The Sage Who Transcended Samsara

Chapter 1023: The Celestial Ruler Manifestation

The world was covered by a dark golden-glazed Buddha palm while the surroundings were blooming with golden Udumbara flowers. Seated inside and filling every flower, leaf, and universe were Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Arhats, deriving layers of pure land.

At the core of the Pure Land, there was a dark golden Buddha statue sitting on a lotus platform with Wisdom Kings clustered around. On top of his head was a giant bird with its wings spread out and the layers of moon-like Buddha lit at the back of his head overlapped each other, shining all the pure lands — it was the Ananda Golden Body.

The Buddhas faced the danger together and everything was suppressed when the palm fell!

Meng Qi, who was outside the area covered by the Pure Land in the Palm, sighed silently. The Ananda now only had the level of a celestial being at its peak. Unable to let go of his obsessive thoughts, the Law of Reincarnation weakened life after life and his stamp gradually dissipated. If he did things conventionally, he would just stop at the level of initial Legendary realm in this life. In his next life, attaining the Legendary realm would be an extravagant hope. And in the case of reincarnating without attaining the Legendary realm, the stamp would collapse completely. No wonder Ananda released the God of Thunder’s body in this life and attempted to rear a God of Thunder’s fish to match this body of Buddhism in order to breakthrough.

Unfortunately, he was too weak and had his past destroyed by the Tyrant. He had tried to break free by force and would step into the Legendary realm together with him in the future. After he did all that he could and forced the Tyrant into self-destruction, Ananda eventually went into demonism completely after seeing no hope in achieving transcendence. As such, he reversed the Buddha’s Palm and became the source of the great calamity of the Middle Ages.

“Repentance is Salvation.”

“Drop your knife and be absolved of your sins.”

As the grand and majestic voice reverberated, the glazed Buddha’s palm fell with unstoppable force. Han Guang whose body seemed to have been taken into possession by the Celestial Ruler’s thoughts suddenly took a step forward as his eyes turned cold and dignified, like a dictator looking down at the River of Time. There was no partiality, no hatred, no love, and also no coldness. The great, strong, and vast feeling shot up into the sky.

Splash! A clear sound of water was heard. A shiny long blade appeared in Han Guang’s hand out of nowhere, striking upward as he took a step forward!

An illusory long river appeared and covered every corner of the world, drowning every layer of pure land.

The Celestial Ruler stepped on time and suppressed the world!

Meng Qi saw the Buddha’s palm lose its dark golden color and only left with black and white. The pure land had lost its quietness and became more concrete. The Buddhas went into stagnation one by one and became a painting.

Bang!

Heaven and earth shook as the golden Udumbara flowers and dim water light dissipated in all directions. The aftermath had swept the remains of the Heavenly Court.

Looking at the solidified black and white spread over and the golden Udumbara flowers flying all over along with the layers of pure land, Meng Qi’s eyes quietly showed a glazed ancient lamp while the long river coiled around his body. The Celestial Parting Sword in his hand pierced out, cutting the waves and provoking the golden Udumbara flowers as he used the characteristics of Nirvana realm together with the Fairy-Slaying Swordplay to counter the aftermath.

Bi Jingxuan took a glance at Meng Qi before raising her right palm and showed the Primeval Dipper with vast golden light revolving around it.

The Dipper hung high in the sky, eliminating the surrounding aftermath with just a turn and a golden light.

There was a turtle shell on top of the Sage of Arithmetic’s head. Black and white dots of light danced, displaying the mysteries of heaven and earth, helping him brush past the aftermath all the time.

Crash!

The blade beam broke through the pure land, filling the kingdom of Buddhism and every corner of the remains of the Heavenly Court. Meng Qi felt as though he had stepped into a deep sea, its surroundings dark and heavy. He could vaguely see a glint of light, but could barely support himself and unable to walk easily.

Han Guang whose body is possessed by the Celestial Ruler’s thoughts can actually be pulled up to the peak of a celestial being?

The strike of the blade Celestial Ruler Stepping on Time was truly powerful. Without having the characteristics of the Legendary or Nirvana realms, or time-related skills and heavenly weapons such as the Fairy-Slaying Swordplay and the Wuji Seal, it was almost impossible to compete!

If Ananda was at his peak, this was definitely a piece of cake. But now, it seemed like he had to pay a price for it…

Just as this thought came to Meng Qi’s mind, he suddenly noticed the surrounding deep sea was shaking violently and the solidified world was cracking. A glaze Buddha foot stretched out with a rumble.

A huge dark golden Buddha statue displaying a Mudra sign stepped out, smashing the waves and everything he touched vanished.

Physical objects, the four elements, and everything else vanished. They had all been assembled temporarily!

The pale golden glaze Buddha light shone on the remains of the Heavenly Court. As the Buddha statue stepped forward, the broken branches, the crushed stones, and the remains everywhere lost their weight at the same time and floated. Among them were three jade books glistening.

Looking at the mythical scene that looked like the Buddha was coming to the world, the Sage of Arithmetic’s expression suddenly changed, moving his lips and muttered, “Broken limbs and pure land stained with blood, heaven and earth mourned and bodies everywhere, the celestial residence destroyed and calamity triggered, no one is spared…”

At that instantaneous moment, he seemed to have seen the scene of the calamity ten thousand years later and the unfortunate ending as his voice slightly trembled.

Meng Qi looked at him sideways and didn’t feel the correction of heaven and earth. It seemed like the Sage of Arithmetic had indeed saw the calamity of the Devil Buddha for the first time at the Jade Emperor Mountain. It was only later on that he verified step by step and looked for the way to let the Wang Family pull through the calamity.

The Heavenly Court seemed to have transformed into a pure land in which the golden-bodied Ananda displayed the Buddha’s Palm with one hand while his right hand stretched toward the three jade books.

At this moment, a blade beam quietly struck from the pale golden glaze with indiscernibility and extreme indifference, as though washing away time.

Time is like a blade, aging all beings.

As the misty blade beam fell, the huge dark golden Buddha instantly decomposed from the inside and its golden body started to decay.

If heaven had feelings, heaven too would grow old. Even a Buddha of the current era would age!

Ananda suddenly sat down with his legs crossed and displayed the Nirvana sign with his hands. Behind him, a Bodhi tree, neither dead nor alive, covered the sky. The blade of time was unable to shake him anymore.

Crash!

The lighted blade cut on the Bodhi tree, triggering vast spirit of Nirvana. A jade book was drawn into it and mottled before it turned into ashes.

Bang!

The Bodhi tree collapsed and its leaves fell, covering the senses of Meng Qi and the others so they could only continue to counter the effects of the aftermath.

After all the leaves had fallen, Meng Qi saw Ananda holding a flower in one hand and grabbing the remaining two jade books with the other hand, making Han Guang fall into realization.

Ananda didn’t stop but transformed his golden body into glaze light and fled out of the remains of the Heavenly Court straightaway.

Seeing which, the surprised Sage of Arithmetic held the Ancient Book and chased after Ananda, seemingly wanting to figure out what the calamity scene he had seen just now was all about.

Meng Qi took a glance at Han Guang who was at a celestial level after being possessed by the Celestial Ruler’s thoughts before thinking about the gap between their realms and also the power of the Blade of Time. As thoughts ran in his mind, he sent a message to Bi Jingxuan:

“Fairy Bi, let’s join forces to find a way to return safely at the remains of the Heavenly Court!”

With the power of the Primeval Dipper, she might be able to put up a fight!

Bi Jingxuan nodded without hesitation, “Sure!”

At this moment, the indiscernible and solemn Celestial Ruler-like feeling on Han Guang had decreased by a fair bit. His disposition regressed quickly and was only left with the level of an earth immortal.

Before Meng Qi would show any joy, he noticed a silhouette appearing from behind and beside him respectively. They were both the handsome Devil Master Han Guang in a loose robe, just that one had a deep disposition with a hidden intention of destroying all things and the other was calm and peaceful, like a real monk of great virtue!

After knowing that Han Guang had failed to barge into the Xuantian Sect, Meng Qi, Mister Luda, and the rest had analyzed why he was able to be at the Jade Pool seizing treasures and at the same time appear at the Xuantian Sect. After Su Wuming recalled the details of fighting with Han Guang, they had all guessed that he had used some treasure to create another manifestation, one that mainly showed the Six Annihilations Skill.

Now it seemed that he had not just created one manifestation, but also another one that inherited the skills of the Celestial Ruler!

The feeling of a monk of great virtue reminded Meng Qi of the Buddha’s Palm and the Reversed Buddha’s Palm inside the Ananda Pure Land. As this thought struck him, he also thought of the Qing Emperor’s Taoism body, Lord Taiyi, and his Buddhism body, the Medicine Buddha.

Could Han Guang have followed the example of predecessors, creating the Demon body and Celestial Ruler respectively using the Buddha’s Palm and the Reversed Buddha’s Palm as a cardinal and completely make up for the shortcomings of his own combined skills?

Meng Qi seemed to have some understanding of Han Guang’s situation. Not every two skills could merge perfectly like the Eight Nine Mysteries and the Premier Golden Stamp.

The calm and peaceful Han Guang pressed his right hand down, signaling Meng Qi and Bi Jingxuan not to be rash. He smiled and said, “I have no ill intentions toward you.”

Deep and magical, his voice was different from the past.

No ill intentions? Meng Qi dared not take things lightly. He was still fully prepared and ready to draw out the Invincible Blade as he waited for his reply. Suddenly, a thought struck him and he said with a serious expression, “You’re not possessed by the Celestial Ruler’s thought.”

Judging at his awake look, he didn’t look possessed at all!

“Of course not, it was just an act for Ananda and the Sage of Arithmetic to find out Ananda’s secret,” Han Guang admitted with a smile as he pointed at the manifestation which fought with Ananda earlier on. “The Celestial Ruler’s thoughts were used by me as an entrustment to create this Celestial Ruler manifestation.”

Meng Qi came to a sudden realization. No wonder Han Guang wanted to come to the Jade Emperor Mountain. He was here to find the Celestial Ruler’s thoughts which were useless to others but irreplaceable for his own manifestation!

As he thought of this, Meng Qi suddenly recalled the celestial power displayed by the Devil Master earlier on and asked in a low voice, “You’ve leveled up to a celestial being after creating the Celestial Ruler manifestation?”

“After completing my achievements and having ten years to pass, I have of course leveled up,” Han Guang gave a carefree laugh as the two manifestations each took a step and merged into his original body at the same time. The feeling of the monk of great virtues weakened by a fair bit as a carefree spirit appeared and a terrifying celestial disposition filled the surroundings.

Meng Qi asked warily, “Why did you stop us if you have no ill intentions?”

What is ten years?

Han Guang bantered, “I wanted to lend you a helping hand, third brother.”

Third brother? Meng Qi suddenly felt his hair stand and Bi Jingxuan kept a distance at once, afraid of being cheated.