The Sage Who Transcended Samsara
chapter-672

The howling ended abruptly. Judging by that voice, the monsters seemed to have just left the bridge, heading into the other end in the mist.

Meng Qi and the others could not help marching in the direction of the voice. They sped up at first, but soon afterward, they all slowed down. The situation on the other end was unclear and they did not dare to risk their lives as the Roc Monster King had. They decided to take careful observations first before making any further move; after all, it was not their companion that was in danger.

Finally, Meng Qi and Jiang Zhiwei and the others walked over the long bridge. There they saw a paradise land, where pavilions were surrounded by trees in the mist. The void in the distance had the color of the Chaos. The shard of the Celestial Court seemed to end here abruptly.

“The core item should be here…” Meng Qi turned to look at everything in front of him. At the end of the bridge was a forest, where every tree had a thick trunk and a large tree crown that could block out the sun. No bushes, flowers, or herbs were growing under the trees.

They had to walk through the woods to get to the paradise land, unless they could fly over the forest.

At the sight of this, Meng Qi could not help thinking, “These are immortal trees. If I can take one home, I can exchange it for a lot of Karma points…”

“Be careful,” Ruan Yushu reminded him.

It was common sense to her that, on the way to any place, there had to be ambushes or Formations. The Ruan Clan would set up traps like that, and here they were in the ancient Celestial Court!

Similarly, she could tell that the trees without herbs growing underneath them were all suspicious!

Meng Qi nodded gently while holding a sword and a blade respectively on each side. He walked slowly and steadily into the woods. He looked into the distance and could see that the trees were sparse and free from any poisonous mist. He could directly see the palace on the other side with no signs of danger.

Meng Qi quickly used the Eight Nine Mysteries to sense any danger, and used the Jade Virtual Divination to deduce the possible contingencies.

“The woods are safe…” Meng Qi stayed vigilant and tried hitting a tree. The tree fell and did not provoke anything unusual. Then, he used the Penetrating Stare technique to scan everywhere and did not find any sign of seals.

Subsequently, after using a few more techniques to sense seals, Meng Qi took a deep breath and walked into the seemingly normal forest.

There was no swirling fog, no traps that turned him upside down, or millions of sword lights that came at him. Meng Qi felt a little relieved and was about to signal Jiang Zhiwei and the others to come in.

But that was when his eyes almost popped out of his head because there was no one there. Jiang Zhiwei, Ruan Yushu, Qi Zhengyan, and Zhao Heng, who had all just been standing there, were all gone!

“Is there danger lurking outside the woods?” Meng Qi gathered his full strength and dashed toward the edge of the woods.

All of a sudden, the trees were transformed into piles of rocks. The rocks formed into several roads in all directions. Meng Qi could no longer see the bridge, the palace, or the mist in the air.

“It’s not a killing formation but a maze formation?” Meng Qi was collecting his thoughts. “No wonder I didn’t see the danger, the trees were indeed safe. And the monsters have walked through the woods, so I couldn’t see any damage.”

At the same time, he was really appreciating the formations. “It indeed is an immortal formation; I didn’t notice it at all. Things were different in Zhen Wu’s Secret Chamber, where I broke the outer seal in a regular way, which made me the formation manipulator and I could sense anything suspicious very easily.

“I just thought that if we don’t enter the area where the core item lies, we can’t run into formations that are beyond our levels…” After thinking for a while, he raised his sword and blade and walked into the passage. Meng Qi decided to find Jiang Zhiwei and the others first.

He believed that without any formation manipulator, he could walk out of it by using deduction and exploration.

However, his perception was somehow suppressed and he could not sense very far. Thus, Meng Qi had to leave marks at every corner he passed so as not to get lost.

With the passage of time, even though he did not go deep into the woods, he also failed to walk out of them. And when he tried to climb up the piles of rocks, he was stopped by protective spells. Finally, he had to explore the maze using his Divine Deduction.

“Hmm…?” Walking for a while, Meng Qi saw his marks under a pile of rocks. It seemed that he had returned to where he started.

“This time, I’ll turn right…” Leaving a mark, Meng Qi strode forward again. But just as he turned, he saw a burly figure!

It was more than two meters tall and had a cow’s nose. It looked robust and had ferocious eyes. The rake in its hand was glimmering with coldness.

Meeting unexpectedly in such a passage, both of them were startled but soon collected their thoughts.

“Monster!”

“Human!”

The burly monster gained more confidence when it discovered that Meng Qi’s breath was under the Fourth-fold Heaven. And its eyes became more ferocious as it lifted up its rake. It seemed to have produced a several-meter-high ox shadow because its whole body was shining.

It swung the rake at Meng Qi’s head. The ox shadow lowered its head, and its shimmering bull horns were nearly in the same position as the rake. They combined to push the rocks behind Meng Qi, and their strength seemed to penetrate everything.

“Trying to beat me in strength?”

Meng Qi’s muscles bulged and he opened his Aperture acupoints. Numerous lights rose up and formed various images around the blade. He did not use the Law Phenomenon or Dharmakaya movements; he just directly hacked at it.

“Clank!”

Strong winds started to blow, and the ground cracked. The burly monster was pushed back by the strength. Its arms were numb and its hands were shaking, nearly losing hold of its rake.

“He’s so strong!

“And he used only one hand!”

The big monster started to look at Meng Qi like he was an ogre!

“I’m famous for my strength, but I can’t compete with a human in the Fourth-fold Heaven?”

Meng Qi held the long sword in front of him, and dragged the Heaven Inflicted Pain blade behind him. He stomped toward the monster, ready for a nasty fight.

Suffering from the previous hit, the burly monster flinched and spat a huge Calculus Bovis through its mouth. The Calculus Bovis transformed into a flying light and rushed toward Meng Qi’s face. The Calculus Bovis flew so fast that Meng Qi failed to dodge it.

“Whack!”

Meng Qi’s face was shimmering with a pale golden hue. He was hit in the face, but was not injured. His face became slightly red from the blow, while the Calculus Bovis cracked. And then, he grew a pair of hands to pick it up.

“Ogre!” The Wild Ox Monster lost all courage and turned around to flee.

“The Calculus Bovis is my best strike; I only use it in an emergency. The enemy always ends up with their head smashed in. But this time, he’s fine, while my Calculus Bovis almost broke!

“Can he still be considered human?”

Meng Qi held the Calculus Bovis and stomped with his Void-stamping Footwork. He easily overtook the Wild Ox Monster and blocked its way.

The Wild Ox Monster knew that it had to fight it out. It rolled on the ground and turned into a six-meter-long ox. Its bull horns were sharp and shimmering with coldness.

The ox shadow emerged and was attached to the Wild Ox Monster’s body.

Its bull horns bulged. Meng Qi could clearly see the spiral patterns and the green lights at the tip of the horns.

It was breathing heavily. It lowered its head and dug into the ground, then it stormed in front of Meng Qi in a flash.

Meng Qi remained calm and slightly turned his body. He used the long sword to distract the ox, while he used his free hand to directly grasp the bull horn.

Meng Qi’s arms bulged, and a pale golden hue was shimmering. He gathered up all his strength and stopped the Wild Ox Monster!

Then, he raised his right hand, swung his long sword eight times in the air, and then brought it down.

“Kaboom!”

After a string of flashing purple lights, the Wild Ox Monster dashed forward, blood pouring out of its neck. Its head was in Meng Qi’s hand.

Meng Qi took out a jade vase to collect its blood. He quickly dissected the ox corpse to separate the valuable bull horn and bull skin. There was a limit to what the Space Ring could hold; trivial things had to be left behind.

“Hmm…” Meng Qi discovered that something was missing. “Where’s its storage bag? It’s a Monster King, so it must have some possessions.”

In the midst of these thoughts, he noticed the ox stomach that he had tossed away. He poked it with the tip of his blade—it was full.

“There it is!”

Meng Qi picked up the ox stomach and forced it open. The Wild Ox Monster had a large collection, but none of it was useful to him. Thus, he just put it away with the rake.

Looking around, Meng Qi was upset. “What if Senior Brother Qi, Zhiwei, and the others have also been trapped inside the formation? What if they were tricked by the formation and walked into the woods following me? The Monster Kings were still in here!

“The little foodie Ruan Yushu has the Demon-revealing Mirror, so she can save herself even if she bumps into a grandmaster monster. Zhiwei is at the same level as me, so she can at least flee. Zhao Heng holds the Baroque Pagoda of Nature’s Hues, so he can also survive. However, if Senior Brother Qi has the misfortune to run into a grandmaster monster, he’ll be in danger!”

Meng Qi was worried, so he tried to figure out the way to find his companions as soon as possible.

Suddenly, his heart sank and he sensed a feeling of danger. Without a second thought, he dashed to the nearest road and hid behind the rock piles, which could block perceptions!

In the distance slowly came a mysterious man covered in a black robe. His breath seemed formidable, striking a chill in Meng Qi’s heart and making him cringe even more. He did not dare to even look in the direction of the stranger.

“That’s not the grandmaster monster I’ve sensed. Where did this man come from?”

After Jiang Zhiwei clearly saw “Meng Qi” nod, she entered the woods with Ruan Yushu and the others.

But after just a few steps, she noticed something was wrong because Qi Zhengyan, Zhao Heng, and Ruan Yushu were all out of sight—even Meng Qi in front of her was nowhere to be seen.

“It’s a maze formation?” She collected her thoughts and decided to walk on. Along the way, she did not frown even when the trees turned into stones.

“The thing about a maze formation is that the harder you try, the deeper you’ll be trapped.”

The calm Jiang Zhiwei walked on following her instincts. Finally, she started to see the profile of the palace in front of her.

At that moment, a ghostly cry rang out. She saw a man emerge from a branch. The man had the Chinese character “king” tattooed on his mid-brows.

Qi Zhengyan held his Golden Dragon Stripe Sword and marched forward expressionless.

All at once, the rocks beside him exploded. A fat black man staggered out of the explosion.

Seeing Qi Zhengyan, it slowed down and grinned.

“A weak guy…”

Qi Zhengyan wielded his sword, fearlessly.