The Sage Who Transcended Samsara
chapter-553

The elegant, carefree middle-aged man wearing a loose robe stood up with his hand behind his back. He seemed as if he was pondering the meaning of life while stargazing through the lingering black gas.

He suddenly lowered his head to stare into Meng Qi's eyes, a faint smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

He then lifted his right palm and sent it flying slowly at Meng Qi, suppressing him.

The sea of Vital Qi that Meng Qi had felt a connection with collapsed under the pressure coming from the middle-aged man's palm. He could vaguely feel drastic changes in the Dharma and Logos of Heaven and Earth.

Yang was death; Yin was life!

To tread on a depraved path of evil was the primary factor, to transcend the ordinary was secondary!

Meng Qi struggled to regain his connection with the Force of Heaven and Earth despite his open Aperture acupoints. The Dharma and Logos that he had inferred were also discordant, and it became a challenge to externalize the Interior.

Within the scope of the momentum, the void began contracting and the world became filled with the air of ruination. Layers upon layers of air condensed, spreading to where Meng Qi stood while threatening to shatter in a terrifying fashion. The air limited the directions in which he could escape to.

Though this palm was slow-moving, cold sweat beaded on Meng Qi's forehead and a numbing sensation took over his entire body. The palm felt like an evil that would be a challenge to overcome.

With the essence of Primeval driving the mud pellet, Meng Qi tried his best to simultaneously stifle his thoughts and stimulate his Inner World. Illusions emerged in his Aperture acupoints, merging with Nine Apertures of his internal organs. His Big Bang Technique was prepared, after having accumulated power for a long time.

However, the Dharma and Logos were in dissension. Under the circumstances where it would be a challenge to connect to the Force of Heaven and Earth, Meng Qi was struck with the omen that he would not be able to shatter this punch!

To a quick-witted Exterior master with a formidable Vital Spirit like him, an omen would often become reality should there be no external interference; however, in the event that there was external interference, his fate would not be all that great either.

"What should I do?" Meng Qi could not draw his word, leaving him to watch helplessly as the palm came closer and closer to him, its five fingers more distinct than ever. It was difficult to move - as if someone or something had taken over as the owner of his body. His thoughts were the only things that were free to roam.

"What to do? Just what should I do?"

Between the lightning and fire, an idea that he intuitively considered useful emerged in his mind: the crack on the ground that Zhenwu Great Emperor had cleaved!

"That's right! This feeling resembles the feeling I had when I was in the depths of Nine Serenities!"

Without the time to ponder upon his decision, he instantly changed his figure and his breath took on a Yin quality as his face became grey like that of an evil ghost!

Buzz! Tremors ran through his Aperture acupoints as he felt the Dharma and Logos cease to reject and confront him. Instead, they fitted him like a glove and fell firmly into his grasp.

Even though the nearby sea of Vital Qi had fallen apart, he now had the confidence of meeting the palm with his saber!

The saber radiance burst in a thin and fine line, forming a chink in the darkness. Yin and Yang split apart, forming a turbid top layer and a clear bottom layer. The radiance filled all corners, illuminating the Chaos!

Henceforth, there was light and heaven in this world. The saber radiance flooded onward, cutting open the layers and layers of air of condensed destruction, and ravaged the shrinking void.

The elegant middle-aged man with an exotic, devilish charm stood up once again and placed his hands behind him. A thin, fine line wound appeared on his body, stretching from his mid-brows all the way to his groin.

The wound stretched wider and wider until the man fell to the ground with a thud, his body severed in half.

'He' appeared as calm and carefree as ever, looking anything but wretched even after being severed. He smiled at Meng Qi as if he was not a manifestation of a formation but truly the latter's External Devil with a beating heart and intelligence.

His gaze sent a tingling sensation all over Meng Qi's scalp. Only when the man disappeared entirely did he heave a sigh of relief.

…

The tortoiseshell flew out, the black and white specks on its surface magnified. In its deduction of the manifestation of nature was a concealed notion of birth, completing the Dharma and Logos and invigorating the heaven. Of the Eight Trigrams, the terrain represented the earth; the carefree wind symbolized wood and wind; and the thunder signified lightning.

It scattered golden sword tips that turned into revolving Trigrams brimming with the desire to bind and restrict. The Dharma phantom, exuding evil and nefariousness, that was about to arrive at Meng Qi's face was shrouded in it.

The old and grey-haired Wang Bingning held a divinatory plate on his palm, the silhouette of Dharma reflected in his pupil-less eyes.

The divinatory plate emitted red light as it rotated, entwining and shackling the silhouette reflected in his eyes. The Dharma itself seemed affected and its movements became distorted and slow as if it was a puppet with tangled strings. It gave the tortoiseshell the opportunity to continue evolving.

Unlike the sick and frail Wang Siyuan, Wang Dezhong exuded a distinctively mature, masculine air. He repeatedly stabbed the air at seemingly random spots with his three-foot-long green spear, doing so without mystical nor prominent force. Even so, his every strike managed to stop the movements of Dharma and the surrounding momentum created by heaven and earth and the Exterior collapsed.

Wang Siyuan's face turned frighteningly pale. He pushed his hands together, bringing forth a mirage and subsequently deducing the calculating rods floating in front of him. The golden divinatory diagrams cast by the tortoiseshell gradually linked with each other to form an integral whole.

To think he would be capable of stimulating the tortoiseshell that was obviously a divine weapon!

Evidently, his breath had not passed the first step of the Celestial Ladder!

Duan Rui's horizons had expanded after spending time with the Wang family recently and he had become more knowledgeable as well. Even if his strength was still far behind Wang Siyuan's, he was still able to get a rudimentary understanding of what was happening.

"He seems particularly compatible with this divine weapon..."

Buzz! A quiet noise resonated. From the body of his Dharma, the ripple of nothingness spread to all corners.

The many divinatory diagrams finally formed an integral whole, resembling a roll of golden silk scroll filled with an arcane script, that wrapped the Dharma layer after layer.

Even though Duan Rui did not recognize the script or design, a massive 'word' surfaced in his mind.

"Seal!"

The golden silk scroll formed by the arcane divinatory diagrams connected with the earth. The interlocked breath and force left a layer of profound mark on its surface.

The ripples affected the nearby two-feet-tall black boulder, reducing it to a fine powder. This was the final counterattack of the Nefarious Dharma before being sealed. Unfortunately for it, however, it was dispelled layer by layer and the attack did not manage to injure anyone.

Staring at the revolving Eight Diagrams, Duan Rui could clearly feel the breath of a Dharmakaya.

Just as his train of thought started running astray, Wang Siyuan's voice mingled with his violent coughing and pierced Duan Rui's ears.

"G-Go...!" Wang Siyuan eeked out the words amid his coughing.

This was the first time he saw Wang Siyuan's solemnness!

…

Meng Qi hastened his speed in climbing upward, crossing the spot where the devilish man had disappeared. He wanted to get out of the External Devil Lure Formation as soon as possible. Who knew what else would pop up?

Just as he arrived at a two-feet-tall black boulder, a golden light radiated in front of him.

The radiance ceased in a flash. Meng Qi squinted his eyes to look at it and found an Eight Diagrams chart on the ground. Rigid and unflexible, dull and lifeless, it was a chart devoid of any power or breath.

With his back against the black boulder, Meng Qi found everything to be inexplicable. Why were there Eight Divinatory Diagrams suddenly?

What was the implication behind these seemingly ordinary and typical diagrams?

Was it a response materialized by the formation or was it a reward for almost passing the third floor?

Would the diagrams embody the mystery of this mountain peak?

Meng Qi's eyebrows furrowed ever so slightly. He dared not to make any further delays and instantly moved forward after memorizing the diagrams.

The mountain path, though winding and steep, was no match for Meng Qi. Before long, he managed to walk out of the External Devil Lure Formation and unsurprisingly found a black Bodhi-seed lying in what appeared to be a close yet distant place.

Enchanted Devil Bodhi-seed!

However, the seed was also shattered as if it would be reduced to mere dust if wind swept it.

"If the seed is intact, the formation wouldn't be this weak considering the strength of the two External Devils earlier..." Meng Qi nodded gently. He was particularly sure that he would lose if the Enchanted Devil Bodhi-seed did not shatter and could metamorphize more than one-tenth of his own force.

He momentarily stopped in his tracks as he recalled the diagrams that he had seen earlier. He carefully pondered it using his knowledge of Jade Virtual Divination and Eight Nine Mysteries.

Sometimes, it might not necessarily be wise to go fast. Clues could be easily neglected and carelessness might pervade. In other words, one might not get to his destination precisely if he made haste!

"There's an inkling of the essence of Buddha in this Bodhi-seed but unfortunately it had turned evil," Wang Siyuan said emotionally. He seemed to have relaxed a little after exiting the External Devil Lure formation.

His voice had barely drifted into Duan Rui's ears when he began to cough violently. Blood trickled down from the corner of his mouth and it dyed his handkerchief red.

The tortoiseshell floated gently above his head and began to curb its power. It spilled a dim light on him, helping him to recover.

Duan Rui was deeply upset that he had failed to obtain such a precious Nefarious Bodhi.

How could the greedy, corrupt, and proud Duan Rui accept this?

"Up ahead is Red Lotus of Karmic Fire. You can use tricks to go past it undetected but you'll have to be careful with the subsequent Karmic Formation," Wang Siyuan said after having quelled his coughing. He looked at the three of them.

The red lotus bloomed in front of him and burned quietly, consuming unknown nutrients.

Meng Qi took a deep breath and made preparations for the Karmic Fire to enter his body, preparations to put up a strong resistance.

Once that happened, he would return instantly and use the Karmic Fire Bladesmanship to kill Thunder God from the Ninth Heaven. Then he would use his other Reincarnation Talisman to return to the square and accept the Dominator's thorough healing.

Of course, he had to have a firm grasp on the timing. If he was held back by mere seconds, he would be reduced into ashes.

When he stepped onto the sea of flames, a faint golden glow surfaced on his skin. A layer of black gas drilled up to the surface and became ignited by the flames.

Images of the enemies that he had killed and everything that had ever tugged at his conscience echoed in his mind. It seemed that the images became clearer along with the burning of the red lotus.

The fire of Karmic force stuck close to Meng Qi's golden glow, burning so fiercely that he was swaying, but failed to break into the glow.

The red lotus blossomed and the Karmic fire burned even fiercer. Meng Qi's golden glow remained pure and unyielding.

Meng Qi felt as if he had become the Embodiment of Buddha, or that he had stepped onto the lotus' blossoming in the depths of hell.

"Sure enough, the eye of the formation is damaged..." He relaxed, feeling carefree. He was even inspired to pen a song but realized, upon second thought, that he did not possess such talent...

His body gradually submerged deeper as he stepped on the red lotus. The fire slowly extinguished as the Karmic force became exhausted.

Meng Qi exited the karmic hell not long after and saw a withered, fallen red lotus.

He found himself in a dark place where there were occasional twinkling strings of stars.

Karma Fruit Formation!

For a moment, he was stunned and many thoughts crossed his mind.

Inside a certain ancient tomb that was shrouded in a deathly stillness.

Right in the center of the old tomb was a large, pitch-black coffin. It was deeply solemn and full of decorative engravings that described scenes of the Underworld of Nine Serenities. Old, mottled lamps emitting moss green light were placed at both ends of the coffin. They seemed to be used for suppressing or preserving something.

At this moment, the man shrouded in swirling bloody-yellow fog of death stepped inside and said respectfully,

"Clan Leader, we've found Kong Wen's whereabouts. He's been spotted at the Jade Gate Pass and we believe he'll soon enter the West Regions."

From the coffin came a dignified but emotionless voice. "I need a living Dharmakaya body in order to turn Yin into Yang and achieve the Real Body of the Netherworld. Don't disappoint me."

"Rest assured, Clan Leader. He's no longer the Kong Wen of the yesteryears. He can hide from the world but not from those who wish to seek him. He has not engaged in any battles ever since suppressing Evil Master. He wasn't even able to rescue the disciples of Xuan Tian Sect and Dajiang Gang in time and they had died in front of him. Which part of him is worthy of his title as a Dharmakaya? Obviously, he has been on the decline after sustaining severe injuries and has lost the glory of his prime. This rumor has been circulating in the Jianghu for many years!"

The man shrouded in a bloody-yellow fog of death sneered, "Buddha's Palm is related to the unification of Buddhism. Like it or not, he must come. This is the omen of his death!"

He straightened his back and said confidently, "The three Tai Shang Elders will taking this on personally and they'll each be carrying Netherworld's bones. With them forming the Three Path Formation, our plans will be foolproof!"

He quietly added this under his breath, "If only there wasn't someone who had accidentally found out about this, then it would be even more foolproof!"