The Sage Who Transcended Samsara

The moon and the dim stars were hanging low in the sky, and the strange-looking horses covered with black scales were moving forward rapidly. Even though the horses were pulling carriages full of people, their speeds were not affected at all.

“These horses are already so strong even though they are just half-blooded demons. I can’t imagine how powerful a real demon is,” the young man murmured in a low voice. He had recovered from the grief of having to abandon his teammate.

Although the young man had seen this kind of horse before, he was often amazed at their strength and speed without associating them with the demons. However, since the crowd of demons were approaching at the moment, he could not help to associating everything he saw with demons. The more he thought about it, the more frightened he became.

“The power of an ordinary demon is about the same with a human who has activated seven orifices.” Next to the young man, a person with a moustache heard his murmur and snorted, “In the city, it’s so easy to find a book about the demon race. Why didn’t you read any of them?”

Fighting against the Nine Nether was a common goal of the entire human race. The superiors had compiled the important information about the demon race into books so that everyone was aware of the world situation. The books also provided strategies of dealing with the demons, in case the people came across with a demon one day.

The face of the young man turned red, and he hemmed and hawed, “I… I don’t like to read this kind of books…”

During the last attack of demon crowd, he was still at a young age, thus he did not have a deep impression toward it. It was until moments ago that he began to learn about the cruelty of it.

“Do not whisper. Be alert to your surroundings,” said Leader Li with a deep voice.

“Yes,” the young man responded quickly, looking at the one-armed leader who had an expressionless face.

When the leader lost his son, he must be feeling heartbreak and despair…

Just when the thought crossed his mind, a dark shadow suddenly occurred in the bushes on the left side of the road. It was having a height of a normal person, but there was no skin on its body, thereby exposing the flesh and blood in the air. The veins were white in color and the blood was dark red. A lot of bone spurs grew in the joints. Inside its wide-open mouth, only six teeth could be seen, but each of them was sharp like a knife.

Smelling the sickening scent from its body, the young man was penetrated by its fierce aura. The legs of the young man trembled, and his right hand became powerless. He could only watch the dark shadow rush toward himself.

“A demon is spotted!” a sharp voice shouted. At the same time, many people were drawing their blades and swords.

Dang!

A thick-backed long blade hit the demon’s face, making it flying backward. However, other than a slight scratch on its face, almost no damage was done to it.

“Leader Li…” the young man gasped for breath in terror.

The leader pulled over the horse to face the demon. He said in a calm voice, “You all retreat first. The Pingle City is not far from here.”

“Leader Li, what about you?” the young man shouted.

Before he could finish speaking, the horse he was riding was dragged forward by the moustached man. A voice filled with sadness came to his ears.

“According to the rules, if we encounter one or two demons along the way, the leader is responsible to deal with them. If the leader loses his life, the deputy leader has to take over his role. Nothing can stop the team from moving forward. Anyone who violates this rule will be decapitated immediately!”

The retreat of the team to a safe place would always be the topmost priority!

The young man was startled. After quite a while, he turned his head and looked at Leader Li from afar. The leader’s horse was lying on the ground – it was already killed by the demon. The leader was wielding the thick-backed long blade and fighting with the fierce demon. Despite looking old, he was standing firmly with his back straight.

“Leader Li…” the young man was choked with sobs, and his vision was blurred by tears. Gritting his teeth, he turned his head around and spurred the horse. With a straight back, he was riding the horse on the left side of the team like the leader did. He would rather die than bend his back to surrender to the evil forces.

In the face of the demon crowds, every youngster of the human race who was once naive would either die, or become mature in this way.

Da da da. With the clatter of horse hooves, the team was rushing toward to the Pingle City in the dim light of dawn.

…

“The Eternal Law?” The man in black armor who followed behind Qi Zhengyan asked curiously.

Qi Zhengyan slowly landed on a mountain nearby. Looking at the city from a distance, he said quietly, “It’s a way of organizing the human race to ensure a continuous emergence of powerful martial artists.”

The black aura that surrounded the black-armored man suddenly moved in a faster pace. He asked in a confused way, “My lord, you’re the lord of the Nine Nether, and the leader of all Evil Demons. Why do you always think about the human race?”

“I’m not the Demonic Lord,” Qi Zhengyan repeated once again. “In the mind of every living creature, there is an Internal Demon. At times of fighting against injustice; revolting against hegemonism; and dealing with love, hatred, and greed, the Internal Demon will come into effect. Most of the demons in the Nine Nether only know about killing and destruction, so they can’t even be regarded as living creatures. They are merely a manifestation of the law of nature. Every life and every universe has an end, and a demon is the symbol of death.”

“As they are bound by the law of world and Da Dao, their abilities are very much restricted. As an heir of the Demonic Lord, I’m going to lead them to rebel against the Ether, the law of world, and the Da Dao so that they can free themselves from being a creature who only knows about killing and destruction. A real demon should possess wisdom and gnosis.”

The eyes of Qi Zhengyan were so dark like two quietly burning black flames. Although they were not burning fiercely, they were enough to set the entire prairie on fire and make a revolutionary change!

The black-armored demon behind him was startled. For a moment, he felt that killing was his whole purpose of living as it gave him the greatest satisfaction. It was so hard to go against his natural instinct as a demon. However, at the next moment, he felt that he was oppressed by the law of world, as though he was just a puppet of the heaven and earth.

After a long time, he knelt on one knee before Qi Zhengyan and touched the ground with his forehead, “Your Majesty, I’ll be your devoted follower to help you in bringing a revolutionary change to the world. I’ll also work hard to break free from the law and control my own destiny!”

He had addressed Qi Zhengyan as Your Majesty.

“You’re the first self-awakening reincarnation of the Devil Sage who has developed your own gnosis and willpower. That’s why I’ve allowed you to stay by my side,” Qi Zhengyan said indifferently. “To be my follower, you have to bear a lot of risks. The Ether and the Da Dao will not have mercy on you anymore. Are you sure about your choice?”

The black-armored demon laughed aloud, with no sign of flattery could be seen on his face anymore. “Do you mean that we have to fight our ways to the Nine Levels of Heaven? It’s not like I’ve not done it before!”

“After I rebuild my body, I’ll kick their asses!”

Without saying anything, Qi Zhengyan stood on the edge of the cliff with his hands clasped behind his back while looking at the distant Chang Ning City. With his steady and peaceful aura, he did not look like an Evil Demon at all.

“My lord, I wonder what is the Eternal Law about?” The black-armored demon showed a flattering smile again while he wrote down the teachings of the Demonic Lord that he heard moments ago in his small notebook.

With a deep look in the eyes, Qi Zhengyan did not look back at him, “I’ve inherited the knowledge about all kinds of magical arts from the Demonic Lord, which makes me one of the most knowledgeable people in the world. Nonetheless, if I learn martial arts the same way the lord did without integrating my own insights and ideas and modifying them according to my own style, I won’t make progress any further. I may even take the wrong path in martial arts. Even if I’m lucky enough to achieve success, I can’t be any better than the previous Demonic Lord.”

“Over the past few years, I had been having Isolated Practice to digest the knowledge inherited from the Demonic Lord. After learning his martial arts and adapting it to my style, I’ve gained some interesting insights.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a form of the dragon with a human head appeared behind him. On top of the form, a bright golden star emerged, and it was reflecting countless scenes in the world!

The black-armored Devil Sage could feel a pressure from the star. Even though it was not posing a big threat to him at present, he knew it would be unquestionably strong in the future!

“This star is called the Equality. It doesn’t mean absolute equality, but equal opportunity. Rich people can depend on wealth; intelligent people can depend on talent; and ordinary people can depend on effort, concentration, and persistency. With equal opportunities, those who work hard will naturally succeed, whereas those who don’t will fall behind,” Qi Zhengyan explained in a simple and straightforward way. “When applying the Equality to martial arts, it can be manifested in three ways. Therefore, I’ve explored and analyzed the essence of martial arts.”

“With the help of the star of Equality, I’ve analyzed one hundred and thirty-three thousand seven hundred and fifty-six sets of martial arts, and discovered some of the most essential laws. I’ve compiled the laws into the book Martial Arts Collection. Starting from the beginner-level martial arts, it gradually becomes more difficult toward the end. Thus, it is easy to be understood by anyone. As long as the people put in time and effort, they will be able to learn the rudiments of martial arts. With a good foundation, they can learn any magical arts they want in the future. Therefore, this book is very suitable for educating a large amount of people with diverse needs.”

Actually, the inherited knowledge from the Demonic Lord comprised the essential laws of martial arts. Nevertheless, in order to understand the laws thoroughly and apply them with high proficiency, Qin Zhengyan would need to study and analyze them by himself. However, the inherited knowledge had definitely sped up the process.

“The Equality…” the black-armored Devil Sage seemed to be afraid to look straight at the star.

Over time, the star of martial arts created by the Demonic Lord would definitely be more than one!

Qin Zhengyan took a deep breath and said, “Making martial arts accessible to everybody can ensure a continuous emergence of powerful martial artists. Nevertheless, human mind is always changing. Hence, one day, things will go downhill no matter how well-organized the human race currently is. This is the natural law of impermanence. It’s impossible to escape from this law unless one attains the Realm of Dao Fruition.”

“After I gain success in my magical arts, I’ll leave the human race a weapon to help them in fighting against the superiors,” Qi Zhengyan said. “The weapon will reveal itself when the people are all united. This sword is called the Revolution!”

…

In the Pingle City, apart from the main pathways, all the streets and markets were closed. Everyone was performing their duties in an orderly manner. With the help of the people from Jiang Hu, the detectives and the Yamen Runners, the populace was guarding the houses and patrolling the streets, so as to prevent human spy or disguised demon from stirring up conflicts. Once they found a suspect, they would be sending out signals immediately to ask for reinforcements.

Also, the cardinal points of the formation of city were heavily-guarded.

The people at the Orifices-Point Activation Stage, led by the people of Exterior Realm, were scattering on top of the city wall to stay vigilant against attacks. In case the formation was broken and needed time to recover, they would be defending against the demons that rushed in.

Everything was in a good order. Following behind Qin Shuanglian and Qin Shuanghua, Meng Qi and his teammates were walking toward the city gate.

In the light of the early morning sun, a line of horse-drawn carriages was rushing toward the city gate at full speed – it was the team of the young man.

Seeing that they were almost reaching the city, everyone on the carriages was relieved. Just then, a person of the Exterior Realm on the city wall saw a line of dark shadows emerging in the distance. The shadows were rapidly growing in size – like countless dark clouds joining together – while they drifted toward the Pingle City.

“The demons are coming!” The person clenched his right hand into a fist and shouted thunderously.

The guard at the city gate gave a pitiful look at the people on the carriages who were hundreds of feet away. Then, he lowered his head and closed the gate.

Once the demons were detected, he had to close the city gate immediately no matter what!

If he disobeyed the rule, the whole city might fall which would result in the suffering of hundreds of thousands of people!

Za, za, za. The heavy voice of the city gate closing could be heard. Everyone on the carriage was flooded with a sense of despair.