The Sage Who Transcended Samsara

An intrinsic force gushed out from the top of Meng Qi’s head and a good-looking monk immediately appeared in the west. Holding a bamboo-like green sword, he turned into a solemn golden-bodied Buddha as he came nearer. In the south direction was a white-clothed swordsman approaching rhythmically. Water and cloud alternated around the sword in his hand, forming a dragon in the sky. In the east was an impressive-looking man floating in the air before landing. His sword was like a red phoenix, bringing along wind and fire.

“We’re here to help you, my friend!” they shouted in unison, and had already drawn out their swords.

Seeing such a situation, the Tyrant knew that the other party had shown his ultimate move. A sword formation that had previously made him quite fearful flashed across his mind. It was a sword formation displayed by the other party together with another sword deity, which he suspected to be the number one ancient killing formation – the Fairy Slaying Sword Formation.

If the four celestial beings formed the formation and trapped him in it, he had to admit that there was a very high possibility of him losing no matter how confident and arrogant he was. Therefore, he mustn’t let them form the sword formation!

The thought was only momentary. With the Tyrant’s rich battling experience and outstanding combat talent, he figured out the issue and came to a decision right away.

The horrifying blade that he had wielded out again suddenly jumped and dashed into midair, immediately agglomerating all forces and overbearing power into dark thunder before striking downward violently and hit an empty space. The speed of which was as fast as a real lightning.

The lightning suddenly dispersed, turning the surroundings into a sea of dark purple and green thunder, simultaneously attacking Meng Qi as well as Tathagata Zhending, Heavenly Lord Su Meng, and Immortal Qingyuan.

Into the Netherworld, Demons and Devils Perish!

Bang!

Lightning filled the entire main hall. Other than those that collapsed at the core area, the remaining that had equal power were like numerous Tyrants being slightly suppressed of their power, attacking different enemies at the same time.

Meng Qi’s Creating Three Manifestations with One Breath hadn’t reached perfection, and was still a great distance away from the past, present, and future forms. The three manifestations created by merely combining the different skills he learned had restricted power. They were able to exist in the same realm as his original body, but there was a clear gap between their strength, just like Meng Qi and the other celestial beings.

Take for example Tathagata Zhending that was created merely from the general principles and first stance of the Buddha’s Palm as well as other Buddhism skills, how could it be on par with his original self, the Primitive Priest?

There were also issues with the general principles of the Seven Strokes of Heaven Interception and the four Fairy Slaying Swords weren’t perfect, and so was the Heavenly Lord Su Meng. Only the Undying Tao Body’s Immortal Qingyuan had lesser differences with his original self, but still lacked Legendary and Nirvana characteristics. As such, the Tyrant saw this issue and quickly made the decision to display the Demons and Devils Perish which was an indiscriminate attack. Its strongest core suppressed Meng Qi’s original self, the Primitive Priest, while the remaining slightly weaker areas attacked the three manifestations, holding down Immortal Qingyuan and bringing great danger to Tathagata Zhending and Heavenly Lord Su Meng.

Countless strikes of lightning – five-colored, four divisional, Yin and Yang, purple and green – exploded and surged toward the golden-bodied Buddha and the Heavenly Sword Deity. This made one of them insert his sword into the void in front before pointing to the sky with one hand and touching the ground with another, turning his body into Alaya-Vijnana, wandering in the world of souls to avoid the blade while the other drew out his sword, slowing down the lightning as it fell and making room for him to dodge.

With the strike of the blade, one’s strength would be revealed!

As the area of effect slightly subsided, the Tyrant took a step and appeared before Tathagata Zhending with the transfer of his overbearing power. Grabbing the opportunity where the manifestations of the Heavenly Lord and Immortal Qingyuan were still separated from the original self, the Invincible Blade bounced up and struck downward coldly, penetrating right into the illusory world.

He and Meng Qi’s original self could fight on continuously, but his manifestations might not be able to withstand a few strikes!

As the blade entered the soul, the golden body suddenly disappeared. Two celestial palms appeared on the same spot, displaying a mudra sign while holding an ancient glaze lamp and a purple heart.

Thump!

The Invincible blade bounced back, and Tathagata Zhending appeared where the Primitive Priest previously was.

The strong link between the original self and the manifestation made it possible for them to interchange through space!

Meng Qi’s original self blocked the Invincible blade and each of the manifestations took actions. Immortal Qingyuan who was transformed by the Undying Tao Body shook his sword and shot out a green sword aura that left no trace behind. The Heavenly Sword Deity slowly pierced with his sword, causing endless darkness to gush out.

But when Tathagata Zhending drew out the bamboo-like Alaya-Vijnana sword, the Tyrant made use of the rebound momentum of the Invincible Blade to take a leap, wanting to jump out of the encirclement amidst the domineering atmosphere that filled their surroundings.

Just as he rose up into the air, he saw Meng Qi appear in the sky as a towering celestial being. He was swaying a small illusory yellow banner in one hand, producing countless golden lotuses that gave off billions of rays of fine light, forming an indestructible layer of resistance, while the other hand was placed upright like a knife, cutting downward coldly with an earth-shattering force.

The Tyrant struck with the Invincible Blade, forming a ring with purple lightning that took the shock from the earth-shattering force. Hitting toward one side with his back, he directly hit on Heavenly Lord Su Meng’s dark sword aura. His domineering air substantiated and greatly weakened the attack. A wound the size of a coin appeared on his back, and the blood that flowed out was immediately sealed by the domineering air.

And it was with this hit that he dashed out of the sword formation and not get trapped in the ancient number one killing formation.

Meng Qi stepped upward, his right fist clenched like a hammer smashing out forcefully while his left hand displayed a turning wheel of wind and fire before spreading out the five fingers, turning the world upside down.

The Tyrant didn’t stop, either meandering or moving backward from time to time. The Invincible Sword wasn’t restricted to any particular moves and could adapt easily according to circumstances. As the external domineering air strengthened him while weakening his opponent, he successively blocked Meng Qi’s attack. Facing the pincer attack from Tathagata Zhending, Heavenly Lord Su Meng, and Immortal Qingyuan, he blocked whatever he could and used the domineering air to reduce his damage when he couldn’t in order to exchange for space so that he wouldn’t be entangled and fall into the Fairy Slaying Sword Formation.

The figures of both sides filled the main hall once again, just that the offensive and defensive positions had changed. It was now the Tyrant relying on the blade to dodge and the wounds on his body continued to increase. Blood stained his armor red, and his breathing went down slowly but firmly. However, he never showed any signs of losing and didn’t fall into the formation as he maintained his ground in a disadvantaged position.

There must be a time limit for Creating Three Manifestations with One Breath, and such a great heaven-defying skill must be extremely energy-depleting for the original self. As long as he could hold on until the end of Creating Three Manifestations with One Breath, it would be his chance to change from the defensive to the offensive and achieve victory!

With his unbeatable combat talent, the Tyrant dragged on as time went by – ten seconds, twenty seconds, forty seconds, fifty seconds. His wounds increased but were all not fatal or serious. The brilliant use of his domineering air was a miracle. Under the joint attack by Meng Qi and the three manifestations, he was like a firm rock that always seemed about to drown but always stood tall.

The seals – Flipping Heaven, Yin and Yang, Void, Four Divisions, Heavenly Stem, Kaitian and Wuji – connected and launched a powerful attack, but Meng Qi wasn’t able to change his advantaged situation into victory. Seeing that there was less than ten seconds remaining, he decided to change his strategy.

Suddenly, he raised his left hand. The sleeve opened up, embracing the world and sucked the Tyrant directly into it.

Then, the golden-bodied Buddha, the Heavenly Sword Deity and the Undying Tao Body shook their swords simultaneously, emitting sword beams of different colors that converged with the aura of the Celestial Parting Sword that Meng Qi suddenly displayed, forming colors of red, green black and white.

Meng Qi waited for the Tyrant to jerk out and into the Fairy Slaying Sword Formation, but purple blade aura suddenly erupted, cutting the sleeve and gushed out.

Missed by a little!

The situation was back to the Tyrant exchanging wounds for time. Meng Qi took in a deep breath and suddenly retrieved the three manifestations when the Tyrant was dodging and blocking them. Taking in their remaining strengths, his momentum suddenly peaked again. An auspicious cloud appeared on top of his head, and was surrounded by ancient banners. The banners floated in the air as they fell and merged into the Celestial Parting Sword. Before the Tyrant could react, it dealt an explosive and earth-shattering blow!

Strike unexpectedly in order to win the battle!

Light rays shone and the aura of the sword swept in front, attacking the Tyrant in an explosive manner. The endless sword aura had him swallowed.

“Splendid!” the Tyrant roared. After he took in a deep breath, purple lightning struck in front of him, as though creating a standing place for himself in this exploding universe!

With the attack of the sword aura, the aura of the blade revived and died off again.

Clang!

The blade and the sword crossed, giving off rolling light waves. Both parties squeezed their bodies off their last bit of energy into the battle, trying to win the other party.

Bang!

Light rays swept across the main hall. Although weak, the purple lightning didn’t die out. Meng Qi’s consciousness and strength were exhausted at the same time, but under such hedging, his soul had a strange feeling of rising higher and becoming more unrivalled.

He seemed to start looking down at the main hall, looking down at the collision and looking down at the universe. If he continued to level up, he would be able to map the various worlds naturally and form projections of additional self.

Is this Mister Lu Da’s path of Not Using the Hands of Others?

As this thought ran through his mind, Meng Qi saw the air around the Tyrant’s body become dimmer and darker, as though connecting more and more universes. He seemed to have made use of the collision and the traction of internal energy flow to level up his intrinsic abilities, and was able to connect with even more additional selves!

Bang!

Neither did the sword beam die off nor did the purple lightning fall. If they continued to hold each other down, the Tyrant might just be able to break through at the last second and achieve qualitative change. As for Meng Qi, he was still a few dozens of years away from not using the hands of others, and this was the gap of accumulation.

After putting in the last bit of energy, the sword beam started to weaken while the purple lightning still stood tall, pale but undying. However, the Tyrant didn’t take this chance to strike back, but instead placed the Invincible Blade horizontally in front of his chest.

“Excellent. As a celestial being, your performance really amazed me. If you have used Creating Three Manifestations with One Breath when that chance came by, and if you had a supreme heavenly weapon instead of a normal celestial sword in your hand when you displayed the last strike, I might have already lost,” although the Tyrant had communicated with more additional selves and regained his strength, he had many wounds and was still weak. Both parties had already fought until they were exhausted of all their energies.

Meng Qi retrieved the Celestial Parting Sword in a relaxed mood and smiled, “If you weren’t so self-conceited and had used all your strength from the beginning, and you had grabbed the final chance and attacked with the blade, I might be the one who had lost.”

Right after these words, both parties laughed in unison, sounding very carefree.

This battle was really to their hearts’ content!

Meng Qi felt that it was a great pity. If he had enough time and with the gains from this battle, he would be able to follow the Mister Lu Da’s path of not needing the hands of others. That was the purest path and also the one that he liked most. Unfortunately, that required at least thirty years of accumulation, and it had to be inside the real world.

The Tyrant kept the Invincible Blade before turning and walking toward the main door. He suddenly said, “It’s enough to have met one worthy opponent in life. Let’s have another battle after achieving the Legendary realm.”

Meng Qi didn’t speak but walked out of the door of the main hall with him side by side. As lights flickered, he reached the outside of the Demon King Palace but the Tyrant was no longer beside him.

One had returned to the present and the other to the Middle Ages.

Turning his head, he looked at the empty space beside him and sighed, “What a pity, your Legendary realm has no more after…”

He took a step and was going to leave. He had already gotten too many characteristics of the God of Thunder’s additional self.

Suddenly, he stopped and looked back, only to see Vertical Wing on the ground biting a corner of his robe. His voice shook the void as he said embarrassed, “Since you’ve already gone in, why not walk around?”