The Sage Who Transcended Samsara

The bright moon was hanging high in the sky and the ocean stretched in the distance as far as the eyes could see in the dark night. The bluish-black waves were rising and falling at a steady pace.

A ship was sailing on the ocean. A lot of lanterns were hung on the ship, which lightened the surrounding to become as bright as the daytime. A middle-aged man who was sitting cross-legged on the ship’s bow was fishing relaxingly with a fishing rod in his hand.

The man had a stern and masculine face as he had a pair of thick eyebrows. His moustaches were somewhat odd-looking as they were grown horizontally. The green robe on him had the characteristics of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, which seemed rather unusual. The aura around him was not intrusive at all – in fact, the aura could hardly be noticed. As he was not using any mana on the fishing rod to ease the process of fishing, it seemed like he was truly enjoying the fun and restful moments while fishing. However, if someone looked at the hook, they would find no bait on it. He was relying completely on luck to wait for a foolish fish to get hooked. It seemed like he was trying to follow the example of an elderly person who had also waited for a windfall.

A white-haired old servant was standing beside the man. He had a worried look on his face when he glanced at the man.

“Don’t worry, I’m not crazy. Fishing can put my mind at rest and train my patience,” the middle-aged man said.

The old servant sighed, “Master, madam has already passed away. It was fate, so it’s not good to dwell on it. We’ll feel better if we look at it this way – she lives a past life, a current life, and a future life just like anyone else.

The middle-aged man was Wu Jizhen, the master of the Three-Fairies Island. Without even the slightest tremble in his hands, he said with a calm voice, “After a Dharmakaya of Miss Mystery is formed, a Nirmanakaya will no longer be needed anymore. By then, some memories will override the others and be adopted by Miss Mystery herself, with part of them taken as the past life memories. It all depends on her state of mind, which is something that can be worked on.”

“Since the Tyrant could marry her, what can’t I?”

Wu Jizhen said arrogantly.

The facial expression of the old servant kept changing. He then heaved a sigh. “This kind of relationship is just so wrong.”

“The Nirmanakaya of Miss Mystery has been sinful to hurt so many men badly. Looking at the amount of karma that she bears, she’s nothing different from an Evil Demon.”

As the old servant had been taking care of the young master since he was young, they are like father and son. Hence, he could not help but to defame Miss Mysterious.

Wu Jizhen, the Frenzied Wanderer of the Six Seas continued fishing as he said without any intonation in his voice, “Through the ages, people had been trapped in love. How many of them could get over it? It’s hard to stop loving someone. Your madam was a simple person. She was lively, cheerful and optimistic, which just happened to make my heart leap easily. I was the one who took the move first, so you couldn’t blame her for that.”

“We had been married for several decades. Both of us were so dedicated in the relationship as we were so in love with each other. There was no way to fake it and no one could ever replace her. I’ll never regret getting married with her.”

The old servant lost his words as he had heard of this answer for so many times.

Just then, a skiff boat sailed toward them. A twenty-ish handsome-looking man with a green robe was sitting on the bow of the boat relaxingly. He was also fishing in the ocean.

Wu Jizhen did not pay attention to the man at first. After a while, he suddenly made a sound of Eh? and asked,

“Are you fishing with a straight hook?”

Before Wu Jizhen came across this man, he thought that he must be the oddest person at Dong Hai for not using a bait when fishing. However, the man who just appeared was even odder. Aside from bending the hook back to a straight wire, he was neither using any mana nor integrating with the energy of the heaven and the earth. How could he ever catch a fish?

Although the ships were far apart, Wu Jizhen’s words were sent clearly to the man through the sweeping sea breeze.

The man who used a straight hook was Meng Qi. He grinned.

“Those who wanted to be caught would get hooked willingly.”

Those who wanted to be caught would get hooked willingly… Wu Jizhen looked at it as a beautiful sentence at first. Then, he was startled for a moment and repeated it once more, “Those who wanted to be caught would get hooked willingly… haha, that’s absolutely true!”

Wu Jizhen burst out laughing. He was the one who got hooked willingly in the marriage between him and the Nirmanakaya of Miss Mystery!

Upon hearing the words, Wu Jizhen felt that the man had woke him up by giving him a sharp warning.

The mad laughter of Wu Jizhen had frightened the old servant, so he kept calling his master. Wu Jizhen finally stopped laughing after a long time. He put down the fishing rod and looked deep into Meng Qi’s eyes. At the moment, the moon in the sky had gone dim as it seemed to be shrouded by clouds. Wu Jizhen’s face was hidden under the shades.

“It’s too bad that I didn’t hear of this earlier. Now that I’m stuck in the things I’m doing and it’s hard to get out of it,” Wu Jizhen sighed with a mixed feeling – he was feeling a little proud of himself, but also lost and sorrowful at the same time.

With the state of mind he had now, and the immoral relationship he had been getting into, how could he ever realize Dharmakaya?

Meng Qi continued fishing with the straight hook. While hitting the bow of the boat lightly with his left hand, he recited a poem in a relaxed tone,

“A tough knight had been searching for a sword for thirty years. Over the years, the leaves had fallen and the new branches had sprouted for several times. At the first sight of the blooming peach blossoms, he knew that he would move forward in life with no hesitation.”

“At the first sight of the blooming peach blossoms, he knew that he would move forward in life with no hesitation…” Wu Jizhen repeated the poem in a daze. A lot of emotions kicked in as he thought about all the past memories about love and kindness; and also hatred and resentments. After a while, all the negative feelings were gone, leaving only a warm feeling of affection to his ex-wife. Feeling relieved and peaceful, he realized that it was his own choice after all to fall in love with Miss Mystery, and therefore she should not be held responsible for his feelings. “At the first sight of the blooming peach blossoms, he knew that he would move forward in life with no hesitation… Indeed, indeed, indeed!”

After uttering the word “indeed” three times in a row, Wu Jizhen asked, “How can you be able to have a wise mind like this given the young age of yours?”

“The poem was composed by an eminent monk who practiced Zen when he attained enlightenment. I was just quoting what he had said. Actually, the poem does not necessarily have to be related to love. Depending on the life experiences, everyone will have a different understanding of it.” Meng Qi acted in a way that could be represented by the proverb, “I’m just an ordinary person, so I’ll do what an ordinary person will do.”

Wu Jizhen had been widely known for his behavior that was frenzied and odd, and hence he found Meng Qi to be likeable as they shared some similarities. He laughed and said, “Everyone will meet their own peach blossoms in their lives. It’s just like the story of Buddha, whereby only Maha Kasyapa, one of the principal disciples of Buddha, understood the underlying reason of why Buddha smiled when he picked up a flower. Many things in the world need not to be conveyed by words as we could feel the things with our mind and soul. You’re impressive. In my life, I’ve seen so many people who just adhere to the rules and norms blindly. It’s so rare to meet an extraordinary young man like you. You must be well-known in Jianghu already.”

“I’m Su Meng,” answered Meng Qi with a calm voice.

“Su Meng? The Frenzied Blade? The one who was expelled from Shaolin for learning the Ananda Oath-Breaking Bladesmanship?” Wu Jizhen was startled for a moment, and then he smiled, “It’s a good thing that you got expelled though, otherwise, you would be stuck there and become a pedantic monk eventually!”

Although Wu Jizhen had always behaved in a frenzied way, he was actually clear-headed and was not easy to be fooled. “So tell me, why did you come to me?”

“I’m actually looking for Miss Mystery. It would be nice if I could get some information from you.” Meng Qi had already gained a good understanding of Wu Jizhen’s temperament after their conversations due to his increased mastery of the Yuan Sin Seal. Therefore, he had decided to be straightforward with him.

Wu Jizhen frowned while his eyes turned gloomy. “Are you the fated one for her Nirmanakaya to be manifested?”

Wu Jizhen was on his guard as if Meng Qi was his rival in love. Meng Qi found it amusing because the treasure in the eyes of Wu Jizhen was just like a puddle of mud for him. Meng Qi would even stay away from the mud to prevent his shoes from getting dirty. Obviously, everyone perceives things differently based on their life experiences and temperaments.

“I’m just asking for a favor,” Meng Qi was frank when he answered that.

Wu Jizhen gave a slight nod. “You’re a sincere and truthful person. I can see that you haven’t fallen in love with anyone, too. I’ll trust you then.”

Wu Jizhen then smiled. “I haven’t been to the central mainland for a long time, so I wasn’t aware that a remarkable person like you has already existed. You’re so much better than those people who have a rotten mind.”

After saying that, Wu Jizhen stared at Meng Qi. “However, I’ve put in so much effort to trace her. Why would I give you the information so easily?”

“Ten strikes. If you can take ten strikes from me without being defeated, you’re entitled to hear about it!”

Wu Jizhen stood up slowly and said arrogantly, “Among all the people who are ranked higher than me on the Ground List, I’m only convinced about the ranking of Su Wu Ming. I don’t accept the ranking of the remaining people because none of them are really stronger than me.”

“Shou Jing is getting older so he can only rely on the Time Blade; Xiahou Yan is born with talent, but talent is the only thing he has; the Living Buddha of Rotary was still on the peak of the Exterior Realm when I already achieved self-actualization; the Nether Emperor is such a sneaky person who always acts cowardly, how would I think highly of him? Qiu Wansheng has a bad temper that makes him vulnerable to ambush, and hence it put him in a disadvantaged position.”

“Xuanji Zi is distracted by the chores of his sect, and hence he’s not focused on refining the spirit of martial arts anymore; Ming Tong from the Shuiyue Nunnery has been living in the shadow of the ex-Mother Superior and therefore has a lack of confidence; Gao Teng from the Gao Family has nothing that impresses me as he made it to the third level of Heavenly Stairs just by luck; the chief of the Tower of Malevolence has always been sneaking around, he’s just a coward!”

Listening to Wu Jizhen’s criticisms of the people who had higher rankings than him, Meng Qi curled his lips as he thought that Wu Jizhen’s nickname – the Frenzied Wanderer – had matched him perfectly.

Wu Jizhen took one step forward and smiled smugly as he could not wait for the fight. “I had never been interested in fighting against someone who were ranked lower than me until today. You’re the exceptional one, Su Meng, the Frenzied Blade.”

“People have been calling me The Frenzied Wanderer and you the Frenzied Blade. Let’s see which one of us wins over the other.”

“Ten strikes. Since you’ve just become a guru, you’ll win the battle as long as you can take ten strikes from me!”

As soon as Wu Jizhen finished what he said, the moonlight became so bright and it shined on the boats and the ocean. Wu Jizhen looked like a god in the majestic moonlight.

Meng Qi suddenly felt like Wu Jizhen had seen through the interior and exterior parts of his body. He could not even hide a single detail.

During the process of the Integration of Man and Nature, one could be interconnected with the energy of the heaven and the earth to see through the blood veins; the flowing of the Vital Energy; and the reactions of muscles and meridians of an opponent who had not entered the Exterior Realm. Everything, even a fine hair, would be visible in their eyes. However, after an intersection between the Interior Realm and the Exterior Realm, one would not be able to sense what was happening inside the body of an opponent from the Exterior Realm just by using the Integration of Man and Nature. The reason was that an Interior View had already been formed which created another set of heaven and earth. Therefore, several aspects needed to be worked on – sensing the change of Qi Ji, judging from the miraculous foresight, and also gaining experiences in battles. One would also be able to be aware of the opponent’s body conditions if the gap of power between them was too huge, or when a weak point in mind was found.

At the moment, Meng Qi was like a novice back then who had just entered the stage of Orifices-Point Activation and he first encountered the Integration of Man and Nature. Nothing could be hidden from Wu Jizhen.

Was that the power of the Frenzied Wanderer who was ranked ninth on the Ground List?

Was that the terrific ability of a great guru?

Wu Jizhen did not use any weapons. He took one step forward in the moonlight in a calm manner, clenched his right hand into a fist, and attacked Meng Qi with a punch from a distance.

Several layers of frost were formed on the surface of Meng Qi’s body as the surrounding turned cold. His actions and thought process had slowed down, which made him feel like the punch was approaching as fast as lightning!