The Sage Who Transcended Samsara

It was dark and deep as if there was no end, and time and space thickened like amber. By the time Meng Qi thought he no longer had a sense of up and down, left and right, and the passing of time, there was finally a flash of light ahead of him. He saw that within the pure and endless chaos, the main hall he had seen before reappeared as if it had been unchanged since times immemorial.

The Ancient Kunlun Bell was still in front of the hall, but behind it, it was dark and difficult to see. The only difference was that there was now a plaque, with the words ‘Jade Pure Palace’ written on it in ancient letters, solemn and eternal.

The last time Meng Qi met the Immortal Qingyuan Yang Jian was at this Jade Pure Palace, which was apparently one of the faces of the main hall.

Leaping out of the ancient well and landing before the hall, Meng Qi was covered in a layer of Water Membrane of Chaos. He suppressed his karma, and used the hidden mysteries of heaven to make it seem like he no longer existed on this earth.

Since he managed to jump out of the universe of the ancient well, he clearly had to move forward with his plan of turning light into darkness, hiding from the mighty people of the Legendary Realm, Zhao Qian, and the rest to silently seek the Green Lotus Seed of Chaos.

He had just concealed his figure when Han Guang emerged from the mouth of the ancient well. He was back to his robed self, but his complexion was an unusual dark gray. Even if he had only reversed time for two moments, and it was merely at a slightly unique universe among the Universe of the Myriad World, and he had mainly relied on the traits of the Eastern Emperor Bell fragment and the catalysis of the aura of the Celestial Ruler, not even the Celestial Beings of the Heavenly Realm could pull off such a sacrilegious scheme easily. He paid the price of having the incarnation of the Celestial Ruler shattered and being badly injured, and he probably only had sixty percent of his abilities left. Moreover, manipulating time takes a lot out of a person, and even his fighting power would be poorer by half.

The Devil Master was still smiling and looked nonchalant, as if he did not care about the state of his body at all. Naturally, the greater the return, the greater the price paid. Moreover, this time he had the help of Su Meng’s East Wind. If he had fought with his own bare strength, his death would be inevitable even with the Premier Reflection.

To some extent, in that universe, he was even more fearsome than the people of the Legendary Realm. Naturally, the greater the limitation, the more obvious the flaws. Thus, the more life-threatening they were, the easier they could be taken advantage of.

He used his Divine Sense and realized that the door to the Jade Pure Palace was already wide open, and the inside was completely dark. However, he did not see even the slightest trace of Meng Qi, and even his mysteries of heaven were obscured.

Deep in thought, Han Guang nodded, and did not bother to search for him. He just carried on forward, entering the Jade Pure Palace.

Meng Qi hid by the side, waiting for Han Guang to pass, before following him silently, using him as a shield.

If fate does not intervene, even if the fragment of the Eastern Emperor Bell was not damaged, the Celestial Emperor’s aura had not been exhausted, and even if he had prior experience so doing it again, it would not be a problem. If Han Guang wanted to use them to once again create the incarnation of the Celestial Ruler, he would need at least two years of heavy training… Meng Qi judged based on Han Guang’s figure which looked much more frail.

The previous Brahma-like Heavenly Lord Yuanshi was indeed terrifying. Had he not managed to leap out of that universe, the remnants of the Foundation of Existence that were as deadly as a seven inch snake and could kill him with a single blow. He was fortunate to have a Holy Whip, and it was solely his alliance with Han Guang that enabled him to have the chance to escape.

After all, going from Celestial Being to the Legendary Realm was like going from the exterior to the Dharmakaya, namely a step up in the ladder of life, and the evolution of essence. In a way, they could no longer be considered the same species as the difference in ability was astronomical. For instance, stars are commonly used to describe a Celestial Being’s fearsomeness (the term stars is used generally, but the gap between different stars can be very significant, like the difference between the Tyrant when he was a Celestial Being and regular Celestial Beings). Following that logic, the ascension to legendary status can be described in layman’s terms as the promotion from a star to a galaxy.

However, mighty people of the Legendary Realm have communicated with numerous reflections, and their reflected self in every universe could be promoted to galactic rank. Upon merging with the essence, and reaching the summit of the legendary status with reflections across the Universe of Myriad Worlds, then the change will go from quantitative to qualitative, and would no longer be describable in terms of stars and galaxies, but would almost be like the power of the vast universe. After passing away while sitting cross-legged, the inner cave could be transformed into a boundless universe, and while their combat capability in the Real World would be weakened and limited, in the Universe of Myriad Worlds, saying it was fearsome would be an understatement. The difference between them and Celestial Beings were even greater than the difference between a firefly and the moon.

Apart from the shackles which prevented the Premier Reflection from quickly generating force of maneuver, the Premier Reflection was equal to the people of the Legendary Realm, and even had the River of Time which the Legends could not sense, and had many traits of the Nirvana Realm. In a fight, a hundred Meng Qis and a hundred Han Guangs together would still not be his match, and while they might be able to hold their own in the beginning, after the four-faced, four-armed Divine Man had gathered his strength, they would be torn apart.

However, his luck was terrible, and his opponent was Meng Qi who had traits of the Nirvana Realm, could use the Wind Changing technique, and could withstand the Inverted Karma and the Weight of the Universe which did not require too much power. He also had to deal with the unreasonable Han Guang who reversed time, thus creating an opportunity for Meng Qi to attack the sleeping god which was his Seven Inch chance. It was even more of a coincidence that he had the Holy Whip, which was sufficient to obliterate the body with a crack of the whip.

The three coincidences caused the Premier Reflection who never thought he would fail at the hands of two ants to be knocked down by one hit, and would never have the chance to return, dying with a lot of grievances.

Too many coincidences… Meng Qi followed Han Guang as he passed through the empty front hall.

The limit to Meng Qi’s power was normal: the Holy Whip had been from Martial Uncle Xiao Bai to be used against the mighty people of the Legendary Realm of the Luo Sect Half Incense Half Fire Martial Arts. That it could be used on the Premier Reflection was just a coincidence. On the other hand, Han Guang was well prepared, and he knew what he was facing and what he could achieve, but that had nothing to do with himself, and could only be attributed to the guidance of influential figures or the Great Medium. Where did this unshakeable queer feeling come from?

Meng Qi decided to change his line of reasoning, and first reflected on what he had gained or how he had changed after the Premier Reflection Incident. Undoubtedly, he got closer to the Principles of Karma and the Premier Golden Stamp as well as the Arts of Eight Nine, and his Projection of Reflected Self now had more options and was getting further away from the Devil Buddha Ananda.

“Following the path I had taken before, I first left a Legendary Stamp in every universe, then slowly recalibrated into the corresponding image of the Devil Buddha. Once the stamp is finished, that would mean I am getting closer to Ananda. Then, after completely engulfing each other, our connection would be complete, which would lead to today’s change, and I can then get nearer to the Heavenly Lord Yuanshi image.” Meng Qi was suddenly struck with a thought, “Isn’t this the opinion the Jade Mirage’s pulse subtly revealed?”

His progress was as planned, making Meng Qi feel like he had been set up.

But how could he be set up? He only returned to the Jade Palace because of Xiaosang’s death and the existence of the Green Lotus Seed of Chaos, which was the reason he entered the ancient well, or nothing would have attracted him here, and he could have just waited until he had created more Imprint of Additional Self and get promoted to Legendary status before coming. By then it would be too late, even if he killed and absorbed the Premier Reflection.

He reminded himself that Xiaosang had an escape route and the Green Lotus Seed of Chaos was brought up by Grand Wang Trickster, but thinking back, even without him saying anything, he would also have realized quickly after seeing him reform Dharmakaya, and remembering that the Tai Yi Immortal House had been wiped clean. He would also remember Nazha, for even if he was slow-witted, he would have made the connection between the two.

All he could say was that Grand Wang Trickster chose to ascend Dharmakaya at the right timing, and that time was chosen coincidentally because he had decided to sever his past and future lives. In order to form Wang Siyuan’s Dharmakaya, he had to be free from the Devil Buddha’s control. In conclusion, when he had stepped into the realm of Dharmakaya, he was already destined to realize this at the stage of Earth Fairy or the Transcendent, and to come to the Jade Palace in search of Xiaosang’s backup.

Thinking of this, Meng Qi suddenly furrowed his brow, and thought, “That’s not right.”

This looked as if the set up was laid out after Xiaosang’s death, but if she had not chosen to die at the time, then what would have been the original plan? How would they get Meng Qi to come to the Jade Palace?

The back hall of the Jade Pure Palace was still empty. Meng Qi followed Han Guang towards the side door, and vaguely grasped an idea.

His previous question could not be explained, so he changed his perspective, closing in on the Premier Image. Was the best fit to the Jade Mirage’s pulse Yang Jian’s scheme? Or could it be the Heavenly Lord Yuanshi who left the Principles of Karma?

The Heavenly Lord Yuanshi?

Boom!

These three words had just floated into his mind when Meng Qi was struck with an epiphany, and all his questions from before had finally formed a straight line!

The Golden Emperor only had the chance to enter the Nirvana Realm after receiving the Wu’Ji Seal at the Jade Palace, only then did he have the right to leap out of the River of Time and sleep amidst chaos, requiring a Dao Biao…

As the holy maiden of the Luo Sect, since a young age she was nurtured to be a Dao Biao, harboring the Golden Emperor’s willpower, unlike himself who was just a backup plan whom Ananda had cut ties with to keep him a secret from the rest of the influential figures. Why would Yu Longzi suddenly form the notion of being independent, thereby becoming Gu Xiaosang? Such an oversight actually happened before the eyes of the influential figures of the Nirvana Realm!

After the deification, the List of Deification returned to the Zhou Dynasty, but it actually belonged to the Heavenly Court. Nonetheless, the Holy Whip remained in Jiang Ziya’s hands and was not recalled, which was why he could borrow it and thereby strike down Gods with many restrictions and incarnations based on the Rules of Heaven and Earth.

After finishing his preparations, he came to the Jade Palace as promised.

It turns out that this happened for a reason.

This was all because of the Heavenly Lord Yuanshi!

What a farsighted plan. If not for its success, not a single trace of it could be seen! Meng Qi was unnerved. The rare emergence of such extraordinariness by the most ancient person in the Nirvana Realm caused the younger generation like the Golden Emperor and Devil Buddha to be overshadowed.

At that moment, the great gates of the Rear Hall were opened by Han Guang, revealing a pond filled with blooming lotus flowers. At the edge of the pond stood a maiden dressed in a white robe, and her figure from behind looked elegant and graceful.

Meng Qi was shocked. He stared, and realized that it was Bi Jingxuan, the Primeval Deity.

He could not contain his disappointment.