimes firm, sometimes flexible; sometimes Yin, sometimes Yang; sometimes offensive, sometimes defensive, as if it was trying to travel around Tai Ji Palace. Using the way of the Yin and Yang, it hit the weakest point of his opponent’s point just right.

The man recalled his darkened palm in silence, shattering the saber momentum without producing any strong wind. Meng Qi’s skin was exuding a faint dark golden glow and his arm felt as numb as earlier, as if something was tearing at his inner strength.

He took several steps at once, unloading all of his strength as he moved in an eerie manner.

His opponent followed in his footsteps, throwing both of his palms at the same time. He did not allow Meng Qi the chance to create a distance between them.

…

Zhao Heng had been running while clearing away miscellaneous weaklings with one hand balled up in a fist and the other wrapped around the handle of his sword. Each strike he dealt belonged to the movement of the Book of Shocking the World, allowing him to stop using any tricks he had learned from exchanges with the Samsara. Even so, his realm and moves were superior to all the opponents he had encountered, who found it difficult to resist his attacks.

It was typically at this point that his opponents would lose their will to fight and their family elders would summon them out of the formation. However, Zhao Heng’s eyebrows were knitted tightly as he watched the disciple of the Ke family lie flat on the ground after fainting from his palm attack. There were no signs of him leaving the formation.

“Did the formation and the elders’ breaths fail?” Zhao Heng could sense something of a conspiracy.

He decided to go in another direction and forget trying to clear the weaklings out of the contest. He wanted to meet up with his friends as soon as possible.

He had not been running for long when he heard a woman’s forthright laughter. “To think I’d come across Prince Wei! How can I let this opportunity pass?”

The woman was none other than Aunt Bai, whose entire being was burning with fighting desire. She had decided to kick Zhao Heng out of the battlefield for Prince Jin’s sake.

She charged at him like a vicious beast and her fist arrived before his face in the span of time it took him to breathe. Her punch weighed on him, suppressing all his movements.

Aunt Bai did not give him the opportunity to bring up the abnormalities happening in the formation at all, and he did not dare become a sitting target either – if he was hit, he would not be able to escape the formation!

His expression remained as dull as ever. He wielded his sword vertically, with the pointed end aligned with the middle of his eyebrows as if he was praying to the heavens.

He thrust his sword and the weather changed with it, bringing the whistling of winds and the entwining mist that transformed into a true dragon.

His sword moved as if it was taking orders from heaven and escaped the binds of the earth in a flash to target Aunt Bai. In between the faint moves, heaven and earth seemed to have repelled her.

The two exchanged a series of rapid, intense blows and caused dust to rise around them. Behind them, a figure showed up with a saber in hand. His face was neat and square, making him look strong and resolute.

“Yan Chong, quick! Come and give me a hand!” Though Aunt Bai had gotten the upper hand, it was still difficult to determine a victor so soon. She had been worried that Prince Jin would be expelled from the formation in advance. When she saw the figure, she instantly called out to him happily.

Yan Chong gave her a gentle nod and approached them with a sudden thrust of his saber as if it was the emergence of sudden raging waves.

“There’s a ghost…” The two of them had besieged Zhao Heng before he could finish his words. In a situation where danger was imminent, where had he found the energy to talk?

…

Qi Zhengyan was making a detour through the forest as he attempted to find a way out when he came across someone.

The person was dressed in a plain robe and his hand was pinching prayer beads. His face was thin. It was a monk that accompanied the Crown Prince, who had the right to bring two people with him into the formation.

“Amitabha.” The monk did not try and sneak an attack on him. He chanted the many names of Buddha before pressing his thumbs together and thrusting them to call forth the mark of Wheel of Bound Sun.

Dazzling rays of light blossomed from within the space between his hands as if the Grand Sun had descended to illuminate all of the corners of the earth. The light was glaring, filling his palms with a burning hot energy.

Qi Zhengyan drew his sword, unleashing red clouds. A lonesome duck flew into the sky, bringing with it the concealed power of Rosy Afterglow Swing, and drew away the monk’s Wheel of Bound Sun.

His eyes were glittering with purple stars against a canvas that appeared as dark as the universe. He did not fear the sunlight at all.

The monk executed the Precious Vase Seal, large Vajra Seal, Leo Seal, and Inner Binding Seal in succession like a descending Wisdom King, suppressing Qi Zhengyan.

However, Qi Zhengyan seemed to have mastered the Book of the Chaos and the sword art of the Huanhua Swords Sect to a comprehensive degree. He was about to wield his sword freely, sometimes like a river of stars crossing heaven, and sometimes like a cold light attacking from afar. It did not seem as if he would be defeated even facing an opponent whose realm was beyond his. Instead, he remained steadfast in guarding and attacking.

…

Ruan Yushu hugged her zither as she walked around the wasteland. If she came across those who wanted to bully a ‘weak young lady’, she would often use only her Confusion Divine Tune and Heart-quaking Note, and Six Meridians Supersword to send them away. She did not even need to use her Send-Off Curse, Guanghan Curse, or the Samsara Tunes.

She saw a young man, clad in a large-sleeved robe, walking towards her. The man appeared straightforward and radiated with vigor. It was Cui Zhe.

He laughed brightly when he saw that it was her. “What a surprise to meet Younger Sister Yushu here. Looks like I’ll be blessed with some divine tunes.”

Since childhood, his hobby had been tuning. It seemed that he was interested in testing the divine tunes of the Ruan family.

Ruan Yushu did not retreat from the challenge. She was sure that the number of powerful enemies that she had encounter far exceeded Cui Zhe. Holding her zither in her left hand, she strummed the strings with her right.

Suddenly, Cui Zhe appeared stunned and furrowed his brows. “There’s an unforeseeable event happening outside. It has become dangerous to stay inside the formation. Younger Sister Yushu, you should leave immediately.”

His figure moved as soon as he was done speaking and he slipped past the layers of water screens, disappearing before Ruan Yushu’s eyes.

The unforeseeable event brought forth by the Saint Emperor’s Token had placed the Cui family on high alert. The family was worried that it would not be safe for Cui Zhe to enter the formation and made some other arrangements for security purposes. That was the reason Cui Zhe was the first person that was found and later taken out of the formation. Wang Zai followed suit, only seconds later than him.

Ruan Yushu frowned after hearing Cui Zhe’s words. She increased her pace and walked around, trying to look for her friends to pass on the warning.

After walking for some time, she happened upon a hill and heard the sounds of rolling thunders coming from ahead.

She looked up and saw an overcast sky hanging overhead as well as two figures moving ceaselessly, with one party carrying a sword and the other throwing her palms. Every now and then, thunder and lightning would flare. Other times, a fire would surge. However, both effects would be quickly shattered.

Everywhere around her, it was so dark that it felt like the coming of doomsday. The two figures were locked in a close battle to the point that she could not see them clearly. Meng Qi was currently at a disadvantage, unable to break away from his opponent.

Ruan Yushu, despite looking as cold as ever, could not help sucking in a breath after seeing this situation. She planned on running over the hill within range of her tunes, and unleashing her 12 Magical Sounds of Langhuan to help Meng Qi defeat his opponent as soon as possible.

Just then, something tugged at her heart and she turned her head sideways to look behind her. She saw a black-robed person wearing a mask coming close at an incredible speed.

“Thunder God from the Ninth Heaven!” The pupils of her clear eyes shrunk in shock.

Thunder God from the Ninth Heaven, as if bound by the formation, found it difficult to fly. However, he was incredibly fast and shrank the distance of more than hundred meters in the blink of an eye.

In the span of the time that it took for her to breathe, Thunder God would be able to spot her and Meng Qi and attack!

Meng Qi had unleashed both his bladesmanship and sword art without holding back. Not only did he aim different kinds of Gists of Trueness at his opponent’s weak points without losing momentum, he also continuously lay down clever setups. He would sometimes trigger the Purple Thunder Force, and sometimes borrow the miraculous force of Flowing Fire to bite back.

However, it was as if his every saber and sword strike was utterly useless. As long as his attacks landed on the darkened palms, his force would be soundlessly canceled out. His saber momentum would shatter and his lightning fire would be snuffed out. Each story spoken by his sword was interrupted.

Six-annihilation Devilman cleverly chose to use realm and cultivation method to suppress Meng Qi, without the slightest intention of allowing Meng Qi to compete, based on the realm of their moves and willpower.

The more strikes he made, the more Meng Qi felt the vast sea of Vital Qi surging violently all around him. It was near impossible for him to return to the state of harmony with nature. He was still fine if it came down to genuine Qi, but his physical strength and mental state had been slowly but surely declining. He was also having trouble maintaining his state of Oneness of Heaven and Men because ‘nature’ was close to crumbling around him as if it was the coming of doomsday!

The Immortal Pressing Art, and even more terrifyingly, the shattering sensation was beginning to extend its damage to Meng Qi’s physical body as well. The Immortal Pressing Art was incapable of dissolving the effects of such strange, mysterious attacks. If not for the strength of his Eight Nine Mysteries and the gleaming of the faint golden glow, he would have died at once after his body being shattered!

Six-annihilation Devilman was incredibly patient. He engaged Meng Qi in a battle of no end, not giving him any chance to use his killer moves or run.

However, at the same time, he was unable to find the chance to earn a definite victory.

“He seems to be waiting for something…” That was the strongest gut feeling that Meng Qi felt.

Under the entanglements of Qi, a heavy oppressive feeling caught hold of Six-annihilation Devilman. This allowed Meng Qi’s momentum to rise. However, due to his opponent’s wandering fighting style, there was a limit to it…

…

Watching Thunder God from the Ninth Heaven speedily approach, Ruan Yushu’s first emotion was fear. She then inhaled, sat down cross-legged, and placed her hands on her zither.

The voice of her Ninth Grandfather, Ruan Kang, crossed her mind at that moment: “The situation has changed; the formation has become dangerous…”

The exchange of thoughts happened in the blink of an eye. Ruan Kang had finally found her.

While Ruan Yushu was paralyzed with shock, Ruan Kang could tell that something was off and used his breath to sense the surroundings. “There’s an Exterior master near you? Hurry up and return!”

His tone became incredibly grave after sensing Thunder God from the Ninth Heaven. He could not use too much of his force in the formation at the moment. It was enough only for him to summon Ruan Yushu.

Ruan Yushu felt the breath attached to her body begin moving and a rare complicated expression crossed her face. She turned to look at Meng Qi, still locked in battle, and then at a distance at Qi Zhengyan and Zhao Heng, who might be fighting as well. She finally turned to glance at Thunder God of the Ninth Heaven, who was approaching the hill, and her expression became firm.

“21st Lady, what are you doing…” Ruan Kang’s voice trailed off and died as the breath disappeared in an odd manner.

Ruan Yushu lowered her face and said quietly,

“Ninth Grandfather, even though you all always tell me I’m a bright child, I know I’m actually incredibly stupid. So stupid that I gave up an easy path to survival and choose a bumpy road towards death…”

She raised her Phoenix-perching Zither in the air, caressing the strings with her fingers. She would use the cry of the phoenix to penetrate the Nine Heavens!