The Sage Who Transcended Samsara

“Zigzag Eagle” Tao Gesi’s attack could be summed up as erratic and unpredictable. He appeared in and out of sight like a ghost. While he was still in front, he was already unleashing his saber radiance from behind Tuo Ya. He moved so quickly and mysteriously that it was difficult to grasp his movements, rendering his opponent uncertain and confused.

Fortunately, Tuo Ya was well aware of Tao Gesi’s style and strength as well as his magical expertise. She reacted just in time and revealed the vertical eye on her midbrows. The pupil was a golden yellow hue, appearing divine as it radiated millions of hair-like rays of light. The rays of light entwined around her, making her look like a deity who had descended to earth.

When the saber struck Tuo Ya, the rays of light quietly separated. The fracture appeared smooth but was in fact warped, hazy, and dark like it was a separation formed out of the shifting void. The stroke did not invoke changes in the Vital Qi, giving the impression that it did not manage to sever anything. This was the saber that had aided Tao Gesi in flattening the grasslands一the “Divine Saber of Oblivion”!

There was a translucent human-shaped form standing behind Tao Gesi. Its eight arms and six legs were like tentacles that reached deep into the void and were connected to every nook and cranny. He was fully unleashing his grandmaster’s domain, and inside his consciousness, everything within dozens of miles turned into countless small dots. He could merge with any of the dots at any time. There was nowhere that he could not reach and nothing that could stop him.

There was no way that the arrogant and domineering Tao Gesi, capable of looking down on the chief of Golden Tent warriors who was in the peak of the Exterior realm, would not have at least this level of capability.

He had long harbored resentment toward the chief of warriors for confining his fame to the grasslands and preventing him from ascending the Terrestrial Rankings. Otherwise, wouldn’t he at least be able to enter the top 60 of the ranking?

The shifting void rendered Tuo Ya’s golden rays of lights completely useless. The blade of the saber was already touching her back.

Tuo Ya was calm even at this critical moment. She abruptly materialized the form of a female deity behind her. The deity had a plump face, jade-like smooth skin, and a pair of golden eyes. She wore a pearl necklace around her neck and an imperial canopy hung over her head. There was a Ruyi Sceptre that was formed out of an entwining mass of dark yellow Qi and light spots. The deity’s back was precisely formed at the tip of Tao Gesi’s Divine Saber of Oblivion.

The Divine Saber of Oblivion unexpectedly shifted with a flash of light, appearing in front of Tuo Ya. The saber stood less than a meter away from her face. Strands of her hair were severed from her scalp, but instead of falling, they strangely floated in the air. It was as if the hairs were in a different plane of existence.

Tuo Ya had long heard of the terrifying “Zigzag Eagle,” but she had underestimated how much he deserved his reputation. She abruptly screeched, her exhaled breath turning into an arrow.

The arrow did not even hit Tao Gesi’s saber, much less strike him. However, in that short distance between them, it surprisingly caused the saber to travel in a large arc and cut through the air next to Tuo Ya’s head. Her Ruyi Spectre, as its name suggested, granted her wish and deflected Tao Gesi’s strike!

The Matriarch Deity of Desire behind Tuo Ya raised her Ruyi Sceptre. Green, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple lights around her floated down, forming blossoming flowers with snowy white petals on the ground. These were “Holy Mountain flowers”一a common sight in the grasslands. The sea of flowers undulated like waves as feelings of Ruyi and non-Ruyi filled the sky. Even though Tao Gesi’s movements were unstoppable and his saber was so unpredictable and strong that it forced Tuo Ya into a sorry state, he always fell a little short of his mark. He was unable to do as he wished and nearly got himself stabbed in the waist with Tuo Ya’s Ruyi Spectre.

“Humph!” Tao Gesi’s hatred deepened even further. He then swung his saber in a soft and gentle movement but he did not relax his arm. Both his arm and saber disappeared, the action causing his face to go pale.

Inside the range of the golden light coming from the Vertical Eye and the atmosphere of entwining Ruyi and non-Ruyi, a saber abruptly appeared next to Tuo Ya’s neck. The arm that was holding the saber was trembling, yet it was exceptionally firm at the same time.

Tuo Ya had focused all of her defense and magic power on her back!

This time, the distance between the saber and her neck was less than half an inch. Saber radiance burst forth amid the “non-Ruyi” feeling.

Silently, her head shifted from the rest of her body as if someone had simply moved it to another side.

“Thud!” Tuo Ya’s head abruptly shattered by itself and turned into numerous light spots. Snow-white flowers burst forth from the wound on her neck and slowly blossomed. With a burst of green light, the exact same head regrew. Her dignified expression could not hide her lingering fear.

Were she not blessed enough to substitute Tao Gesi’s saber with the light spots at the critical moment, she would have died. She finally understood why Tao Gesi always thought that he was powerful enough to become the chief of the grassland warriors.

Tao Gesi retrieved his saber and immediately moved, reappearing in another spot to avoid Tuo Ya’s counterattack. His saber required the accumulation of power and he was unable to make a second strike in such a short time. However, his many years of battle experience told him that Tuo Ya would only be able to use her substitution trick twice and it was only a matter of time before he killed her.

“You want to run? Can you even rival me in terms of void shifting and saber technique?” he thought.

The other side of the sky had become clear and quiet. Snow-white lotus flowers rained down, and Gu Xiaosang’s divine and beautiful figures burst forth from every flower. These figures extended and wriggled a jade-like finger at the same time.

“The world of mortals is like a prison and 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!”

Just as the figures “pointed” with their fingers, surprise suddenly flitted across the chubby face of Buddha of Desires as if he had heard Gu Xiaosang’s thoughts. He reacted in advance and took a step forward, with white lotuses emerging under his foot. In no time at all, he appeared in front of the fingers. His divine feet could take him everywhere in the three realms.

With the Mind Connection Bead in hand, one would always be aware of the opponent’s domain in advance and avoid their attacks in advance. The only exception was if the opponent paid attention to this.

He saw the Skyscraping Devil become a beat slower. The void around him turned vicious as if he had sunken into sludge, making it difficult for him to take flight and flee. Like a tiny insect trapped in amber and a traveler who finally returned to his hometown, he could only watch the finger land on his face.

“So it’s true that the Goddess of Big Luo has become a grandmaster. Her cultivation progress is no slower than that of the famous Su Meng!” The flab of Buddha of Desires trembled and a Golden Buddha Form appeared behind him. The Buddha wore nothing but a malevolent expression. There was a lovely fairy dressed in a thin gauze wrapping herself around his waist, her barely discernable beautiful figure evoking lust in those who saw her. She was moving up and down nonstop like she was an illicit concubine Dharma Form. The perimeter around her was immediately shrouded in a pink light, making the environment appear hazy and vaguely romantic. Figures of men and women emerged, demonstrating all sorts of sexual positions and expounding the beauty of Yin and Yang copulation. The intelligent nature of the Dharma was dissolved out of nowhere.

Those trapped in this environment would have a hard time suppressing their lust and tempering their tempestuous hearts. The more they were struck, the faster their hearts would beat and the more their raging desire would burn. This resulted in the decline of their strength.

Buddha of Desires raised his right hand and sent a palm stroke flying. The Golden Buddha Form mimicked his action and their two movements overlapped to form an immense golden palm. Its five fingers wiggled as if it was a flopping fish. There was no space in the world that the palm could not enter. In a flash, it penetrated the layers of white lotuses and produced mirages everywhere. It finally landed on a certain spot in the void.

The speed of the palm slowed. The true Gu Xiaosang appeared and she took a step backward. With that single step, she turned into a lofty figure as if she was in a different realm than the others. It did not matter that the palm of Buddha of Desires was capable of penetrating everything. It could not pierce the distance that was like a vast starry sky and get close to Gu Xiaosang.

At the same time, Gu Xiaosang flicked her sleeve that was made out of overlapping layers of silk threads. Indescribable wiggling emerged in the void. The expression of Devil of Malice, who had just interrupted Buddha of Desires and broken away from the Ajati Finger and Vacuum Hometown, shifted. He overturned his hand and made a clawing motion, producing darkness from his palm.

The airflow and Vital Qi were all absorbed, forming strands of translucent streamers in the void. The streamers were like a sea of silk or gauze strands.

Suddenly, the streamers merged to form a warped sword. The sword was pointed toward Devil of Malice’s palm.

“Pfft!”

The sword once again disintegrated into numerous streamers. Devil of Malice was thrown into the battle range of Tao Gesi and Tuo Ya.

The Matriarch Deity of Desire behind Tuo Ya abruptly thrust her Ruyi Sceptre, hitting Devil of Malice who had yet to recover. In such circumstances, she considered helping the Goddess of Big Luo akin to helping herself.

Tao Gesi inexplicably felt his heart soften. Perhaps he was thinking about leaving the remainder of his strength to ease his task completion. He shifted in the void and appeared in front of Devil of Malice in a flash, sending the Ruyi Spectre away with a swing of his saber.

Suddenly, he felt a stabbing pain in his back and the image of the apathetic-looking, pale-faced Devil of Malice emerged in his field of consciousness. His eyes reflected the vicissitudes of life and betrayed no emotion. The little pitch-black banner in his hand had already pierced Tao Gesi’s back. Numerous feelings of malice flowed into him, tainting his body and degrading his Vital Spirit.

“He’s in cahoots with Tuo Ya and the others!

“That damned traitor and spy!” 

Tao Gesi remained calm. His figure abruptly darkened as he prepared to shift to another spot in the void. The wound he had sustained was not fatal.

Just then, he felt the void condense into something tangible, and he lost the feeling of being able to penetrate anything and everything. His pupils rapidly shrunk when he saw Gu Xiaosang who was wearing a faint smile on her face. Her white dress was pure and holy and her cheeky smile was captivatingly beautiful as she wriggled the fingers on her right hand to perform a strange seal.

“Where’s Buddha of Desires? Why isn’t he stopping Gu Xiaosang?”

Fear surged within Tao Gesi. He saw the Buddha of Desires that he desperately wanted to see. The latter showed up in front of him, his right hand overlapping with his Buddha Form’s palm while bathed in a golden glow. Buddha of Desires then sent a palm stroke flying at him!

“They’re all in cahoots!” Tao Gesi triggered his life-saving treasure but it was completely ineffective because his wish (Ruyi) was once again quelled!

Devil of Malice had already fallen back by now, leaving only Buddha of Desires’ palm in front of Tao Gesi. Buddha of Desires’ figure began swaying and forming countless mirages, his movement so unpredictable that his opponent would have a hard time trying to pinpoint his true body.

He did, however, see Devil of Malice gently shake the little pitch-black banner in his hand. Numerous images of Skyscraping Devils emerged in his field of consciousness. Tao Gesi’s body became sluggish and a flaw became evident in his life-saving trick. Buddha of Desire’s palm, capable of penetrating everything, struck him squarely on the forehead.

“Pfft!” The palm created a dent in Tao Gesi’s forehead and shattered his Vital Spirit. He vaguely heard Buddha of Desires’ voice as the latter recited Buddha’s name and said with a grin, “Donor Tao Gesi, without the link provided by my Mind Connection Bead, how could Donor Gu appear right at the moment Devil of Malice awakened the Zombie and conceal the danger? How could Donor Tuo Ya react quickly enough to stop malice from escaping?

“Our main target was you.

“If you don’t die, we won’t be able to peacefully investigate the secret.”

“Damn it!” The remnants of Tao Gesi’s thoughts burst forth, pushing him to abruptly thrust the saber in his hand. The saber first vanished before reappearing in Buddha of Desires’ midbrow.

Buddha of Desires did not expect Tao Gesi’s obsession to be that deep. He was only able to tilt his head in response.

“Thud!” One of his ears fell to the ground followed by gushing blood.

Terrified as he was, Buddha of Desires almost lost grip of his consciousness. He nearly died where he was standing. With a flick of his sleeves, he bludgeoned Tao Gesi, who had died with grievances, until the latter was no more than a pile of bloody mud and lost all breath.

Tuo Ya, who stood in a corner, secretly invoked her secret technique and then said placidly, “Tao Gesi’s soul lamp won’t be extinguished until tomorrow.”

“Good to know. Only four of us are left now. It’s in our best interest not to kill each other. If only one or two of us remain, won’t we be digging our graves trying to capture Saren Gaowa?” Devil of Malice nodded subtly.

Buddha of Desires was about to agree when he saw Gu Xiaosang’s brilliantly beautiful figure and Tuo Ya’s beautiful silhouette. Fiery lust burned within him and gave rise to a certain idea.

“Even if I obtain the secret, what use would it be for the Merriment Temple? We don’t even have a Half-step to Dharmakaya master among us, yet we dare to provoke an Earth Immortal like Gu Erduo? How delusional! On the other hand, if I can get my hands on the Goddess of Big Luo and the Ordained Shamaness and ravish them to my desire, wouldn’t that boost my chances of becoming a Half-step to Dharmakaya master?

“Even though doing so would mean going against Uncle Master’s order, a person who fails to consider his own good will meet certain gruesome death!”

He restrained his spirit so as to probe Devil of Malice’s thoughts. He realized that the latter had a clear grasp of his own strength and dared not go against him. Like Buddha of Desires, Devil of Malice was also hoping to take advantage of the other three killing each other.

“Hehe! Here’s someone I can manipulate!” Buddha of Desires grinned as he glanced at Devil of Malice. The latter turned to look at him with his hair fastened with a wooden hairpin and a pair of eyes that reflected the vicissitudes of life. On his face was a faint smile. He looked as if he was counting his chickens before they were hatched.