The Sage Who Transcended Samsara

Based on the memories of this peach sprite, Monster Emperor Palace had been sealed ever since the Apotheosis War, restricting the entry of all demons. However, rumor had it that the objects like the Lexicon of Demon Emperor and Demon-summoning Pennant remained in wait inside the palace. They could only be used in times of great calamity, and were awaiting their destined owners.

This lineage of the demonic cult possessed the “Map of Mountains and Rivers” that the Monster Emperor had left behind, and was responsible for guarding the Monster Emperor Palace. They had never interfered in worldly affairs although the monster distinctly remembered that two of his kind had suddenly appeared that day. One man had a head of multi-colored hair of red, green, yellow, white, and black hues. He had handsome, haughty looks and a terrifying breath that left the other monsters trembling with fear as if they had met a genuine big monster. It was only when the “Palm Palace” of that time used the Map of Mountains and Rivers to put up a fight that the peach sprite managed to restrain his urge to kowtow to the man.

The other one was a beautiful, delicate-looking monster. She did not exude bewitching charm with her movement, yet she nudged the desire hidden in the depths of the peach sprite’s heart. It took just a sniff for the peach sprite to know that the coquettish fox was a descendant of the Mound Qing foxes!

The peach sprite had seen them speaking to “Palm Palace” but did not overhear the conversation. Later, “Palm Palace” led them inside the Monster Emperor Palace.

Seven days of sincere kowtowing later, the doors of Monster Emperor Palace opened for the first time in hundreds of years.

Unfortunately, the doors of the Monster Emperor Palace opened only for them. Entry was barred to the demonic cult that had guarded the place for generations. The monsters watched helplessly as the two stepped inside the palace, and then, after 49 days, left. The doors were once again shut after their departure. The palace had since remained undisturbed by external matters.

The thoughts of “Palm Palace” became active after this incident, even removing the base of the Small Heaven Cave that had been hidden in the depths of the mountains since time immemorial and settling down in Yuxu Mountain that was near the human folk. It was then renamed “Palm Sect”. The members of the demonic cult were then ordered to take turns in returning to the former location of the Monster Emperor Palace and guard it. However, a reason was never given to them.

As for the other matter, what the man with multi-colored hair and the Mound Qing fox saw or obtained inside the Monster Emperor Palace was unknown to the peach sprite.

“Multi-colored hair… Five colors… Could it be ‘Peacock Demon King’ Tai Li? Could he and the little fox be Samsara travelers? Or did they rely on the Secret Scroll of the demonic cult to enter the Apotheosized World?” Meng Qi muttered with a frown, having suppressed his surprise. However, no conclusion came to him.

What ‘stunned’ him was the fact that “Drooping Wing” who had been suppressed in the back mountain of Shaolin Temple in the past, the descendant roc whose chatter induced massive headaches, had not been exaggerating. There really was something like the Monster Emperor Palace!

While the legend of Monster Emperor existed in their own world, it was a tale that dated far into the pre-ancient times. It was closer to a myth akin to the three Taoism Primogenitors of the Primeval, with few true stories being handed down through the generations. It was said that Monster Emperor had long reached illumination and became Monster Saint. The latter neither cared for the affairs of the demonic cult nor favored them. The only thing that mattered to Monster Saint was the Lexicon of Demon Emperor being handed down. Thus, there existed a gap in the position of Monster Saint in the hearts of the demonic cult.

However, the location of the Monster Emperor Palace was not something that was mentioned in the legends of their own world. It did not even come up in rumors. The possibility of Drooping Wing being correct just by shooting its mouth off was low. Could it be possible that it knew quite a few Secret Scrolls through its family history that had been passed down through the generations?

Meng Qi put an end to the different thoughts running through his mind, deciding to drop the matter for now due to the lack of clues and strength to investigate it. He could treat it as intel for the Immortals, at most, or conversation fodder when chatting with his friends.

“Yuxu Mountain…” Putting aside the matter of the Monster Emperor Palace, the little fox, and Drooping Wing, Meng Qi found the name of the mountain to be strange. It was only one word off from the name of ‘Jade Virtual Palace’. Could the two places be connected? Or could it be some kind of a declaration?

Therefore, Meng Qi used the word ‘Yuxu’ as the keyword to evoke relevant memory fragments of the peach sprite. The scenes flashed across his eyes and a voice crossed the bottom of his heart.

Not a lot of memory fragments came up and most that did were not of the ‘Yuxu’ that Meng Qi was hoping for. For example, one particular memory of a certain time and day involved the peach sprite feasting on a woodcutter on Yuxu Mountain.

He was about to give up when one memory fragment magnified in his mind. It was a memory of the peach sprite chatting with its Junior Brother.

“Junior Brother, what is Uncle Master of Palm Sect discussing secretly with Lord Bo’Le?” the peach sprite asked.

The big-headed Junior Brother rubbed his ears. “Do you think Uncle Master of Palm Sect doesn’t know us well? He has long put up precautionary measures. There’s a constant buzzing noise all around!”

“I faintly heard the words ‘Yuxu traitors’ but that was only because Lord Bo’Le lost control and raised his voice.”

“Yuxu traitors…” Meng Qi frowned. This was a truly shocking form of address.

Come to think of it, the information from the Immortals stated that the Twelve Golden Immortals disappeared not long after the apotheosis, said to have either passed away or entered Buddhism. The orthodoxy of the Chan denomination had long become destitute. Even disciples who had joined the Investiture of the Gods and whose corporeal bodies had turned sacred fell due to the Celestial Court. There were no longer records of them descending to the human world, leaving only legends of them in the manner of other immortals.

It was to the extent that there were few among the secret sects of the present day that could claim a relationship with the Kunlun lineage, and all of them were incredibly distant descendants. Setting aside the fact that they did not possess the Primeval impartation, they even had very few of the orthodoxy of the Twelve Golden Immortals. It was so much so that their connection to the Kunlun lineage was even further than that of several feudal princes’ families and the Jade Virtual Palace. Neither could they compare with the Immortals who had discovered the passing ground of Yun Zhongzi and a considerable collection of orthodoxies!

It was likely that these distant descendants did not have a close enough relationship to be considered ‘Yuxu traitors’. When Meng Qi thought about the Azure Palace located on top of Mount Kunlun as well as the suppression of Yang Jian or Yang Erlang, everything seemed to become clear to him.

“This world is indeed strange. No wonder the Primogenitor did not dare to make a reckless move…” Having found no other clues, Meng Qi made quick work out of killing the peach sprite. What remained of it was the stump of a peach tree.

“This is a great material!” Meng Qi exclaimed as he assessed the value of the Real Body of the peach sprite.

As he spoke he noticed everyone giving him a strange look. Without batting an eyelid, he said, “Though heaven values lives, those who wilfully slaughter the innocent must not be left alone. If we let one of them live, it means the deaths of tens and hundreds of people. How can we be hypocritical in not acting if killing one demon can save countless creatures? We must persevere despite immense obstacles!”

“We must persevere despite immense obstacles…” Bai Song was initially stunned but excitement soon colored his eyes as he carefully savored Meng Qi’s words. He repeated the words under his breath again and again. He felt as if his Vital Spirit and mind had been raised to a higher level. He wished nothing more than to immediately die for their ‘righteous’ cause.

“This is the true bearing of a Saint!”

“This is what it means for justice to be found everywhere!”

“Oops, I’ve plagiarized the words of Benevolent Saint of medieval times and Mencius from my previous life…” Meng Qi had blurted the words out without much thought, causing him to burn with embarrassment now. If he were alone, he would carry on with a thick face, but his friends were all watching!

Never mind the fact that the Mo school of thought was their task, citing Tao Te Ching was to prove a point. However, to steal the words of a Benevolent Saint… would the divine weapons and objects that the saint had left behind hunt for his blood?

Jiang Zhiwei and the others pursed their lips as they stared at the ‘dignified’ Meng Qi, resisting the urge to smile. She soundlessly relayed her voice. “The peach sprite owned a Space Ring, three exotic minerals and produce, its tree stump, and a Mind-bending Clock that has still one good use in it…”

She smiled as she added, “I know this is what you’re most concerned with.”

“Are the words ‘money hoarder’ etched on my face?” Meng Qi thought as he rubbed his beardless chin.

Based on their encounter earlier, the power of the Mind-bending Clock seemed to be in between the Four and Five-fold Heaven realms. The clock, a strange and mysterious secret treasure, specialized in its effect on the Vital Spirit. It would prove to be quite useful. The Map of Mountains and Rivers replica could fool even grandmasters, even entrapping or affecting them to a small degree.

To be honest, Meng Qi took no particular interest in offensive and defensive secret treasures below the realm of Five-fold Heaven unless they were particularly tyrannical or had a unique function. Even if he could not unleash the full potential of Flowing Fire at his current realm, his sword was nonetheless a Top-grade Precious Weapon. One strike of the sword alone possessed the power of a Four-fold Heaven secret treasure. This factor contributed to his killing of the big-headed monster earlier.

“It’s a pity that they used their other items to lay down the killing formation…” Meng Qi reluctantly glanced at the remnants of the formation. He did not dare to take time dismantling the formation fearing that more enemies were on the way. He soared through the clouds and rapidly flew far away, all the while continuously changing directions.

As they escaped, Meng Qi informed his friends about everything he had seen in the peach sprite’s memories. He concluded it with, “Palm Sect of the Small Heaven Cave is a monster in the Half-step to Dharmakaya realm. There are also several Monster Venerables at the level of grandmaster. They also wield the authentic Map of Mountains and Rivers. Considering our current strength, it’s best if we don’t provoke them.”

Even if Primogenitor Lingbao himself were to make a move, it would still be perilous. The authentic Map of Mountains and Rivers was an exceptional Peerless Godly Weapon. Even if they could not kill the Primogenitor, they could still entrap him and wait for him to exhaust his lifespan of one or two hundred years.

Even though Jiang Zhiwei and the rest had never heard of the Map of Mountains and Rivers and did not know the true power of the authentic one, they had a pretty good idea of what it was capable of after seeing the might of the replica. Thus, they made no objection to Meng Qi’s proposal despite being curious about Monster Emperor.

“Goddess Nvywa is one of the Inborn Spirits. She’s rumored to have reached illumination in the pre-ancient era, even before Emperor Fu. However, only legends of her remain. She’s the Mother Deity to our Human tribe, but I didn’t think she would turn out to be Monster Emperor…” When it came to such matters, Ruan Yushu showed a hint of interest despite her cold demeanor and spoke more than usual. She was, after all, well-versed in her family history.

“It is said that Goddess Nvywa is a creature with a human head and a serpent body. That description does make her sound like a monster,” Zhao Heng said, speculating.

Ruan Yushu shook her head. “Inborn Spirits are neither monsters nor humans; they have their own embodiments.”

Jiang Zhiwei agreed, saying, “Human head atop a serpent body is but the beginning of the word ‘Dao’, not a sign of the demonic cult.”

The way the character for ‘Dao’ was written resembled a person with a human head and a serpent body.

Yet, she hesitated for a moment before saying, “There’s a considerable number of members of the demonic cult who are descendants of Inborn Spirits, so perhaps…”

Meng Qi continued her sentence for her, nodding as he did. “In the pre-ancient up to the ancient times, big powers often assumed multiple identities, had two sides to them, or even removed a part of themselves to be used as a separate entity. Perhaps Goddess Nvywa is also Monster Emperor on top of being the Mother Deity to the Human tribe.”

For example, Azure Emperor alone may have three identities: Azure Emperor, Primogenitor Taiyi, and Bhaisajyaguru Buddha. Perhaps even more!

He turned to smile at Qi Zhengyan. “Goddess Nvywa has not handed down her orthodoxy to date. The persona of Monster Emperor now owns the Lexicon of Demon Emperor.”

“Senior Brother Qi, your Book of the Chaos seems to be connected to her. Perhaps it’s a Confucian orthodoxy of Mother Deity of the Human tribe or Inborn Spirit. Looks like you’re fated with the Monster Emperor Palace!”

The founder of the Book of the Chaos was not specified in the Exchange List of the Six Realms, only vaguely pointing to Nvywa. However, Meng Qi had read about the great Goddess Nvywa from reading a certain comic book. Based on the characteristics of the big powers of ‘legend’ status and above, perhaps it really was Goddess Nvywa who created the book!

Qi Zhengyan turned his head away, ignoring Meng Qi’s nonsense. Even if the Book of the Chaos was truly Goddess Nvywa’s orthodoxy, what did it have anything to do with distracting himself with the impartation of Monster Emperor?

So he could be neither a human nor a monster?

At that point, Zhao Bai noted that they had escaped far enough so he asked, “Mr. Su, where are we going next?”

“Since we’ve offended Lord Bo’Le and Small Heaven Cave of Yuxu Mountain, we must leave this place at once and enter other secret sects or Earthen Realms under the control of other feudal princes. That’s the only way we can borrow external pressure to intimidate them from hunting us down again.” Meng Qi had properly thought it out. “Only then do we start looking for a small state.”

Bai Song instantly said, “Both Tang and Chu are large vassal nations that are slightly stronger than Han. There’s a strong sect like Golden Light Cave of Mount Wudang in the vicinity as well. I’m sure Small Heaven Cave of Yuxu Mountain wouldn’t dare to enter rashly.”

“Golden Light Cave of Mount Wudang?” Meng Qi narrowed his eyes as he recalled the information from the Immortals. In the several hundred years since the divergence of the world, there were once Six Hegemons who suppressed other vassal nations to become the ‘overlords of nations’.

Some of the Hegemons had long claimed Dharmakaya while others only began to condense after climbing to the throne of Hegemon. They had their respective fates but shared a similarity in abruptly going into retirement at the prime of their lives. They hid in the secret sects or lineages of Buddhism, causing speculations about their disappearance.

It was the King of Chu who had retired in Golden Light Cave of Mount Wudang a hundred years ago. Henceforth, the world lost its Hegemons and fell into a state of deep unrest.

When Bai Song saw that Meng Qi was silent, he added, “Tang and Chu are at war all year round. Between them are about ten small nations that have each taken a side. This is just the right environment for all of you to display your talents, Mr. Su!”

Meng Qi took a deep breath and nodded.

“Okay!”

It just so happened that the improvements to the Mo school of thought had just been completed. They were also well-versed in what ideas could and could not be mentioned in the small nations. Now was the time to try it out!