The Sage Who Transcended Samsara
chapter-549

Soft and fine drops of rain drizzled upon the lush greeneries atop Mount Shaohua. One might notice the broken walls that stood motionless. An enduring monument to the great conflict that had once befallen the Shaolin Temple.

The pattering sounds of footsteps on mud and the occasional sloshing and squelching of shoes could be heard from the fresh mountain breeze that blew by. Two old men with bamboo staffs meandered up the rear mountain of the Shaolin order with a few other monks and a group of warriors and members of the Jianghu in tow.

They passed through the woods and stopped before the huge red rock. One of the elder monks - whose age was easily past fifty - wore a frail expression that hinted of hidden affliction or injury, clasping his palms together. He uttered a Buddhist chant reverently in a low voice before he spoke, "This was the site where Duo Ercha had met his end. They say he died in a most grotesque manner."

The leader of the group, an old man of ripe age with thin brows but keen eyes, sighed heavily. A hint of melancholy swept across his gnarled face. "To this day, we have yet to know how he was slain, but the wounds of the corpse indicated that Master Xinji had a part in crippling him. It was by the Master's efforts that the tables have been turned in favor for us and the rest of the Central Plains."

The looks of the frail and elder monk shifted uneasily and quivered rapidly. The memories of the carnage and the destruction of the temple returned to him as though they were only yesterday. Vivid recollections of the dying breaths of his fellow disciples and the warriors of the Jianghu being slain in their defense of the temple stabbed at him painfully. He could never forget the desperate efforts of his teacher - Master Xin Ji - to stall and wound Duo Ercha into his death so that the legacies of the Shaolin Temple could be preserved! So that the groundwork for retaliation against the barbarians and their expulsion from the Central Plains could endure!

He, too, sighed heavily. "Heroes would rise to the call for justice against evil. In addition to my Teacher, there were also brave souls like Young Master Zhang, Zhen Ding, the Karma-hacking Buddhist Saber, as well as many other champions of truth and peace who emerged from seclusion. Duo Ercha might have been slain by them," replied the elder monk.

"Only Heaven would know where are they now... Heaven forbid they might have perished with Duo Ercha long ago," said a young girl, her gaze fixed upon the huge crimson rock while her thoughts drifted to the heroes that gave their lives in the terrible conflict. "Without their sacrifices, we would not be able to enjoy the temporary peace in the present realm of martial arts in the Central Plains."

The elder leader nodded in agreement. "Indeed. With the present animosity between the Royal Advisor and the Chieftain of the barbarians, coupled with the present influx of numerous warriors into the Jianghu, it won't be long until the day when the barbarians are driven away from the steppes of our homeland. Thus here I am today to pay my respects to the forerunners who sacrificed their lives for the grand endeavor."

Around him, the scores of warriors who had come along rummaged through their bags and bundles. They produced various items for sacrificial rituals. With care, they arranged the items together. The elder leader lighted three joss sticks and held in them in his hands. Bowing deeply he conveyed his respects to the deceased heroes of old, and the warriors all followed suit behind him. The monks clasped their palms together in prayer as they chanted the Buddhist Mantra of Rebirth.

Unbeknownst to them, Meng Qi had been listening intently to their conversation from the crevice in the cliffs behind them. His green robes fluttered gracefully despite the absence of wind around him.

It had only been a few years, but the names of Young Master Zhang and the Karma-hacking Buddhist Saber seemed like memories from a distant past to him. The memories of his past exploits here and the names that they were once called would never have returned to him if he had not heard them himself.

Time dilutes everything. Even the most vivid of memories that he was confident he would remember for eternity would only return to him when it mattered.

Damp moss littered the coarse and rough walls of rock around him. The walls felt unusually cool to the touch. Meng Qi looked around him, the memories of him and his companions replaying before his very eyes as though it was yesterday.

There was Senior Brother Qi who had turned especially chatty after he was wounded; Senior Brother Zhang who had been a steadfast brother-in-arms to them all; the unyielding and stout spirit of Zhiwei despite the heavy injuries she had sustained; the mysterious Gu Xiaosang which they had first encountered then; and Duo Ercha who had then seemed so indomitable and invincible to them...

Meng Qi took a deep and heavy breath. He shook off the melancholic sentiments of nostalgia and walked deeper into the stone passage with his hands behind his back. The warriors and monks outside burned joss paper for the deceased.

He had decided against venturing out to mingle; urgency demanded that he return as soon as possible. He could never wait for two full months to pass since there would be greater possibilities of unbidden twists or changes if he decided to loiter, namely the reinforcements from The Myths. As a result, Meng Qi made up his mind that he would remain for seven days at most.

Regardless of whether he gained anything, he would have to return at once after the seven days!

There was another trick that he might be able to use during his return; Meng Qi might be able to use another Reincarnation Charm at the moment of his return. He was confident that the Thunder God of the Ninth Heaven had depleted his artifacts to once again interrupt the activation of a second Reincarnation Charm. By then, there would be opportunities for him to trade for items or weapons that would help him from the Dominator of the Six Samsara.

Still, Meng Qi had anticipated that the Thunder God from the Ninth Heavens would surely have devices of his evil schemes in store for him that would allow him no opening to make use of any Reincarnation Charms. He might have to use the incomplete Fruits of Karma technique and bear the Karmic burden of his foe.

Darkness extended deep into the stone passage without even a glint of light. The eerie silence around him seemed as if the absence of light had shrouded the absence of lurking demons. Meng Qi unsealed the apertures in his body and channeled the powers of the Dharmic Form of the Grand Sun within. From both of his eyes, the radiance of light poured forth and dispelled the darkness before him with rays of illumination.

Meng Qi continued deeper into the passageway until he reached the end. The passage opened into a stone chamber that resembled the shape of a semicircle. The stone bed and stone table, as well as the old and tattered hassock lying on the ground, seemed familiar to him.

At the stone wall before the passage was the inscription left by Ananda. But the Gist of Trueness that was left in the inscription had been spent. At the left of the inscription were gaps in the wall that formed the shape of a doorway. On the stone door was another set of inscriptions that read, "Enter not this door, Ye of Righteousness and Benevolence!"

Meng Qi examined the stone door. At its bottom left corner, Meng Qi had found the small hole that bore deep into the stone. He peered into the hole and saw the miniature tongues of a fire burning in the hole. By the hole were words carved deep into the stone. Words of some alien tongue which were small and minuscule. Yet, the meaning of the inscription seemed to register in his mind by some unknown power, saying,

"The One who is unfaithful will be killed!"

Nothing has changed here. Everything was like how Meng Qi had discovered them many years ago. Since his fateful encounter here, however, he has learned a lot and gleaned much. The peculiarities that once struck him as odd now seemed to make sense to him.

Legend has it that Ananda was slain by the Monster Saint atop Mount Shaohua. The little bore and the inscription of the alien tongue that said "The One who is unfaithful will be killed!" had appeared to be proof of that. Yet, it was puzzling that the Monster Saint had left Ananda's inscription untouched and thus allowed the legacy of the Ananda Oath-breaking Saber discipline to endure.

The ignorance of Ananda's inscription hardly made sense! Especially if one were to take into account the Monster Saint's hatred and her final decree that all demons were to slay anyone who possessed the disciplines of the Ananda Oath-breaking Saber techniques!

Meng Qi's thought wandered to the traces that Ananda and the Overlord had left in the Ancient Path of the Human Sovereign. This could only mean that she had not succeeded in putting Ananda to certain death!

Who could have entered the Ancient Path when the Human Sovereign still reigned supreme? And yet, the Human Sovereign had passed only after the Monster Saint perished.

Could it be that Ananda had returned here thereafter after his reincarnation? This would mean that the Ananda who was here, the one who had left the inscription and the legacy was not the former Ananda. He returned to the site where he was slain with the memory of his pursuit, a portion of his powers and strength, and the means to navigate the void of space and dimension? Thoughts of what happened to Ananda circled and circled in Meng Qi's mind. The more he pondered upon the fate of the Great Arhat, the more enigma there was than met the eye.

Meng Qi turned to look at the stone doorway, upon which was the inscription of "Enter not this door, Ye of Righteousness and Benevolence!"

He had an epiphany - one that he had not noticed earlier! The inscription was written in the script of the present time instead of the runes used in the ancient epochs! This would mean that the inscription was left long after the cataclysm of the Demonic Buddha where scripts of the present time were established and used widely in this millennia.

That would mean that the one who had left the inscription on the door was an entity from recent times! One who arrived here eons after the conflict between the Monster Saint and Ananda!

But why these words?

Meng Qi was deeply troubled by the truth that had dawned upon him and its many implications. He stopped at the front of the stone door. The legacy of the final stroke of the Fruits of Karma has yet to be revealed. It must be behind this door then.

But this time, Meng Qi needed not to touch the surface of the stone to feel the ghastly chill that drifted in the other side of the stone door, bringing to his mind visions of rotten corpses, dismembered limbs, as well as malignant apparitions and wraiths that would gnaw and torment at one's soul.

Meng Qi cleared his mind of all disturbing thoughts. Steeling himself without an ounce of doubt, he reminded himself of his present strength! The Meng Qi today is no more the Meng Qi of old! I am he who stands before all horrors without fear!

He reached forward to touch the surface of the stone door. Slowly, he applied force and tried to push hard on the stone door. Screeches of protest came from the gaps between the stone, but the door hadn't moved an inch.

Meng Qi placed both his hands on the door and with a great bellow, he cried as he pushed with all his might,

"Open!"

The muscles all around him swelled vigorously and stretched even his robes as he exerted all the strength that he could muster; however, the door screeched furiously without yielding.

Meng Qi took a few steps backward, drew his weapons, and channeled his powers. Dark clouds gathered and swirled around him as thunder growled and lightning bolts in the shape of dragons snapped menacingly. With the Form of the Grand Sun, the lightning bolts hurled towards the stone door!

Heavy was the blow of his saber and piercing was the stab of his sword! The blows from both weapons converged as one just before they hit the stone door, concentrating the forces of his attacks into a single point!

The stone door shuddered just when the Falling Sun had nearly broken into a huge explosion. Ripples of shockwave shot from the stone door and dissipated his attacks into nothingness.

Interesting... He sheathed his weapons. Casting another enchantment, Meng Qi's body began to enlarge as his head reached the ceiling of the stone chamber. He stomped on the granite floor under his feet and raised his fist that held the raw power of destruction like an ancient giant!

In a ferocious movement, his strike landed upon the stone door. A shade of gloom enveloped his palm with the forces of Nature. Meng Qi unleashed such power that even Nature would cower and tremble in the face of, swearing that he would destroy the door!

A huge tremor shook the entire chamber when Meng Qi struck the stone door and debris and dust flew through the air. The gap had been slightly enlarged, but still, the stone door held on stubbornly. Meng Qi projected his senses towards the exterior of the passage as the dust and tremor settled down finally. The strangers outside seemed to not have been alarmed by the commotion he caused.

Meng Qi took a deep breath, maintaining his enchantment - the Law Phenomenon. He drew the Heaven Inflicted Pain from its scabbard - his eyes closed half as he channeled his powers once more. Darkness and gloom grew around him like the Primordial Beginning, the Seed of All Karma.

His eyes opened wide in a flash! Darkness poured forth with a torrential surge!

The glimmer of the Heaven Inflicted Pain shone coldly, tearing through the gloom with its fangs bared. It struck mercilessly at the stone door. Lines of deep, burrowing scars line across the stony face of the door that nearly bore through the granite door itself.

But just before Meng Qi had been able to land another strike, the stone regenerated and healed itself! The stone door restored itself from the damage that Meng Qi caused!

All for nothing... Meng Qi grimaced with a frown. He would have broken through the door if he had strength beyond the First Celestial Ladder.

Meng Qi thought of crushing the walls of stone around the door, but he was certain that such a method would not succeed.

He began to think hard, desperately searching his mind for ways to open the door.

His eyes drifted to the inscription that Ananda had left and a thought flashed through his mind at that very moment,

Why did Ananda choose this site to train and strengthen his powers?

Is there a connection between the reason that Ananda had left his legacy here and the stone door here?

No harm in trying... Meng Qi thought, holding the Heaven Inflicted Pain in his hands. He closed his eyes, summoning the disciplines of the Ananda Oath-breaking Saber. With his spiritual sight, he observed the stone door before him and found no connection to Karma.

Weird... Meng Qi thought as he swung his saber. What would happen if there were no elements of Karma on an intended target?

It was a stroke of simplicity. A stroke that held no imbuement of his powers. A stroke that had concealed no hidden maneuvers and no intricacies but was delicate in force instead, save for the faint shimmer that hinted of mild secrets that then vanished out of sight like a fish swimming for deeper waters of a lake.

The saber struck upon the granite face of the doorway. A huge blur in the fabric of space unfolded before him. The disorienting blur enveloped around him as the substance of space and dimension around him began to shift. When everything returned to normal, he found that the door had reappeared behind him! He passed through the door!

He looked back at the door; there it stood behind him in the midst of the surrounding darkness.

Meng Qi turned to study his surroundings. He was in a large space - a land of great space which was covered in a dark shade of blood red. Decaying corpses and rotten limbs were strewn everywhere!

Like the Demonic World, yet not it... Like the accursed realm of the Nine Serenities, yet not it... Meng Qi wondered. He tightly held the hilts of the weapons in his hands, staring into the gaseous strands of fumes of dark energies that seemed to veil some sinister secrets.

….....

The noon sun hung brightly in the sky over the rear mountain of Mount Liantai.

Troops of monks patrolled around the area. One could occasionally make out the customary yellow frocks that the monks wore and the red Kasaya cassock commonly donned by the Elders or the Head Priests.

Ripples trembled softly in the aura of natural energies flowing around the entrance to another secret passage. Like a vortex, the energies began to pour quietly into the crevice in the face of the stone cliffs, flowing into the secret passage.

This was the secret passage that led to the lower levels of the Stupa Tower. In the middle of its path was a fork that was constantly under the guard of a Senior Monk of the Exterior Scenery.

An Elder of the Shaolin order sat at the fork of the secret passage, so deep in meditation that his aura barely registered any signs of life.

But unbeknownst to him, the figures of four intruders appeared somewhere behind him!

Over their heads hovered a tortoise oracle bone. Weaves of the runes of divination of Yin-Yang and the Five Elements were inscribed upon the tortoise shell like a book.

The tortoise oracle bones possessed the powers of cloaking a small space from detection and exposure. All who stood within the confines of its enchantments would be invisible and imperceptible to others nearby as if they have been removed from the realm or dimension. Not even an Elder of the Shaolin order who possessed the powers of the Exterior Scenery could notice them slipping by!

Dressed in robes of flowing white, one of the four walked with the pale appearance of an ill-stricken man despite the fairness of his visage that resembled a lady. Wang Siyuan, the Ledgerkeeper of Lives!

At length, the group of four finally reached the end of the forked passage. Wang Siyuan looked at the stone door that barred their progress and gave a soft cough before he spoke,

"Master Kong Hui suffers from a lingering torment of an old injury that pains him at noon every day. The pain of the affliction hinders his use of the Divine Weapon of the temple. The Blade of Ananda will barely notice our presence so long as we keep ourselves away from the primary vicinity of the Tower in which it rests."

He spoke as if he was providing an explanation to the rest of his company.

Upon the stone door before them was also an inscription with the same words,

"Enter not this door, Ye of Righteous and Benevolence."

But the words shone with the luster of Zen Enlightenment like a magical seal!