The Sage Who Transcended Samsara

In the quiet night with the cold breeze blowing and the moon hanging high, Meng Qi was still kneeling behind the table, staying in that position since just now. Nonetheless, he, who has mastered the Premier Golden Stamp and the Dharmayaka Sections of the Arts of Eight-Nine, definitely noticed the existence of the Bull Head, Horse Face, and Judge Cui.

The end of an era was symbolized by the destruction of the Heavenly Court and the Nine Levels of Heaven, while the List of Deification acted as one of the foundations to build the Heavenly Court. In other words, obtaining the list then setting up the Heavenly Court could be the key to escaping from the catastrophe and getting the upper hand. Similarly, unifying the world of the dead and building a real hell could be a rather important section.

This has been vaguely mentioned in legends and ancient literature, but Meng Qi did not realize the truth until now, when he needed to deal with both the List of Deification and the matters of hell.

He used to treat the saying from the ghost that turned into Fu Bo seriously. Fu Bo said, “On top of us is the celestial world, below is the Nine Levels of Underground. Ghosts and spirits coexist thus there should be no hell.” However, when he actually took time to think about it, if it is true that there is no hell, what about the terms widely used in the human world? Underworld, hell, the Judge Yama, Emperor Dong Yue, these words were frequently used by humans in their daily lives.

And where do the terms underworld or hell originate from?

Come to think of it, Buddhism has eighteen levels of hell while the Taoist hell is under the jurisdiction of Emperor Dong Yue. Similar terms in myths are commonly used and said, not to mention terms like Blissful Paradise and Hometown of the Soul.

“Well it seems like the Buddhist, Tao, Heavenly Court, and others are fighting over this issue…” Meng Qi slightly nodded his head. He managed to see through the truth beneath the superficial mythological stories.

If that was the case, the incident of the Great Sage Equalling Heaven being arrested and brought to hell, the chaos in the underworld, and the event of writing off deaths from the Book of Life and Death might not be as simple as it seems. Does this mean that these important events were masterminded by a big shot in the Nirvana Realm?

And this could mean that the Celestial Ruler was actually able to take down the Great Sage Equalling Heaven. The ruler just chose not to do so because he was afraid of the mastermind behind the scenes. Instead, he invited a Gautama Buddha who had somewhat immature skills to show that they are forced to rely on the Saha Pure Land Mountains.

The more he thought about it, the more Meng Qi could feel the intensity of the battle at the beginning. The unthinkable incidents on the surface actually reflected what the influential figures were planning secretly. Perhaps the reason the Great Sage Equalling Heaven could be easily controlled was also because he was unruly and proud. It was not until he became a Buddha after being trapped under the Five-Finger Mountain and took the journey to the west when he saw the truth.

“Oh dear,” Meng Qi sighed while exclaiming at how extraordinary the influential figures acted. One might never know that he or she is being used, until someone exposes the truth.

“Well, whatever the Wang family claimed about helping real spirits to find a place they belong to might be only half true. That applies, too, to the purpose they wanted to train according to the Real Spirit Map, and then saying that the map went missing but only showed up recently. I guess they got to know about the mysteries of the heaven and wanted to build a real hell amidst the chaos in the Heavenly Court for their own benefit. Unfortunately, they lacked the skills required and there were also people controlling the situation from behind. In the end, someone else managed to snatch it before them,” Meng Qi thought by himself while trying to picture the truth.

And of course, this has no relationship with the Monster of the Heavenly Way. The Wang family might be courageous enough to join the fight because they relied on the monster, but it must be too late when they realised that the monster was the real source of their disaster!

Meng Qi closed his eyes while inferencing and visualizing the details of the incident in his mind.

Well then, who was the Great Emperor who succeeded in building that hell?

Also, it was not easy to be able to seize the map from the Wang family back then. Although there were many powerful aces, only a small portion could manage to do so.

One of the strongest aces would be the Great Emperor Zhenwu. But during the fall of the Heavenly Court, he disappeared for many years and jumped into the life-and-death origin. It did not seem like he would manage to get out that fast.

If this happened in the ancient times, and involved the life-and-death origin, Meng Qi could only relate the incident to the Great Emperor Zhenwu. It would make sense if he was the one behind the scenes because he mastered the mystics of life-and-death and understood that building a hell is the key to surviving. If the Great Emperor really entered the Nirvana Realm and left the life-and-death origin during ancient times, it would be possible for him to grab the Real Spirit Map and change history. However, he would have gotten into a fight with the others there thus the possibility of him doing that was almost nil.

Bodhisattva? It would also make sense if one of the four great Bodhisattvas noticed the Wang family’s involvement and tried to clear up the mess. But with his strength and skills at that time, was it truly enough to defeat the Wang family’s ancestors? No matter how holy he was, the Wang family had a Heavenly Way Monster. Most importantly, the Wang family were the ones who invented the Arimethical Classic. They would have been prepared to deal with their enemies since they could predict the future.

Meng Qi took a long time trying to figure out who it was because he did not know much about the ancient times. Nonetheless, he could be sure that the one who did that was good in skills needed in the dream world. This was how he could drag himself into the dream world secretly with just a little amount of energy.

Having said so, his hell must also be built in a dream world!

Energy of the spirits in the List of Deification would be restricted to the positions they were gifted in the list. Thus, even the strongest spirit in the list would not possess energy that exceeds the list. Other than Yama of the transcendent level, rumor has it that there is at most one more at a similar level. Even if he exists, it would only be a myth in hell.

“Are you leaving right after warning me? Are you ignoring your karma?” Meng Qi suddenly opened his eyes and saw a beam of light that looked like coloured glass. It radiated black and white lights in separated layers, as if the birth of karma penetrated all the illusionary worlds and all connections.

He grabbed his Invincible Blade with his right hand and murmured, “Let me teach you some manners!”

…

On the other hand, a fascinating world existed within the chaos.

There, a blood-red river was flowing in the middle, and there was a stone bridge over it. Many majestic black palaces were surrounded by pretty flowers in that area.

The words Rotary Palace were carved on one of the palaces, and six majestic and elegant bridges laid before its gates. A man dressed in a black royal robe was seated in the palace. He had thin, sharp features, his long beard reaching his chest. His face was pale and his eyes were black. A book with black and white intersections was placed on the table in front of him. Meanwhile, Judge Cui, Bull Head, and Horse Face stood under the stage, facing him.

“Su Meng is as strong as a celestial transcendent. I have limited powers and I beg Your Highness to deal with him with the Book of Life and Death,” pleaded Judge Choi.

“Go, fetch the rulers of each palace to discuss this at once,” commanded the Rotary King with a serious face.

Right after saying that, the atmosphere suddenly turned bright, and purple lighting was all over the sky. A long blade swung out through the dream world. As the blade swung by, someone coldly said, “Let me teach you some manners!”

The deafening voice frightened the Rotary King, his face revealing his fearful surprise.

He could not believe that Su Meng has come!

How did he manage to find them?

He could do it across the air just like in the legends!