The Sage Who Transcended Samsara

Pale golden light shone as the long sword pointed at the blue sky like a light edge. Gao Lan walked around the Heaven Conferring Platform three times, his expression became more solemn as he started to recite, “At the beginning of time, deities and demons were at the top, and living beings were at their mercy and unable to have access to heaven. Hence, there was first the Heavenly Court to control the deities and to set the rules, to clear up the turbidity, and to open the celestial door to the people and create the path of deification for living beings, showing the prosperity of ancient times. Demons were everywhere, competing on the celestial path, and leading to the fall of the Heavenly Court. The laws were no longer in place and the demons created chaos. Deities were bound to earth, continuing until this day, the wind and rain were out of control, thunder and lightning were tyrannic, and the path of practice was in chaos.

“Today, I build the Heaven Conferring Platform, gathering billions of living beings of Great Zhou, the twenty-seven states, spreading the glory of humanity. I represent heaven to confer the deities, returning them to their positions. The authorities shall be in control, living things will be protected, and calamities will be eliminated.”

With his words, the Heaven Conferring Platform slowly vibrated, as if it had its own spirituality. The red, green, yellow, white, and black altars that symbolizes the five elements and five emperors first gave off different colors of light, bringing about astronomical change in all directions. Clouds piled up and the earth wailed. The sun rose up from every direction, shining softly.

Light spread like water until it reached the Heaven Conferring Platform. The carvings of the various stars and deities were illuminated, showing their postures in the water wave.

The earth and mountain deities as well as heavenly soldiers at the bottom seemed to come alive, fully covered with light, and seemed to suddenly sink downward, going through the territories of Great Zhou. Every land and every mountain seemed to be guarded by a deity.

Bang!

The core of the real world slightly vibrated and produced a low-pitched sound, causing mist to gather around the Heavenly Conferring Platform and turning into a beautiful picture of mountains and rivers. It was hand-painted and had intricate details, seeming like a miniature of the territories of Great Zhou.

The picture of mountains and rivers integrated inside and combined with the bottom levels of the Heaven Conferring Platform, almost becoming relief sculptures.

Light rays moved upward level by level, and soon lit up the star officials and great sages, etc. The sky shook and it was almost dark. The stars emitted brilliance one after another, falling into their corresponding positions on the Heaven Conferring Platform.

Soon, the light raised the level of the five elements and five emperors. The sky was suddenly clear, like it had been washed.

A sound of a bell came from high up in the sky, and there was a fragrance in the surrounding air. Jade ornaments collided with each other, seeming like the deities were celebrating together.

The top of the Heaven Conferring Platform gradually showed the illusory image of the ruined and dark Nine Levels of Heaven, which slowly descended and seemed to want to overlap with the conferring heaven.

With this overlap, celestial music flowed, thunder sounded like a drum, and the world seemed to submit to the emperor. Gao Lan retrieved the slantly pointed Emperor’s Sword and was going to insert it into the core of the Heaven Conferring Platform to complete the final step, ruling the world with humanity.

At this moment, a layer of dark red suddenly floated from the illusory image of the Nine Levels of Heaven, bringing indescribable chaos. Things turned upside down and back to normal, yin and yang intertwined and then went in all directions, forming an irregular swirl that formed a pair of terrifying eyes that were cold and indifferent to the extreme.

It’s him!

Meng Qi recognized him the moment he appeared. It was the terrifying pair of eyes that he encountered when he backtracked to the past and watched the battle of the falling Heaven Court.

At that time, the pair of eyes had stayed out of the way and quietly watched the movements of the Nine Levels of Heavens. It was unusually strange and made one feel petrified.

And just one glance from him made Meng Qi’s thoughts run wild and almost self-destruct!

Why did he appear during the conferring of heaven?

The pair of dark red and chaotic eyes looked down at the Heaven Conferring Platform, like the eternal path of heaven, removing the interference of humanity.

Just a short moment of gaze caused the illusory shadow of the Nine Levels of Heaven to disintegrate. The brilliant star lines collapsed, and the shining stars in the sky disappeared.

Gao Lan didn’t even have time to react, and Meng Qi’s strike was also late by a short moment.

Bang, bang, bang!

The light statues on the top four levels of the Heaven Conferring Platform gave off explosive and shattering sounds in succession.

In Changle City, Wang Siyuan quietly looked at this scene. He was dressed in white, had feminine features, and his face looked sickly. Behind him were four female servants holding a zither, a sword, chess, etc.

“Sigh…”

He shook his head and gave a long sigh before turning and disappearing into the crowd.

…

The terrifying dark red eyes disappeared, and all the unusual sights in the sky were gone. The people of Great Zhou who witnessed the Heaven Conferring Ceremony fell into silence as they suddenly felt that man is not omnipotent and are sometimes helpless. Heaven is unpredictable and beyond their control.

Gao Lan stood on the Heaven Conferring Platform, and the pale golden sword in his hand pointed slantly at the ground as the wind blew at his emperor’s robe and made hurling sounds.

All the efforts went down the drain at the final moment.

Meng Qi couldn’t help but think of peace time. Big brother has his own way of doing things, always planning before taking action, and is good at not doing things the usual way, making it difficult for others to decipher. He has always gotten satisfactory results under complicated situations and gain victory everywhere he goes. But he has failed terribly in the two most important matters – having failed to save his lover and also lost the best opportunity to rule the world with humanity.

And Meng Qi himself was the opposite – he always suffered small losses but got good results for big matters.

Who would have thought that after getting rid of all the interference and seemingly having no more obstacles, those strange dark red eyes would appear!

Who exactly is he?

Did the person behind Big Brother not anticipate his appearance? Did the person behind Han Guang who is suspected to be Heavenly Lord Lingbao not expect it, too? Or did he not mention on purpose, lest the Heaven Conferring Platform become the biggest stumbling block for Han Guang’s re-establishment of the Heavenly Court?

Everything happened so suddenly that everyone present seemed to have only experienced a dream. No one was able to stop it in time or had the ability to stop it.

Looking at Gao Lan’s back view, Meng Qi actually thought of a heroic sad song, and couldn’t help but sigh and feel sympathy inside him.

Fate makes a fool of man and life is full of uncertainties. I hope Big Brother’s fighting spirit will not be affected and will continue to work harder. Even though he failed today, there will still be opportunities to make up for it in the future!

Gao Lan drew back the Emperor’s Sword, his eyes dark and deep as he looked at the people of Great Zhou and said without much fluctuation in his tone, “Not everything goes as one wishes, but one should have no regrets and not step back. It’s not as if I have not experienced failures. There are always ups and downs, but I just have to move forward step by step, and I will be able to rule the world with humanity one day.”

“Although the Heaven Conferring Ceremony hasn’t been fully completed and heaven couldn’t be reached, at least the earth has been controlled, and the earth god, city god, mountain god, river god, etc., can be conferred to protect Great Zhou and the sentient beings.”

Big Brother’s will is truly as firm as a rock… Meng Qi thought with consolation, and then watched Gao Lan confer the city and earth gods of Changle and other important areas.

After the ceremony was completed, the representatives of the various forces left and they returned to the Changle Palace, Meng Qi said to Gao Lan, “Brother, the path to success is never smooth, do not brood over it.”

Gao Lan walked to the window with his hands behind his back, looking at the blue sky as he slowly said, “That pair of dark red chaotic eyes seem to be an influential character. It seems that there is no way for me to get around him and rule the world with humanity before the return of the Nirvana characters. And after the Nirvana characters return, the situation will be different and I’ll have to re-strategize…”

In front of Meng Qi, he did not hide his emotions nor show any pretense, but he was only a little depressed and was more concerned with coming up with countermeasures.

Meng Qi thought about it and smiled, “It’s not that there is no way to get around them.”

“Well?” Gao Lan turned and looked at Meng Qi.

“Get the List of Deification and use it to complete the ruling of the world with humanity. But the item is in the hands of Lu Ya and not so easy to get hold of. Moreover, Lu Ya is unpredictable, or might have other ambitions and may not be convinced to cooperate.” Meng Qi said.

“The List of Deification…” Gao Lan nodded. There wouldn’t be a need for the ceremony if he had this item. He would be able to confer the deities on behalf of heaven if he combined it with the Heaven Conferring Platform.

After pondering for a while, he said, “Lu Ya is also an outstanding character of the Creation realm, and we have to beware of his sneaky thoughts. This matter needs to be thought through and planned carefully.”

Seeing that there were no other matters to attend to here, Meng Qi thought of the clue under the seal of Yang Jian, hence he decided to take his leave.

When he was leaving, he said with a serious expression, “Brother, I have to remind you about something.”

“What is it?” Gao Lan looked at his eyes.

Meng Qi sighed and said, “If you want me to help or watch a ceremony in the future, you have to beware of mishaps.”

Could he be the reincarnation of a jinx, or have absorbed the luck of others such that he could get good development at critical moments?

Gao Lan was speechless as he watched Meng Qi disappear at the door of the main hall.

…

Kunlun Mountain, Jade Mirage Palace.

Meng Qi sat on the low bed, looking as if he was meditating with his eyes closed when in actual fact, his consciousness had entered the acupoint on his left hand and he was communicating with Gu Xiaosang.

“Who do those strange dark eyes belong to?” Meng Qi asked.

Gu Xiaosang played with her own hair and said smilingly, “He should be no stranger to you. He is the shadow covering the Wang family for hundreds of thousands of years.”

“The Heavenly Way Monster?” Meng Qi suddenly realized. No wonder he always felt the feeling was familiar, so it was the Heavenly Way Monster.

And it looked like the strange dark red eyes were the source of the Heavenly Way Monster!

Gu Xiaosang smiled and nodded, “The Heavenly Way Monster is quite mysterious. Even my original self does not know whether he came from ancient times or was born in this era. He only left traces after the fall of the Heavenly Court and was no longer completely unknown.”

“Could he be the one behind certain things?” Meng Qi felt very good having a lady who had inherited most of the memories of a Nirvana character beside him.