The Sage Who Transcended Samsara

In the Jade Palace of Kunlun Mountain, Meng Qi was sitting in a lotus position under the statue of the Heavenly Lord Yuanshi. His eyes were half-closed. A holy light was flashing in his eyes from time to time.

Inside and outside his Dharmakaya body, the internal organs and acupuncture points were shaking every time he breathed in and out. Sometimes, they were roaring like thunder, whereas other times they were surging like tides. A chaotic light was flying out from his nose when he exhaled. Within the light, a vast galaxy of sparkling stars could be seen. The galaxy was surrounded by various features of the universe such as the Golden Crow and the Jade Hare.

When Meng Qi inhaled, the dreamlike galaxy shrank and went into his nose again. As time and space became disordered, the whole room was dark and empty.

Along with his breathing, the world was created and broken down to chaos in succession.

After some time, everything had returned to normal. The glazed lamp in front of the statue of the Heavenly Lord Yuanshi was shining a dim light, giving the room a warm color tone. Slowly, Meng Qi opened his eyes. No holy light could be seen in them anymore.

The Isolated Practice had lasted half a year. During this period, Meng Qi had gained a deeper understanding toward the Premier Nine Seals and the Eight Nine Mysteries. As a result, his mastery level of these arts had already kept up with his current Dharmakaya realm.

“I can foresee the duration of Isolated Practice to be getting longer in the future. After I enter the Legendary Realm or Zao Hua Realm, I may be taking dozens of years to complete an Isolated Practice. When I come out from the practice, many things in the world will be different…” sighed Meng Qi. He patted his green robe and slowly got up.

After letting out his senses, he found that Fang Huayin and He Mu were still in their Isolated Practices. As they had just obtained a Divine Skill, they were greatly motivated to practice it.

“Heh. There are only three people – a master and two disciples – at this place. If everybody goes out from this Taoist temple, it will become a desolate building again. An empty Jade Palace – it’s funny to think of it,” Meng Qi smiled and shook his head. Then, he stepped out of the Taoist temple and went to the entrance of the Fairy World.

It’s time to look for the Qingping Sword!

…

Meng Qi went to Qu Jiuniang, the Azure Cloud Deity who was on duty at the Aquamarine Palace of the Fairy World.

Qu Jiuniang had been stuck in the second level of the Heavenly Stairs for years. To date, she had not become a guru yet. Luckily, the missions she got were of manageable difficulty, so she was never being put in life-threatening situations. Most of the time, she was travelling across different trading places to gather various kinds of resources.

At the moment, Qu Jiuniang was staring at Meng Qi with burning interest. In her eyes, Meng Qi was nothing different from a treasure house, “Hey, look who’s here! God Master, I heard that both Poison God and Rakshasa of Bloody Sea were killed by you recently. So, I suppose that you’ve acquired their Heavenly Weapons, am I right?”

Meng Qi’s lips gave a slight twitch, “Jiuniang, we’ve known each other for so long. Don’t be so exaggerated. I know what kind of person you are.”

Qu Jiuniang had a strong character. She was not afraid of power and authority, hence she would never be subdued by force. The only problem was that she could never resist the temptation of wealth and treasures.

“Haha,” Qu Jiuniang laughed dryly. “God Master, you must be joking. Everyone in the Fairy World knows that I am warm-hearted, friendly, generous, uh…”

After saying the word generous, even she herself could not go on talking anymore. Just a thought of sharing out her treasures already made her feel heartbroken.

Cough, cough. Qu Jiuniang had decided to stop acting. Staring at Meng Qi with sparkling eyes, she said, “God Master, now that your power and status are much higher than us, you must be having a large number of treasures. Since we’ve traded so many times in the past, you certainly know that I’m an honest trader. In my entire life, I’ve cheated no one…”

In reality, she has cheated everyone… Meng Qi thought to himself.

After boasting about herself for quite some time, Qu Jiuniang went closer to Meng Qi and sent a secret message, “Let’s put aside the Heavenly Weapons. Did you loot anything else from the Poison God and the Rakshasa of Bloody Sea?”

Meng Qi snickered and said purposely, “You do know that I’m already a Dharmakaya. At my current realm, I’m only paying attention to those items that have equivalent power as a Heavenly Weapon. I won’t be wasting my energy to loot all the other useless items.”

Qu Jiuniang suddenly took a few steps back and looked at Meng Qi as if she had heard something unbelievable.

“You… you’ve changed!”

The Frenzied Blade, Su Meng was once a miser – just like her. In the past, he would spend half a day just to bargain with her. She did not expect him to have changed so much!

“I know that you’ve become wealthy now – you even have a few Heavenly Weapons on hand. I understand that you won’t care about the other useless items anymore. But… but you can always pass the items to your friends and relatives!” Qu Jiuniang said with an exasperated expression, positioning herself as Meng Qi’s friend.

Meng Qi said while holding back laughter, “Jiuniang, don’t worry. Recently I’ve come up with an idea to forge a treasure that can communicate with the forces all over the world. Therefore, I’ll be in need of a lot of materials. Since it’s impossible for me to collect all the materials, I’ll need to do some trading with you.”

Qu Jiuniang’s eyes were brightened like sparkling stars. She showed a flattering smile and said, “Sure enough, you have a well-deserved reputation as a hero!”

Being in a good mood, she took the initiative to ask, “God Master, you won’t come to me without a reason. Is there anything that I can help you with?”

“Senior Chonghe has collected some information about the Qingping Sword before. I need those information,” said Meng Qi concisely.

Qu Jiuniang pondered for a while and said, “I happen to know about this. However, a change happened a few years ago.”

“What’s about the change? Tell me everything,” Meng Qi suddenly had a bad feeling about what he was going to hear.

Qu Jiuniang did not reply to him immediately. Instead, she led Meng Qi into the secret room of Aquamarine Palace. After activating the Restrictive Spell, she said, “Many years ago, when Lord Ling Bao took over the Aquamarine Palace at the Kunlun Mountain, he had acquired many magic arts and secret scriptures. From there, he had got some clues about the whereabouts of Qingping Sword. At first, the clues were very disorganized, so he had no idea about the exact location of the sword. However, after some time, he discovered a replicated Qingping Sword at a mansion where Yun Zhongzi passed away in sitting position. Getting more clues from the replicated sword, he combined them with the previous information. Then, he went to the World of Gods and found a hidden Ocean’s Eye in Donghai…”

Again, the Ocean’s Eye in Donghai… the pupils of Meng Qi contracted. He thought of the young Taoist priest – most probably the Qing Emperor – who had disappeared in the Ocean’s Eye as well.

However, Lord Ling Bao had gone to the Donghai in the World of Gods. The Taoist priest, on the other hand, was showing up at the Donghai in the Real World. Hence, they should be heading to different places.

Where are these Ocean’s Eyes leading to?

Activating the purple bell in his heart and sending his spirit back to the chaos, Meng Qi was keeping his countenance. Without noticing anything at all, Qu Jiuniang went on to say, “After becoming a Dharmakaya, Lord Ling Bao was finally powerful enough to go through the Ocean’s Eye. It turned out that the Ocean’s Eye was leading him to a strange place that has little resemblance to the Real World.”

“There was a vast ocean, with many islands and Immortal Mansions. In that world, martial arts and magic arts were developing very well. A lot of immortals were living there. It was like a Fairyland beyond the sea in ancient myths and legends.”

“A Fairyland beyond the sea…” Meng Qi repeated.

Qu Jiuniang nodded and said, “It was really a wonderland. According to Lord Ling Bao, the vast ocean was boundless, and the distances between the islands were very large. For certain places, some Dharmakaya who were not good at the Art of Void Travelling would have to fly for several days to arrive at the destination. Therefore, they had set up teleportation circles on some islands for ease of communication and transportation.”

Teleportation circles… Meng Qi nodded thoughtfully. “Was the Qingping Sword on an island or at the bottom of the ocean?”

“It was on a mysterious island called the Golden Turtle,” Qu Jiuniang said.

The Golden Turtle Island? Unexpectedly, it is located at the Fairyland. Although it was a little out of expectation, Meng Qi felt that it was understandable for the Qingping Sword to be kept there.

“Was the island dangerous? I heard that even Senior Chonghe had to retreat from it,” asked Meng Qi.

Qu Jiuniang took a deep breath, “On the island, Lord Ling Bao had found traces of wild beasts and mythical creatures that came from ancient times!”

Ancient wild beasts and mythical creatures… Meng Qi could imagine how terribly strong they were just by hearing their names. Senior Chonghe has mastered the magic arts of “Three Pristine Bodies” and has the ability to set up the “Fairy-Slaying Formation” all by himself. Even though he is already so powerful, he decided to become an Earth Fairy first before going for the Qingping Sword. Now, I’ve finally understood the reason.

I should explore the place first before taking any action. It’s dangerous to act recklessly.

“Did Lord Ling Bao mention anything about the powerful people on the Fairyland?” Meng Qi asked.

Qu Jiuniang pursed her lips and said, “Lord Ling Bao had met a person who felt like a Divine Fairy before. However, his whereabouts remained a mystery.”

A person who felt like a Divine Fairy? Meng Qi was startled. The martial arts and magic arts really seemed to flourish on the Fairyland. There was even a living Divine Fairy!

“Apart from that, there were twelve powerful martial artists known as the Four Strange People, Three Demons, and Five Old Deities. Among them, the Five Old Deities were particularly strong because they were the owners of the main islands on the Fairyland. With the Primeval Deity from the Island of Three Clouds as the leader, they formed the Heavenly Way Alliance, aiming to maintain order and ensure fair distribution of benefits. Being the real rulers of the Fairyland, they were called the Five Old Deities of the Heavenly Way,” Qu Jiuniang gave a brief introduction of the powerful people.

The Island of Three Clouds… Meng Qi was more concerned with the name of this island. He thought for a while and asked, “Was the Primeval Deity an Earth Fairy?”

On the Fairyland, there were the Golden Turtle Island and the Island of Three Clouds. It seemed that Fairyland had something to do with the Jie Sect.

“Yes. When Lord Ling Bao attained the Dharmakaya Realm, the Primeval Deity was already an Earth Fairy. Apart from her, the other four old deities were also incredibly strong. Even though they hadn’t become an Earth Fairy at that time, they definitely possessed the combat capability of an Earth Fairy,” replied Qu Jiuniang.

Meng Qi nodded thoughtfully and suddenly remembered what Qu Jiuniang had just said. He quickly asked, “So, what’s about the change that you mentioned in the beginning?”

Qu Jiuniang said, “Uh, the Golden Turtle Island… the Golden Turtle Island has disappeared.”

“The Golden Turtle Island has disappeared?” Meng Qi knew it would not be easy to obtain the Qingping Sword, “How did you know that?”

“Lord Ling Bao had once assigned a person called the Immortal Yellow Dragon – an unofficial member of the Fairy World – to the Fairyland to collect rare items. We, on the other hand, provided magic arts to him. So, we were in a mutually beneficial relationship. After the death of Lord Ling Bao, Buddha Dou Mu had been to the Fairyland for a few times with the help of Samsara Talisman and Heavenly Weapon. A few years ago, the Immortal Yellow Dragon told him about the disappearance of the Golden Turtle Island,” explained Qu Jiuniang.

Meng Qi paced around with his hands clasped behind his back.

“The island wouldn’t disappear without a reason. Everything that exists will surely leave a trace, so I’ll still go to the Fairyland to investigate this matter.”

…

Qu Baimei, the owner of the Chang Hua Island was serving an honored guest, Yin Feilong, the inspecting ambassador of the Heavenly Way Alliance.

Halfway through the banquet, Yin Feilong gave a hint to Qu Baimei to dismiss everyone else in the room. Then, he activated the Restrictive Spell.

“Inspecting ambassador, what do you want to tell me?” Qu Baimei asked curiously.

Yin Feilong said with a serious face, “Qu, have you heard of a mysterious alliance that had been very active a few decades ago? The members of the alliance were always wearing masks that represented ancient deities.”

“You mean the mysterious alliance that had seized the treasure from the Purple Cane Island?” Qu Baimei frowned and asked.

“Yes. It was seized by a mysterious man wearing the mask of Buddha Dou Mu. Other than that, nineteen years ago, the Dongning Island was taken over by a person who wore the mask of Immortal Tai Yi. Twenty-seven years ago, Lord Zhimo was severely injured by another member who wore the mask of Lord Ling Bao… the Five Old Deities have always been concerned about this mysterious alliance, and never stopped tracking them down. Recently, I’ve finally found some clues about their whereabouts.” Yin Feilong cupped his hands together and said, “Qu, please do me a favor.”

“What do you need me to do?” asked Qu Baimei.

Yin Feilong said with a serious tone, “There is a man who lives by the sea called Mo Ning. Since he has something to do with the clues I found, I need your help to capture him.”

Qu Baimei nodded and said, “Sure. Please give me some time.”

He strode out of the hall and went into the bedroom. When he turned his head, a mask of the Immortal Yellow Dragon could be seen on his face!