The Sage Who Transcended Samsara

The Night Emperor Huo Lishang turned into a ferocious black bird, spreading its few feet long wings and flying in the dark sky, almost merging with the color of night and feeling the desolation and wildness of ancient times.

It was an unprecedented experience with unusual beauty. The Night Emperor was full of excitement and passion for this place, and had almost forgotten about partings and sorrows.

Although he was hiding from the people of Golden Turtle Island, he did not bypass the beasts and celestial birds that might exist but instead carefully stayed close to a lake that was few hundred miles wide. Its water was dark and cold air was all around ⁠— it was obvious that something tyrannical was hiding there.

Roar!

Suddenly, the water in the lake was agitated and continuously gave off air bubbles as though it was boiling. The roaring sound of a dragon penetrated the clouds, shaking the Night Emperor’s soul and body.

Splash! Waves and ripples formed in the lake; water splashed with the emergence of a huge dragon head.

There was actually a real dragon here!

Showing its golden eyes while shaking its dragon beard, its scales entered the Night Emperor’s sight. Its majestic and ferocious disposition seemed to take shape and pressed on the Night Emperor, resulting in a layer of darkness on his body. The deepest and darkest night sky appeared and swallowed everything unusual.

Different from the celestial beasts and birds he had met earlier on, the real dragon wasn’t seen from a distance but was right before his eyes. Huo Lishang had almost been discovered, but this also made him verify that this was a real dragon and he didn’t have to suspect that it was created by magic or some other means. In other words, this place was likely to have been derived from a fragment of ancient times.

This was what the Night Emperor wanted to verify, which was also one of the reasons why he dropped out from the group.

The Brahman Night merged with darkness, and the dragon roared twice before returning to the deep lake after making no discovery.

The water surface ruffled before gradually becoming like a smooth mirror. The Night Emperor conveyed out of the lake’s area.

After verifying that the celestial beasts and birds were real, he began to find a hidden place that could serve as his backup.

After a while, something caught the Night Emperor’s eyes. He saw an area of wilderness with various terrifying airs, seeming to be a path crossed by celestial beasts and birds, although it was barren and nothing special by itself. He could make it his own territory.

“The most open, unobstructed and crowded place is also the most likely to be overlooked…” Huo Lishang looked down from a distance away and landed carefully on an area in the wilderness that had lesser terrifying air remaining.

A few weeds crept out from the gray stone cracks, showing the vibrance of life. Not far away was a statue with the head of a bird and the body of a man, which was similar to those at other places.

The Night Emperor could see similar stone statues along the way, hence guessing that they were items of worship Golden Turtle Island had toward their ancestors and totems. They had no prohibited magic hidden in them, so there was no need to be too wary.

He stretched out his right hand and pressed it on the Thousand Illusion Mask, twitching outward slowly and pulled out a black shadow — an illusory blurry shadow with the subtle disposition of the Night Emperor!

The shadow had some similarities as the spiritual world — not belonging to reality but had some hidden connections with some real things from the outside world.

The shadow fell into the stone cracks along with the weeds like rainwater irrigating the place, penetrating and leaving no trace behind.

As the Night Emperor secretly gestured a mudra sign with his hand, the Thousand Illusion Mask on his face changed continuously until it fixed on a face with some disposition of himself.

After the subtle link was built, Huo Lishang pressed the Thousand Illusion Mask, turning into a ferocious bird again and flew toward the Dharmakaya group.

The owner of Golden Turtle Island must be out of the ordinary having a divine immortal as an ambassador. The Night Emperor dared not take things lightly, hence only left a layout when he just entered Golden Turtle Island and quickly meet up with the rest shortly after, in case he couldn’t execute anything in secret in front of the owner after getting closer.

Let me find out who that Dharmakaya who was good at the art of changing was… Huo Lishang thought to himself before conveying into darkness.

…

Han Guang turned into the Golden Turtle Island’s ambassador, walking toward the east neither ostentatiously nor cowardly.

At this moment, a huge creature suddenly appeared — it was a nine-headed snake!

The snake body was up to a hundred feet long and red all over. It was thick like a pool surface, covered with a layer of blue transparent scales. The nine heads were spewing water and fire, making the sounds of babies crying that made people feel tensed instinctively — it was Nine-infants, an ancient wild beast.

It was said that some Nine-infants could activate their spiritual wisdom and turn into a demonic race. There were demonic immortals whose true forms were actually Nine-infants.

The Nine-infants approached Han Guang in an instant, but the man and beast went past each other, as though they were in different worlds or excerpt, without any interaction!

When one was looking at the sunrise, one was admiring the moon. Being in different time zones, they naturally couldn’t interact!

After Han Guang went over the Nine-infant, he opened his right palm slightly, showing the object he had been holding on to.

It was an ancient bronze object that had a small section of the illusory long river flowing on it continuously — it was that small piece of the East Emperor Bell that Han Guang had gotten!

The East Emperor Taiyi dominated a few ancient eras and ruled during primeval times. When he first entered this realm, Han Guang already felt the subtle induction produced by the East Emperor Bell fragment and this primeval wilderness remains.

As the feeling of vastness pervaded, Han Guang experienced the primeval wilderness and mystical feelings as he continued heading east.

…

Sometimes the night sky and other times the wilderness, sometimes turning into a huge tree and other times into a wild beast, Meng Qi displayed the mysterious Eight Nine Mysteries to its fullest as he conveyed toward the northeast direction purposefully.

The moment he stepped on to the Golden Turtle Island that was derived from an ancient fragment, he was prompted by a sudden impulse and filled with a strange illusion-like induction, as though deep inside the primeval wilderness was something connected to him but he was unsure if it was a man, a ghost or a demon, or a weapon, a treasure or a martial skill.

Such as the Qingping Sword?

The mysteries of the primeval wilderness were hidden and unclear, and extremely difficult to derive at them. Using just the strange induction and without any links, Meng Qi felt that his chances were less than fifty percent. However, an idea struck him and he quickly sent a message to the Priest of Destiny to inquire.

“Sir, according to my destiny, which direction should I go?”

His question was brilliant. To the Priest of Destiny who believed that all things were predestined, it allowed him to show his ideas and path. If he had asked, “Should I go?” or “How to go?”, the Priest of Destiny would most probably answer, “The outcome is predestined, why is there a need to fret over it?”

The Priest of Destiny was stunned before finally replying, “Your destiny accords that you would choose the northeast. As for the detailed development and outcome, my level of cultivation is still too low to be able to see.”

After confirming the direction, Meng Qi walked quietly with the help of the strange induction. As the distance got closer, the echoing feeling gradually strengthened and was no longer like an illusion.

Suddenly, time and space slowed down as a Candle Dragon with the face of a human and the body of a snake came down from the sky above, heading toward where Meng Qi was.

Its gaze changed slightly as it sized up the surroundings. There seems to be something unfamiliar here?

Not far away was the familiar lake. Its water was clear and reflected its body ⁠— its snake body was red, its human face was filled with the vicissitudes of life and its eyes had heat and coldness alternating as they blinked.

Normal… this Candle Dragon had yet to open up its wisdom and hence had simple thinking. Seeing nothing strange, it swayed its tail and flew toward the west.

After it went far away, the lake suddenly splashed and out came another Candle Dragon!

So what the previous Candle Dragon saw earlier on wasn’t its on reflection. Meng Qi had purposely simulated and made changes to the figures on the left and right in order to deceive!

“This primeval wilderness is really full of dangers…” Meng Qi exhaled slowly.

After going through a few situations with his brilliant and overpowering skills, Meng Qi finally arrived at the place of origin of the strange induction.

It was a tall tower, one which the top couldn’t be seen. It penetrated the night sky, as though it could reach the stars.

The surroundings of the tall tower were people of Golden Turtle Island in Taoist robes and hats. They all had a majestic disposition, and there was even one who was a divine immortal who had attained Dharmakaya.

Further away was a giant white pig chewing at the rare flowers and grass. It was yet another terrifying wild beast.

Meng Qi hid behind the deserted hills nearby, observing the situation in the tall tower as he felt the strange induction his body had with something in the tower.

What is hidden inside?

Suddenly, something struck him, and a premonition of danger emerged.

A ray of light cut through the sky and went straight toward the deserted hills, seeming to cross over this place to reach the Tower of Reaching the Stars.

Looking from this direction, the back of the hills is totally uncovered and could be easily discovered. If I transform and hide, it would attract the attention of the guards around the tower. Once discovered, I’ll be besieged by immortals of all levels… Understanding the current circumstances, various situations Meng Qi had observed before came to his mind and he had a plan.

Turning into a mosquito, he flew over and slipped into the mouth of the giant white pig while it was chewing, and entered its stomach!

The surroundings were filled with acidic liquids. Meng Qi changed back to his own body which was a pale golden color and stayed still.

After Meng Qi flew out from the back of the deserted hills, the divine immortal guarding the tower seemed to have noticed something but only saw a wild beast eating greedily and his companion who had come to rotate duties.

After waiting for a while and making sure that the outside was quiet, Meng Qi was about to slip out when he suddenly realized that his hairy avatar was about to arrive at the Aquamarine Palace that was mentioned by the Golden Turtle Island’s ambassador — the fake Aquamarine Palace!

Without knowing the island owner’s ability, a conflict could easily arise if the avatar’s genuinity is discovered. I’ve gotta put the things here on hold and deal with the Golden Turtle banquet first… Meng Qi was good at making decisions and sticking to them. He revolved the Wuji and Daoyi seals, and with the help of the karma link, switched his body and the avatar instantaneously.

The avatar entered the stomach of the giant white pig and was quickly digested.

….

At the place where the Night Emperor Huo Lishang left behind the shadow, the stone statue with the head of a bird and the body of a man suddenly came alive.

The stone statue twisted and wiggled, gradually turning into the appearance of the Night Emperor, and even its disposition was exactly the same!

…

Han Guang went far away and his back view disappeared in the night sky. The beastly Nine-infants that went passed him contracted its body and created a huge dense fog.

The dense fog gradually dissipated and another Han Guang walked out from it. This Han Guang also had six fingers on his left hand, and his eyes were looking deeply at the east direction.

…

The giant white pig didn’t realize the change in its stomach. The main gate of the Tower of Reaching the Stars suddenly opened and a figure in green walked out. Handsome and with graying temples, it was yet another Meng Qi!

…

Hundreds of palace buildings appeared in front of Meng Qi, Mr Lu Da, etc. Led by the divine immortal ambassador, they cut through this magnificent area and arrived at a tall and majestic Taoist palace. It had a horizontal inscribed board with the words Aquamarine Palace written in ancient seal characters.

Ancient seal characters? This is an insult to the Aquamarine Palace… Meng Qi secretly laughed at the inferiority of the counterfeit, not realizing his own Jade Mirage Palace was a worse knockoff.

The moment he stepped into the Aquamarine Palace, Meng Qi’s eyes suddenly lit up seeing a great beauty whom he found difficult to describe.

Her beauty was different from that of Gu Xiaosang, Jiang Zhiwei, Ruan Yushu, etc., having her own characteristics and extremely charming. At her pinnacle of life, she gave off the most dazzling brilliance, making the Night Emperor eyes glow and unable to take them off her, as though he had admired the greatest beauty.

This woman was sitting high on the main seat. She had an almond-shaped face and pink cheeks, her soft watery eyes were exuding tenderness and love as though countless words were hidden in them. Her charm was like a real ray of light, illuminating the entire main hall.

Seeing Meng Qi and company entering, she gave a pleasant smile like a fairy walking down the Jade Pool. With a saccharine voice, she said coyly, “Greetings to all the Dharmakayas here, my name is Su Daji.”