The Sage Who Transcended Samsara

The golden bodies and Buddha corpses were all huge and eye-catching. After forming the Thousand Buddha Formation, all the more they couldn’t be overlooked and had a strong sense of existence. Even if one was high up in the air, they would be seen with one glance. But now, they had all gone missing!

This strange situation gave Meng Qi an ominous feeling. The ability to forecast from the Eight Nine Mysteries made him put his right hand into his sleeve and drew out a purplish long blade.

When Sha Wujing carried the mysterious corpse out, the Thousand Buddha Formation and the golden bodies were still here!

Did some unforeseen changes at Spirited Mountain cause their disappearance?

And what changes and danger would their disappearance bring about?

With all these questions, Meng Qi paused his footsteps, controlling the movements of his internals and hiding the spirit of his blade as he looked at the peak of Spirited Mountain.

“The body of Maha Kasyapa earlier seemed to have some wisdom, and the Thousand Buddha Formation here has disappeared. We have to be careful,” Qingqiu also took out the Demon Divine Spear. With the dark golden phoenix wings and dark flames surrounding her, she who was already charming looked even more valiant and heroic.

Taili snorted, “Spirited Mountain has really undergone unforeseen changes, there are really some existences that do not want us to save the Great Sages.”

“With us in this together, who below the Legendary realm would be able to cause any difficulties?” the Kirin Demonic Deity Raka said with slight arrogance.

The Phoenix Demonic Deity Glow took a glance at him, “If tens of thousands of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Arhats gained slight wisdom like Maha Kasyapa and attack together, would you be able to hold them back? Would you be able to hold back even ten of them?”

“They were all once mighty people of the world. Even if they have passed on for ages, we cannot take them lightly.”

The Great Roc Demonic Deity No Thoughts let out a laugh, “Glow, you’re too serious. Haven’t we already predicted the situation whereby the bodies of the Thousand Buddha Formation regained some wisdom? We just need to lure them away, save the Great Sages, and everything would be fine.”

“But we considered that based on the situation that they were still at the peak. Now that they have strangely disappeared, we have to be on our guard,” Glow looked around, trying to search for clues.

The oldest and strongest feeling of living things is fear, and the oldest and strongest fear came from the unknown. Now that the Thousand Buddha Formation mysteriously disappeared, Glow was perturbed and couldn’t imagine what terrifying changes would happen next.

Raka gave it a thought and said, “Could the bloody river earlier on also taken in the golden bodies of the Thousand Buddha Formation into it when it absorbed the corpses on Spirited Mountain?”

“No,” Meng Qi who had been listening quietly said firmly.

Just his past experiences alone was enough for him to make this judgment, not to mention that the Nether Skeleton still had his stamp on it. In the past when he dealt with the body of Maha Kasyapa as the Nether Skeleton, the bloody river had also taken in the entire mountain of corpses and evil deities, but the Thousand Buddha Formation hadn’t been affected at all.

Taili looked at Meng Qi and nodded his head slightly, “If the bloody river had taken in the many Legendary and Creation realm golden bodies inside the Thousand Buddha Formation, its power would be enough to completely wipe us out and not be just at that level.

He made a judgment from another angle.

“Honestly speaking, I’m also fearful and worried seeing the Thousand Buddha Formation disappear, but the worst thing to do now is to hesitate and delay. Not only might we lose an opportunity, we would still fall into a dangerous situation. So no matter what decision we make, the most important thing is to quickly make a decision and avoid being at a standstill,” the Kirin Demonic Deity Raka said frankly.

He had lived for many years, and had grown into a powerful demonic deity step by step from a young age, so he naturally had a complete way of doing things.

Glow nodded and said, “I also think this way. So do we go up the peak now or investigate the surroundings?”

“What’s there to investigate in the surroundings?” No Thoughts laughed as he looked at the surroundings of the peak in plain view, “From what I see, we should get to the peak immediately, get the Golden Cudgel and save the remaining Great Sages. Once they are saved, even if their power weren’t as great as before, they would be able to wipe out the golden-bodied Buddhas who had regained a bit of wisdom. By then, even a character of the Creation realm might not be able to counter, what have we to fear?”

“This way, we would be able to complete the mission and also remain safe, so why not? If we delay any further, there might really be undesirable changes!”

Hearing his suggestion, Raka nodded in agreement, “Hesitating is the most dangerous, other factors could be counterbalanced!”

After looking at each other with Qingqiu, Taili took a glance at Meng Qi and saw that he was indifferent, hence he said, “Let’s give it a try then. Master Su, Glow, and myself shall guard against changes while you guys get the Golden Cudgel and break the seal.”

After coming to an agreement, the group quickly reached the peak, near the Five-Finger Mountain and the Golden Cudgel.

Qingqiu looked solemnly at the colorful Bodhi tree and warned in a low voice, “Don’t touch anything here, otherwise none of us would be able to escape from here. We might even become the Devil Buddha’s puppet.”

Their eyes swept past the tranquil Bodhi tree and quickly returned to the side of the Golden Cudgel where flowers bloomed and withered and thunder came and went. Meng Qi, Glow, and Taili split up and stayed on guard while Raka, No Thoughts, and Qingqiu got closer by s few steps as they read to themselves lengthy spells.

Meng Qi was very close to the Five Finger Mountain. He felt perturbed and strange, as though the one being suppressed inside was him.

He took in a deep breath. Not only did he have to be alert about changes outside, he also had to guard against the demonic deities who might make use of this opportunity to release the Devil Buddha!

…

The Golden Cicada left its shell?

Countless thoughts and guesses flashed across the mind of Tathagata Zhending Meng Qi, but he just couldn’t figure things out to reach a definite conclusion.

Since the golden cicada could be a product of Gautama Buddha seeking emptiness, then why did his mortal body performed the same act of Golden Cicada leaving its shell?

Could this be the Gautama Buddha real way of achieving transcendence, seeking emptiness, the Golden Cicada leaving its shell and gaining enlightenment?

Then why did the golden cicada call himself the second disciple of Gautama Buddha? That was obviously Ananda!

Not that he couldn’t pretend, but why did he have to do that. It didn’t matter if he was the eleventh or twelfth disciple, unless there was some special meaning to it…

Meng Qi slowly walked forward and came next to the cicada remains. He looked at it carefully, only to see its inside empty. The place where it cracked had accumulated illusory dust of time, meaning the cicada didn’t leave its shell recently and it had gone through a long period of being washed by time.

Did the golden cicada leaving its shell happen immediately after Tripitaka’s mortal body flowed here? As Meng Qi pondered, he stretched out his right hand showing a gesture of fearlessness and released a glazed golden light. The remains of the cicada that was being wrapped up shrank and became the size of a thumb. Meng Qi kept it and wanted to bring it back to let his original body check using the Principles of Karma, in order to see where the karma thread of the cicada remained connected.

After doing this, he continued towards the deep areas of Spirited Mountain’s final peak. Having crossed the mountainside, his eyes suddenly lit up. In front of him were peaks that collapsed, showing a cave deeply hidden at the bottom of Spirited Mountain.

Glazed light formed by pale golden swastikas filled the cave. The originally indestructible seal seemed to have been broken.

The white-robed monk Meng Qi turned his eyes of wisdom as Buddha light erupted. Looking at it closely, his heart skipped a beat. Judging from the rotating marks on the remains of the seal, it hadn’t been broken for long!

Did some monster escape from the seal recently?

What kind of monster was sealed? Could it be the product of the golden cicada leaving its shell?

With this doubt, Meng Qi showed his incomplete Tathagata golden body and turned into a Buddha displaying the Buddha’s Palm before carefully conveying into it. Inside was densely filled with golden body corpses. With a casual glance, he discovered the body of Manjushri with five knots on his head!

Other than this, there were tearing Buddhas here!

“This, this is the Thousand Buddha Formation that disappeared!” Tathagata Zhending was shocked once again.

The golden bodies of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas on the peak of Spirited Mountain had all been moved here?

Moved here by the monster that broke the seal?

Meng Qi stretched his right hand that was covered with a layer of glazed golden light over, wanting to check the golden body of Manjushri. Upon touching it, the golden body suddenly collapsed ⁠- it was actually left with only the outermost layer and its inside was already empty!

The golden bodies of Buddha disappeared one after another ⁠- they were all left with their outer shell, like the essence of their bodies had been absorbed and swallowed by something!

All absorbed and digested by the monster?

So many golden body remains of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and Arhats!

Meng Qi gasped. Seems like there was some form of existence that intentionally broke the seal here!

And who was the one who laid the seal?

Where did the monster escape to?

Thinking of this, he raised his head in shock and looked toward the peak of Spirited Mountain!

…

At the mountain peak, Meng Qi, Taili, and Glow guarded with caution. Sunrays slowly appeared around Raka, No Thoughts, and Qingqiu, resonating with the Golden Cudgel as they vibrated.

At this moment, Meng Qi’s eyes suddenly turned solemn. He assessed the surroundings again as he received the scene seen by the Tathagata Zhending manifestation.

Glow frowned and said with uncertainty, “Why do I feel that it’s even darker here…”

Raka and No Thoughts shook their heads, showing that they did not feel the same.

Meng Qi gasped lightly, because he had also felt it. The peak seemed to have an additional layer of shadows, it was covered by a huge shadow!

…

Beyond the heavens, exotic flowers bloomed and spiritual springs gushed where the Tushita Palace stood eternally.

A elderly man in Taoist attire sat cross-legged in front of a eight-trigram furnace with his eyes half-closed. The golden and silver boys stood at both sides watching over the fire.

Suddenly, the elderly man in Taoist attire opened his eyes. Smoke filled the air inside, as though there was another world hiding in it. The man slowly opened his mouth and said, “It’s time to open the furnace.”

Time to open the furnace? The golden and silver boys looked at each other in shock before looking at the old master.

The furnace that has been refining elixir for six hundred years is going to be opened?