The Sage Who Transcended Samsara

Gao Qianyuan held a peculiar token in hand, something like a dagger or not. He was an inch lifted off the ground, with a huge insect form on his back. His aura was continuous like the ocean, breeding storms of terror out of gentleness, the force of which seemed to enable a drop of water to wear a stone, a sheet of water to engulf the world.

Feeling his Qi Ji, Lan Jingtian showed his form as well – a huge lightless sphere. Its surface was quite smooth, as if shaped from bent or collapsed earth under some natural law. Surrounding fake space shrank to him, as if it were about to give shape into a sphere as well. Light bent and shifted, making it like a demonic domain.

Meng Qi, in the middle of them, held the scabbard in his left hand, standing straight. Though not showing his form yet, his Jing Xie, Qi Ti and Shen were smoothed by his will of martial arts. His Qi Ji, like a physical substance, rushed out of Niwan Gong to sky and stirred clouds and winds, with virile vitality springing out and blocking the evil from getting close. Once touched, evil things would be torn apart.

Auras of the three extraordinary gurus competed with one another, gathering dark clouds from tens of miles radius, as if rogues of demons were going wild.

In this aura-balancing mechanism, anyone who acted first would be attacked by the other two together. All of a sudden, Gao Qianyuan and Lan Jingtian were stunned to find Meng Qi leisurely turned around and decisively cut the connection with their tangled Qi Ji, as if it was the source of all chaos.

With Meng Qi taking back his Qi Ji, Gao Qianyuan and Lan Jingtian both felt sick, a taste of blood upwelled from their throats and their minds went blank. The intended attacks briefly lost their targets.

Looking at the imposing figure of Meng Qi who stood back toward them, Gao Qianyuan and Lan Jingtian felt him unforeseeable but still kept a wary eye, afraid of giving away their hidden drawbacks, even if Meng Qi withdrew all his Qi Ji and appeared to be defenseless.

The man in blue and other people were clear a bit but still could not ignore the present danger. To their most amazement, although the entwining Qi Ji had created an atmosphere of depression and phenomenal changes to the sky, Su Meng appeared casual. He turned around, ignored the potential attacks and even refused to defend himself.

However, frenzy attacks weren’t initiated like they were imagined. Everything in peace, the previous tension was like a delusion.

Meng Qi smiled and said, “It’s dangerous here. I will send you to leave first.”

After that, he walked in a slow pace with his long blade in hand, even not giving a glimpse at Gao Qianyuan and Lan Jingtian, who dared not to attack with alternating minds between action and caution.

Trying to not appear confused, the man in blue and his sister quickly followed Meng Qi and walked outside the Golden Tent, his heart beating like a drum.

The three walked moderately, but Lan Jingtian and Gao Qianyuan remained hesitant, even Meng Qi kept his back to them all the way.

After the three figures disappeared in his sight, Gao Qianyuan muttered to himself, “He has made us clueless in such a short time.” He then gave a look at Lan Jingtian.

They took back aura tacitly. One dismissed his physical body and integrated into fake space like a formless sword spirit, and the other escaped into the earth and hid all traces.

Lan Jingtian knew that Gao Qianyuan’s weird martial arts could kill a man formlessly, like blue-blood men in legend. Nevertheless, he did not fear at all, for his guru and he were good at practicing soil skills, and according to Chinese traditional Wu Xing theory, soil defeats water!

Hiding under ground, Lan Jingtian was committed to feeling the slight changes of the earth and constantly altered his course.

Suddenly, he felt a sense of bleak coldness from afar, filthy substances lurking, making the firm and heavy ground into a grave.

That feeling passed by in a flash. Lan Jingtian was surprised and moved more quickly. He snuck into the Golden Tent and came to the place where the Shaman of the Longevity Sect resided.

He jumped out of the ground and saw Gao Qianyuan unsurprisingly, who was looking for something as well.

Lan Jingtian observed nearby alertly and attempted to determine the specific location according to the message received and his feelings.

After a while, he took a look at Gao Qianyuan who was covetous as well. After thinking a lot, he decided to stay. He knelt down on one knee, raised his right fist and hit the dark brown ground hard.

The ground was not shaken, undulated, nor surrounded with sounds of collision. It split silently, and a gap showed up with its bottom invisible. The gap was filled with a black and dark green bleakly cold mist, which seemed to lead to a horrible and peculiar place.

“Here it is…” Lan Jingtian let out a sigh of relief.

He had caught a grandson of Gu Erduo who was weak in strength but held a high position. He learned that the Nether Spirits Formation designed by the Life-and-Death Fugacity Sect still existed, and that, though the slot leading to the Nine Levels of Underground had been made up by force majeure, a sheet of underground Devil Earth was given shape to between his world and the endless Nine Levels of Underground, and it needed years to recover.

And there were numerous treasures and “secrets” which couldn’t get into bags but were easy to perceive. The Golden Tent Warriors and the Longevity Sect Shaman were reluctant to ruin them, but it was obvious to be discovered if they fled with the treasures, like fireflies in the dark. Therefore, their final solution was to hide the treasures and “secrets” under the Devil Earth. If Lan Jingtian found the treasures, he would make a good fortune, and if lucky enough, he would get the heavenly weapon or Map of Formation.

As an elder of the Beggar Gangs, Lan Jingtian was infamous for his greed, selfishness, and shielding his evil underlings. After torturing for the message, he rushed to Golden Tent to make sure the existence of Devil Earth. Until then, he began to consider their strength gap.

The group of fleeing Golden Tent Warriors included two gurus. Commanding a peculiar martial arts and skills of moving through earth, it was an easy task for Lan Jingtian to beat them, while it was quite hard to catch and kill them and prevent them from fleeing away with treasures and secrets. So he might as well ally with Gao Qianyuan, the nine-fingered blue-blood man, kill the Golden Tent Warriors and the Longevity Sect Shaman, and then they two would fight for the booty. If they were equal in strength, the booty would be shared equally.

Having a quick thought and not saying more, Lan Jingtian escaped into the gap filled with black and green mists. Gao Qianyuan gave a look at him emotionlessly and followed without hesitation.

He put on his formation, and the fake space shrank into a sphere. Thick and foul mists were driven elsewhere. Lan Jingtian set his feet on soft soil without effort.

It was a slanting road. Soils were blended with dark red blood, thus soft and muddy. As they went down, the mist in the middle air became thicker. They found frost all around and ice hung on the cave ceiling.

Lan Jingtian was surprised, for it was a favoring environment for him. Due to his special martial arts and constitution, he would not be affected by coldness, but Gao Qianyuan, a blue-blood man, would.

Even if their force of ice was derived from water, before blue-blood men cultivated to a certain degree, they were more vulnerable to freeze, due to their different physical organization, when suffering coldness beyond their own limit. Till then, their strength would plummet and had to allocate more strength to change the surroundings.

Gao Qianyuan, floating in the cold air, wore a smile but still remained emotionless in his eyes, jeering at Lan Jingtian.

As a formless sword spirit, Gao Qianyuan’s blood was blended with golden water, which made him different from common blue-blood men. Extreme coldness may influence his strength, but would definitely not be as Lan Jingtian expected.

Each with his own plots, the two rushed down the road and kept a wary eye for each other and hidden dangers.

After a while, they stopped and looked back.

In their minds, just the edge of their perceiving capability, they felt someone’s strong Qi Xie. That string of strength was like a sharp knife, cutting off their spreading feelings and disdained to hide itself.

“Su Meng!” The name came to their mind at the same time. They seemed to be able to imagine the scene there.

Su Meng walked arrogantly and in a slow pace, one hand put behind and one hand holding a long blade. He seemed to tail after the two, but he did not conceal his aura. He followed in a dignified manner, oppressing so much that he could approach and kill them at any time.

The distance was so precise that it was the limit of their endurance. One meter closer, Su Meng could be hit back; one meter farther, he might not be perceived and so oppressing. Su Meng was like a wolf driving two sheep, waiting for them to be exhausted before attacking.

Lan Jingtian and Gao Qianyuan glanced at each other, both wishing the other to hit and remove the risks. But that’s impossible. They were not even an alliance, how could they risk their lives?

Since they hadn’t found the Golden Tent Warriors yet, Lan Jingtian restrained his thoughts and went forward alertly, leaving Su Meng alone.

Clump! Clump! Clump! Su Meng’s footsteps oppressed Lan Jingtian so much that his feet directly stepped on Lan’s heart as well. Lan Jingtian gnashed his teeth in fury, swearing that Su Meng was so conceited that his behavior was like waiting for change to kill them or just driving them two to explore the way for him.

At this time, Lan Jingtian stopped, for there was no way ahead. In front of him stood a black stone gate with ice crystals.

Is this the end of the Devil Earth?

Where are the Golden Tent Warriors?

Have they entered the gate?

Is this a devil’s gate leading to the Nine Levels of Underground?