The Sage Who Transcended Samsara
chapter-163

Chapter 163: Evil Ordeal

“Junior Brother Yao was once a little boy obsessed with martial arts. Surprisingly, he is no longer that kid with the soaring braid.” Looking at Yao Xingliu’s back, Zhang Yuanshan said, “I indeed met him once when I hurriedly went downhill after the engagement banquet. Perhaps because I looked pale and he cared about that, he stealthily came along with me. However, I didn’t realize that due to my absent-mindedness.”

Meng Qi recalled that he had noticed Yao Xingliu but he did not know him at all then. He thought that he must have been some runaway boy for being short and childish.

Realizing that Zhang Yuanshan’s expression had obviously changed, Meng Qi said with a smile, “Senior Brother Zhang, have you thought the matter through?”

“Mmm.” Zhang Yuanshan nodded slowly. Looking at the remote rolling hills, he emphasized, saying, “I must do more for my family during this period.”

Being aware of the implication, Meng Qi laughed and said, “Let’s go to see Zhenzhen. She probably has calmed down, so she won’t act so impulsively.” Meng Qi would not ask him foolishly for an answer.

“Alright.” Zhang Yuanshan violently nodded. Without being urged by Meng Qi, he regardlessly hurried off to the hill in which the Buddhist nunnery was located.

A gust of wind swept past. Left behind, Meng Qi looked dull. “It is too much to value love over friendship.”

He “plaintively” sighed and caught up. However, he was always a little behind even with Moves of Wind-god’s Legs fully displayed. It could not compare with the “Eight Diagram God-walking Steps” handed down in the Zhen Wu Sect.

In front of the Buddhist nunnery, Zhang Yuanshan stopped, looking uneasily at Meng Qi. “Will Zhenzhen be reluctant to see me? Junior Brother Meng, can you enter first to persuade her?”

Meng Qi gnashed his teeth in hatred and said, “Now that you have arrived, Zhenzhen should take the chance to listen to your explanation, as long as she treats you sincerely. Moreover, she might be full of more expectation because you were not prevented from entering after chatting with me. Hurry, hurry in, she might be waiting for you.”

Only fools want to get involved in such stupid things!

Zhang Yuanshan had always been composed and competent. Suppressing his emotional insecurity, he nodded at Meng Qi and then turned into the nunnery.

Clicking his tongue twice, Meng Qi went back behind a linden tree, quietly listening for a while. Making sure that there were no loud sounds and quarreling, he was relieved and sat down cross-legged and started to practice the sixth part of Golden Bell Shield.

If the rudiments of this part of Golden Bell Shield were learned, he would possess shockproof power besides stronger defensive power. Meanwhile, he would have a vigorous inner force as if he had practiced Longxiang-Bore Skill.

However, the practice of Golden Bell Shield needed slow cultivation, a solid foundation, as well as further follow-ups. Without adventures or whole-body imbuing by the Dominator of Samsara in Six Realms, Meng Qi began to cultivate after leaving the Heavenly Sea Source. But he had not learned the rudiments, not to mention how to concentrate the acupore points related to Nose Aperture.

The movement of Genuine Qi remolded skin and meridians. Meng Qi suddenly was slightly dizzy while he was absorbed in cultivating.

He opened his eyes to see mist-changing clouds, gods-style squares, mythical animals in various postures, and a huge, imposing light pillar.

“A Samsara task begins again… ” Meng Qi exclaimed without knowing if it was happy or sad.

He stood up and looked around, but he did not see Jiang Zhiwei and Zhang Yuanshan. Feeling slightly surprised, he guessed this task might be a single mission but it required leading the beginners.

A figure appeared under a pillar of light surrounded by steaming mist in clouds. He had a muscular shape, with big eyes and bushy eyebrows, displaying a heroic spirit. This man was “Invincible Ironfist” Luo Shengyi, ranking before Meng Qi in the Ranking List of Young Masters.

Being unfamiliar, they nodded to each other as a greeting. Then, they separately went to two sides of the central light pillar.

While he was waiting for Jiang Zhiwei and others, Meng Qi speedily threw his gains from the horse bandits in the light pillar to receive Karma points. He was too impatient to wait because all of his gains must have been worth at least 1,000 or 2,000 Karma points.

“The Bloodthirsty Sword, a Refined Weapon, is worth 90 Karma points.

“The Iced Horse-cutting Blade, a Refined Weapon, is worth 100 Karma points.

“Heng Qu Swordsmanship, a sword art in the Enlightenment Period, is worth 130 Karma points.

“‘Yang Guan Thrice Wave’, a unique skill in the Enlightenment Period, is worth 220 Karma points.

“Han Feng Bladesmanship, a cutting way in the Enlightenment Period created by Luo Hui, which is in medium quality and its value rises for the lack of Exchange List, is worth 330 Karma points.”

From the horse bandits, Meng Qi got a total of eight scripts about Enlightenment, one unique skill of Enlightenment, five scripts about Qi-cultivation, and two Refined Weapons. All of them were exchanged for 1,830 Karma points. The biggest surprise was from Han Feng Bladesmanship, which was created by the leader of the horse bandits, Luo Hui, not long ago. The Dominator of Samsara in Six Realms did not have it, so the Karma points for which it could be exchanged with were largely increased.

“1,830 Karma points… “ Although Meng Qi had the psychological preparation early, he was still a little excited. It was the highest total of Karma points ever, which could largely make up for his current deficiency.

“If it were not for my hatred of Ze Luoju, I would really want to go back to the Immensity Sea,” he said to himself, as he ground his teeth. “After mopping-up, perhaps I’ll gather enough Karma points to exchange for chapters about Seven Purple Thunderstrikes, Eight Nine Mysteries, for Qi-cultivation and Enlightenment.”

Taking a deep breath, he slowly calmed down. After thinking for a moment, he directly threw Red Sun Evil Blade into the light pillar.

“Red Sun Evil Blade, a Refined Weapon, is worth 80 Karma points.”

Meng Qi was prepared to exchange his blade this time, because somehow, he had gotten part of “Nine Annihilation at Heavenly Nights”, and meanwhile, he had the Thunder God imprint. If he did not make good use of them, no one would sympathize with him, even in death. Therefore, he planned to exchange for a thunder-trait blade to increase his strength. Moreover, thunder was a strong opponent of evil and contamination due to its positivity and masculinity. Thus, it must have had the distinctive features of Red Sun Evil Blade.

Certainly, he did not immediately exchange it. Instead, he glanced through “Nine Annihilations at Heavenly Nights” in the Divine Skill List of Dharmakaya.

“‘Nine Annihilation at Heavenly Nights’ is a Dhamakaya-level Kung Fu created by the ancient Thunder God. If a swordsman practices it to reach the pinnacle, he can destroy the world with just one blade. However, the body imprinted by the Thunder God is essential to practice this Kung Fu. Otherwise, what a swordsman has learned is just some moves, with its power largely weakened. It is worth 130,000 Karma points.”

Meng Qi carefully looked at the introduction of the Dominator of Samsara in Six Realms, discovering that the Primary Instruction of “Nine Annihilation at Heavenly Nights” needed 30,000 Karma points; the last move “Heaven-demolishing and Earth-razing” needed 20,000 Karma points; and the rest of the eight moves, including “Five Thunder Bombardment of Sky”, respectively needed 10,000 Karma points.

He stepped up to the light pillar, asking for completion.

“With regard to ‘Nine Annihilation at Heavenly Nights’, the Gist of Trueness is incomplete. One could only comprehend the first move, ‘Five Thunder Bombardment of Sky’. To complete impartation of the Gist of Trueness needs 120,000 Karma points.

“To complete the Crippled Move of ‘Five Thunder Bombardment of Sky’ needs 5,300 Karma points.

“If the Karma points are insufficient, it can’t be completed.”

Meng Qi just gave it a try without any hope or frustration. Then, he began to choose a long blade, which he needed.

For fear that the mission would start at any time, Meng Qi directly looked at the good ones without making any further comparisons. Without considering the “cost-performance ratio”, he quickly found a good longsword.

“Evil Ordeal, a Refined Weapon, is worth of 670 Karma points. Being made of metal and stone in Lei Chi, the blade is so hard that it cannot be cut off unless treasured swords are used. The cutting edge is so sharp that it is able to cut anything. It can also destroy Hard Kung of most of the bodies during the Enlightenment Period. When in use, it generates several beams of light. Moreover, the swordsman possesses the positive and masculine quality of Thunder, along with manic psychosis and paralysis.”

This was a complete dark longsword of a simple shape, covered with old thunderbolt marks. From time to time, it changed from dark green to dark blue.

Without any hesitation, Meng Qi chose to exchange for this longsword, because he had enough Karma points.

Just holding it for a few seconds, Meng Qi suddenly felt a little numb. However, it did not arouse his Golden Bell Shield. On the contrary, he felt Evil Ordeal was an extension of his body, penetrating into his flesh and blood.

On the back of his left hand, purple thunderbolt marks were partially hidden and partially visible, and then faded away.

“Good sword!” Meng Qi was very happy. As the saying goes, good things are essential things. With “Evil Ordeal”, his strength had increased by at least three points.

After putting the sword into the scabbard, he continued to look at the Exchange List without thinking, because he had already figured out which aspects needed to be improved.

To him, one of the Exterior moves could really make up for his weakness in swordsmanship in case of a powerful opponent. Swords were needed everywhere except for risking one’s life in resistance. However, if neither impartation nor infusion of the Gist of Trueness was directly chosen for the Exterior moves, it was hard to comprehend its truth like the first two moves of Ananda Oath-breaking Bladesmanship. To master the basic skills, swordsmen needed to practice by following the procedures, and then accomplish the primary level. This was a step by step process to realize the ideal condition. Furthermore, that was not to say there would be no cards or tricks for life insurance without it. Therefore, it was unnecessary right now.

Impartation of the Gist of Trueness was not much more expensive than exchanging a script. Whether people could learn the truth or not depended on themselves. Perhaps someone spent Karma points, but he still could not understand the Gist of Trueness. In this respect, it was all for nothing. However, it needed twice or triple Karma points for a direct infusion. The rest of Meng Qi’s Karma points were not enough at all. Moreover, it was always not stable or relieving to comprehend or cultivate by oneself.

One of Meng Qi’s goals was Seven Purple Thunderstrikes. In the Exterior moves, there were few moves as suitable as it was. Its problem was similar to the Exterior moves. He had Ananda Oath-breaking Bladesmanship, so it was not indispensable for the moment. If there were other areas in need of improvement, he could postpone consideration of it.

Meng Qi decided that the Qi-cultivation chapter of Eight Nine Mysteries had to be exchanged. Before the Exterior, swordsmen needed to make a choice of their major Kung Fu. Furthermore, it was better to cultivate it step by step.

The cultivation of Eight Nine Mysteries needed time, so Meng Qi would not give up Golden Bell Shield. Eight Nine Mysteries before the Exterior was mainly used to increase the strength of the human body, resist evil and contamination, as well as enhance power and agility. It would not make any change and did not contradict with Golden Bell Shield. Meng Qi could focus on Golden Bell Shield with Eight Nine Mysteries as a supplement. After Eight Nine Mysteries caught up with the progress, it could be used as the major one. It was a makeshift for countering the dangers of Samsara.

“I need to fully master the Qi-cultivation chapter before exchanging for the Enlightenment chapter,” Meng Qi told himself. It took 100 Karma points to exchange the Qi-cultivation chapter of Eight Nine Mysteries, but 1,000 Karma points were needed for the Enlightenment chapter. Meanwhile, there was no chance to cultivate it. Therefore, it could be considered for next time.

After hiding the Qi-cultivation chapter of Eight Nine Mysteries, he thought it over and decided not to consider exchanging for Lightning Changes. Because his fighting style had been formed, the small and variable identity was not critical.

“After learning the rudiments of Nine Strategies Beyond the Swords, it is almost unnecessary to exchange for sword art during the Enlightenment Period. However, I have a lot of deficiencies in bladesmanship. Even if I had practiced ‘Han Feng Bladesmanship’, I still couldn’t win without ‘Peace Quietude Split’ and ‘Mortal Dust Fall’,” he thought.

“Therefore, it’s necessary to learn something similar to Nine Strategies Beyond the Swords, which containsbladesmanship or experience during the Enlightenment Period involving the principles of swordsmanship, to strategically guide my cultivation of bladesmanship…

“Furthermore, it is necessary to master a type of control skill in my fighting style… “

He habitually employed some words had used in his previous life.