The Sage Who Transcended Samsara

The ice-blue Frost-eye Crystal came hurtling toward Xi, freezing the surrounding vapors instantly. The flakes of ice that materialized sparkled in rainbow colors as it came swiftly at him.

Having been hit by Meng Qi’s psychological attack, the “I, the Unique and Righteous” technique, Xi was thrown into throes of confusion. Visions of his past flashed before his eyes, his Vital Spirit seemed fractured by the mental blow. He quickly regained his consciousness, only to find that the Frost-eye Crystal was already before him, leaving no room for evasive maneuvers.

Meng Qi had not expected to be able to completely destabilize his enemy’s mental state with “I, the Unique and Righteous.” Even with the momentary failure of the defensive properties of the Elements of Virtues and Merit, Xi still had ample opportunity to regain his consciousness and survive. Meng Qi had thus not been idle when presented with an opening. He detonated a material for forging Divine Weapons in order to maintain the momentum!

Icy currents of flowing vapors engulfed Xi who had just restored his defensive powers. The golden silhouette of the baroque pagoda froze, the glitter of its splendor suspended in ice, as were the rays of streaking black and white rays, the purple aura and the shimmering effects of the Elements of Virtues and Merit. The extreme chill spread deeper inside, trapping the form of the Phoenix in ice. Every Dharmic Form trapped in ice would crumble into pieces when the ice melted, this was the terrible effect of the Frost-eye Crystal when detonated.

If Meng Qi had not trained in the skills of the Tri-gem Wish Fist of the Heavenly Golden Scripture, he would not have such a deep understanding of the Elements of Virtues and Merit!

Without the first stroke of The Buddha’s Palm, “I, the Unique and Righteous,” not even the most powerful of offenses would have been able to mentally affect Xi even with the failure of the Elements of Virtues and Merit.

Then again, there may be other ways to find chinks in Xi’s seemingly indestructible defenses. The “tales” that Meng Qi’s blade had told were a style fully composed of Meng Qi’s own skills and strengths!

With the help of the “World of Dao” and the Primary Instruction of the Seven Strokes of Heaven Interception, Meng Qi’s skills with the sword and saber had increased substantially such that he could freely execute blows without rigidly following the styles of swordsmanship that he had learned.

The icy currents grew stronger around Meng Qi. Dragging his drained and weary body, he flew backward. He knew that Xi has inseverable connections to the ancient Sun God, and now the chrysalis of the deceased Sun God had appeared before their very eyes due to the anomaly in the Time-Space continuum. With so many unknowns and probable dangers, Meng Qi could not be sure of his safety, so he chose to keep as far away as possible!

If not for Xi’s obstinate refusal to agree to a truce, Meng Qi would have sworn an oath of secrecy and let him be. He was not willing to use up the efficacy of the Ancient Space-breaching Talisman when there were still ways for him to defeat his enemy. No one knew what dangers may be lurking in the crevices between the ruins of the Ninth Heaven!

The form of the Phoenix, despite being imbued with the powers of the Elements of the Five Virtues, was completely engulfed by ice. The chill reached ravenously for Xi. With his final ounces of strength, Meng Qi continued to maintain the distance between them.

All of a sudden, the great golden figure under the shadow of the Ancient Mulberry Tree stirred. Its eyes – with burning orbs of sun as pupils – sprang open and a blinding radiance poured forth. It was so bright that only the eyes could be seen—not its appearance, nor its body.

The Sun God had awakened!

He, who was known as an ancient entity even in the ancient times, had awakened!

“Boom!”

Meng Qi seemed to have heard an imaginary explosion as a wave of heat hit his face with an intensity that could have reduced him to cinders. His senses tingled wildly, warning him of the impending danger. Meng Qi clenched the Ancient Space-breaching Talisman and prepared to make his escape.

Just then, the Sun God rose to his feet, looming over them like a majestic mountain. His blazing gaze swung as he turned, the flames in his eyes flared from the “Past” into “Present”.

The moment the God trained his gaze upon him, Meng Qi felt the heat from his eyes, the greatness of a God, and the fear of facing one. The gaze of the God seemed to hold him transfixed. Everything erupted into flames, even his robes—and this was all before the flames of the Sun God himself had even reached him from the other side of the distortion of the past.

Such was the terror of he who has complete dominance over fire!

The form of a golden Buddha appeared inside Meng Qi’s Vital Spirit, pointing up to the sky and down to the ground. With the “I, the Unique and Righteous” technique, Meng Qi regained his composure and prepared to escape with the Ancient Space-breaching Talisman.

By then, the golden flames of the Sun God were close to reaching him. The intense heat had vaporized his robes and had begun to penetrate his golden defensive aura. He would be nothing more than a parched corpse even if he managed to activate the Talisman!

The difference between their strengths was too great to define. Even through the anomaly’s divide through Time, a stroke of the Sun God through the faded past of millennia would at least have the magnitude of a blow from a Dharmakaya practitioner!

Such were the powers of one of the Legends!

With danger looming and Death overshadowing him, Meng Qi cast the Nature-involving Knack even though he knew there would be no time for him to use any Divine Weapon materials.

Just then, a divine and airy voice drifted into his ears. A figure in white floated gracefully before him with white lotus flowers falling elegantly around her.

“The world of mortals is like a prison. All living beings are suffering. The wheel of reincarnation never ends. Suffering is perpetual. Have mercy on my people. The Gods are dawning on us. Ajati Matriarch, Vacuum Hometown!”

“Gu Xiaosang?” He stared in disbelief at the figure before him and the ethereal voice that streamed into his ears.

Gu Xiaosang was now wearing the divine appearance of a goddess—holy and pure as she held a white lotus flower in her hands that looked as if it had been conjured from thin air.

The petals of the lotus flower opened and bloomed, casting a wave of serenity that invoked a still peacefulness around him. The Elements of the Five Virtues and Five Tais, as well as the Signs of the Eight Diagrams converged into a single point. With the powers of the Elements, Gu Xiaosang fully displayed her embodiment of the Ajati Matriarch, the Mother of All Creations!

Vacuum Hometown of the Ajati Matriarch—the end of all things, the finality of all finalities and THE Nirvana-leveled Deity of all of the Realms of Nirvana.

The golden flames reached them and melted the gliding petals, burning the conjuration of the Vacuum Hometown. It had come before Gu Xiaosang.

The flames illuminated her face. She studied the impending fire intently with her deep eyes. Her expression remained stern and solemn, betraying no sign of emotion save for an air of purity and holiness, but not without a wisp of playfulness.

She coughed up a mouthful of blood, tainting the petals of the lotuses red as her aura began to weaken rapidly.

The white lotus emitted a brilliance of light obstinately, but its brightness faltered swiftly before the horror of the golden flames, only able to weaken it mildly.

The hot air current blew and whistled at the rousing flames. Summoning what was left of her strength, Gu Xiaosang staggered to maintain her balance.

Just then, the Nature-involving Knack that Meng Qi had cast earlier came into full effect and the inexplicable shape of the Immortal Primogenitor Form materialized behind him.

If one were to briefly glance upon the Form, one would vaguely be able to see a middle-aged Taoist seated within the point where the powers of the Dharmic Form converged!

The form of the Taoist rose to his feet and opened his eyes that looked eerily dark and distant without the reflections of Time and Space. He formed a hand seal and held in his hand a Frost-eye Crystal while his other palm struck forward.

The environment around them changed instantly. The Frost-eye Crystal turned red and the golden flames began to weaken. The intense heat around them dropped gradually as coldness rose to extinguish it.

One of the Nine Primeval Seals, the Yin-Yang Seal!

A Yin-Yang Seal with the Frost-eye Crystal as a catalyst!

Gu Xiaosang shivered with the cold, and her face grew pale as the golden flames began to desecrate her person. Together with Meng Qi, who was also trembling with the cold, she endured the blow.

A crack appeared on the Frost-eye Crystal. Another use of the ore will fully exhaust its powers and it would no longer be useful as a material for forging Divine Weapons!

“Crack!” The loud snap came from afar. The Sun God had stepped through the anomaly, crossing from the past into the present. A mere glance from him would have been sufficient to disintegrate Meng Qi and Gu Xiaosang.

Suddenly his aura dipped and plummetted. His body began to shrink rapidly as if the decay of Time was flaying his outer skins!

More than tens of thousands of years had passed since the age of the Gods. The Sun God should have long perished and his powers spent, yet his physical form remained. Within its form was the power that could still lay waste to the entire land!

By passing through time, the Sun God had taken too close a step to his own death as the instantaneous blight of Time gnawed at his body. With barely any power left to stare at Meng Qi, he summoned his remaining strength and rekindled the flames of his body, blazing with multitudes of colors before turning into a streaking light of rainbow colors that zipped through the freezing ice and entered Xi’s forehead.

Without any ado, the freezing ice spreading around Xi instantly melted. He opened his eyes which now had fiery orbs of suns in them as if preparing himself to meld with the flames of the Phoenix.

The frozen mask on his face broke into pieces and fell off, revealing his gnarled face. It was reduced into ashes before its fragments even reached the ground.

Xi coughed up some blood—blood that burned with flames. He turned away from them haphazardly and left.

He had fallen into a very weak state, a state of frailty that Meng Qi could not understand, and both he and Gu Xiaosang could not help but feel aghast by this change.

Meng Qi watched the figure of Xi disappear into the distance before he finally heaved a sigh of relief. He suddenly felt the soreness and weariness of his body weighing upon him as well as the pain of his internal injuries. He had lost even the strength to activate the Ancient Space-breaching Talisman!

Gu Xiaosang coughed lightly, her voice weak and sickly. Meng Qi struggled and made his way to her and helped her to stand. “Are you all right?”

Despite whatever intentions the cunning demoness may have had, it was undeniable that she had just saved his life.

Gu Xiaosang smiled as she answered. Her lips were pale and colorless, with traces of blood upon it. “I, I have saved you once again, Husband.”

Her eyes were gleaming with tears as she looked cheerfully at him, not betraying any emotion.

“Let us leave this place and find a place to heal.” Meng Qi watched her swallow a healing elixir and he took a Bhaisajyaguru Relieve Pill himself.

With difficulty, Gu Xiaosang raised an arm and pointed into the distance. “There are some ruins there.”

Meng Qi looked closely into the distance. The blood that Xi had vomited was still burning, and the tongues of the flames were hemmed with golden sparkles. It looked similar to the flames sent forth by the Sun God earlier. Beside the puddle of blood were several fragments that glittered like amber.

He suddenly had an idea. He walked toward the fiery blood, took out the Fiery Core of the Grand Sun, and placed it in the flames.

In no time, the Fiery Core of the Grand Sun shone brightly as it absorbed all of the fiery blood, leaving not even a drop. It now looked more like a miniature sun, with a greater amount of heat and horror contained within.

A look at the ore told Meng Qi that its grade had elevated, so the number of times it could be used had increased as well.

“The Sun God would never have expected that his tens of thousands of years of planning would be foiled by you. Your intrusion into his designs has forced him into aggression that resulted in only a sliver of his powers left.” Gu Xiaosang struggled to keep up with his pace. The elixir she took had begun to take effect, and her speech was no longer sporadic.

“No wonder…” Meng Qi thought quietly as he stowed the Fiery Core of the Grand Sun. He studied the amber-like fragments in his hands and found that they were pieces from a broken mirror. The cracks on the fragments hindered him from seeing his own reflection, yet it still held an inexplicably mysterious aura.

“These are fragments from the Mirror of Tomorrow!” Meng Qi exhaled a breath. He began to understand: the Mirror of Tomorrow had been taken by Xi. To think that its fragments had now fallen into his hands without much effort!

“It is not safe for us to linger, Husband. Let us move somewhere else to heal.” Gu Xiaosang suggested.

Meng Qi agreed readily. The commotion that they had caused earlier was too great to have escaped the notice of others!

He was about to move when Gu Xiaosang suddenly contorted in pain. She continued smiling as she spoke to Meng Qi. “Can you help me, Husband? My wounds are aching.”

Meng Qi realized that it could be a ruse, but having been saved by her earlier, he could only frown and nod.

Gu Xiaosang leaned over and he caught a whiff of her sweet scent and the softness of her tender skin.

They helped each other and moved as quickly as they could in the direction of the Hall of Today under the guidance of Gu Xiaosang.

At length, Meng Qi saw a huge but empty Ashram Hall.

They stepped inside. After making sure that they were alone, Meng Qi breathed easily. Gu Xiaosang then spoke. “The Hall of Yesterday and the Hall of Tomorrow were still intact even after the fall of the Ninth Heaven. They were mutilated and destroyed sometime later on purpose.”

“It was later destroyed? Was it done by the Thunder God who had sealed this level? Or was it someone else who came before He did?” Meng Qi thought quietly to himself. His vigilance dipped momentarily.

Just then, a slender and fair finger tapped on his chest. Meng Qi felt a flow of energy rushing into his body and restraining his Vital Spirit.

“You!” Meng Qi exclaimed immediately. He was still weakened by the drawbacks of using the Nature-involving Knack earlier. This had contributed to his inability to react quickly enough, and he could only watch blankly as Gu Xiaosang incapacitated him. “What are you trying to do?”

Gu Xiaosang straightened herself despite her still weak aura. With a sickly expression, she smiled and plainly said, “Guess.”