The Sage Who Transcended Samsara

The sea and sky were boundless. Birds swirled around over the heaving waves. Huo Lishang felt the cold wind blowing over his face.

He put away the complicated feelings and looked down, shaking his head. He said in a low voice:

“Interesting.”

He activated the special art and tried to find his own ship.

The Night Emperor’s ship was his palace, one of his base camps. It was made of all kinds of treasures and was full of Restrictive Spell Formations. For example, if he went close by the ship and activated the stamp, the ship would secretly operate its secret part and cover his trace, and then transfer the control power to the real emperor. That’s why he dared to go close by the ship even when he was badly hurt and lost all his strength, and that’s why he could claim Game is Over at any time. But this time, everything went out of his expectation and nobody could help him to control the formation. With the help of the Restrictive Spell and his concubines, he could easily defeat those non-Dharmakayas without Heavenly Weapons.

He could also get a grasp of the ship’s condition by operating secret art to confirm its position and trace.

Though the Night Emperor was unrestrained he was not stupid. He did not bring any token, Heavenly Weapons, or pills with him. But he still prepared other things except for life-saving pills.

He said a secret spell and the sea turned dark in his eyes like boundless night sky, in which a bright only a star would shine brightly and that stood for the Night Emperor’s ship.

But he could see nothing bright at all in the darkness.

It’s missing… Huo Lishang stopped his spell with blank eyes.

His secret spell could sense nothing about the Night Emperor’s Ship.

How come it disappeared!

Disappear…

The misty sea wind blew through his robes and he stood at the pier of Island of Ten Magnificence like a statue…

…

The Night Emperor’s Ship sailed in a vast expanse of the sea, wrapped by darkness. Karma, feelings, vision, and hearing all seemed to be swallowed. Nobody could sense the ship’s existence anymore.

Meng Qi sat down at the flowers stage cross-legged with a suspicious cloud above him. Its light shone all over the ship.

He looked at Yunyue, Youhu, etc., and smiled, “With its help, even the Divine Fairy would not be able to find us. Now you feel reassured?”

He said it so peacefully with confidence. The Wu’Ji Seal, Dao Yi Seal, and Eight Nine mysteries were combined together to hide mysteries of heaven and the ship’s trace, the best cloak.

Even the Divine Fairy would not be able to find us… then how about Lishang… Yunyue and Youhu opened their mouth slowly and forced a smile, “Yes. Of course, of course.”

How come they would be unassured?

Meng Qi could sense their complicated emotions. He knew that they dared not say anything even though he got in in many trouble with ambassadors from Golden Turtle Island. He pretended that he noticed nothing as he needed this identity of the Night Emperor to ask the Golden Crow Sect for help to make Heavenly Weapons.

He carried a sea map which marked major places in Seven Seas and Twenty-Eight Worlds. He confirmed about the position of the Cloud Realm of No Thoughts with Liushang and Xiapei and then stretched his left hand. The void started to shake. The ship went through multiple layers of void blocks.

After a while, Liushang and other concubines noticed the change in blue sea. Every spray became a little cloud and was linked with each other. They felt as if they were in the sky with clouds. But if they touched those sprays, they would soon find out that those were still sea water.

Cloud sea rolled and appeared in the shape of different statues, some looked like mountains, some human, etc.

“We’ve arrived in the Cloud Realm of No Thoughts…” Yunyue concluded, staring at the sky and sea.

The Cloud Realm was quite far away from the Li Sea. Huo Lishang would need to use teleportation circles twice to get here, which would spend at least one or two hours. But this fake one only shifted the boat to the Cloud Realm of No Thoughts in just a second!

Probably only a Primeval Deity could be compared to him.

Then Yunyue and others thought about his turning stone into gold art and then got scared. This Lord Taiyi Han Guang might be an old monster who was much much more powerful than their own master.

He made such a precipitate wrong decision to exchange identity with this man!

Could he still come back?

Even if he made it, could he defend himself from the Divine Fairy ambassador’s tracking?

Liushang looked at the stars with squinted eyes and calculated their current position. After a short while, she said with a smile, “We are now getting very close to the Golden Crow Sect.”

“Good,” Meng Qi clapped his hands.

Liushang instructed the ship to go in the southeast direction. Later, they saw a big shadow appearing at the boundary between sea and sky. It seemed to be high mountains on some island.

As their ship got closer, they saw it clearly and it was not a mountain but an ancient tree that was even taller than mountains. It was divided into Yang and Yin and two parts supported each other. Its sang leaves were bathed in sunshine as if they were burning.

Ancient Fusang Tree… Meng Qi recollected what he read in those ancient books.

Deep in Donghai a Fusang tree was planted there. It was the place where God Hao Tian killed Eastern Emperor Taiyi. Taiyi’s blood watered the tree and it could bear the heat of the sun.

Is this the one recorded in the book?

Youhu looked at Meng Qi’s confused face and said, “It is said during the ancient times, the Fusang tree was planted near a fairy palace. But since the demons came in, the Fusang tree could only be seen from far away. Nobody could get close to it as if it was a mirage.”

Mirage? Meng Qi nodded and said nothing more. He then asked Yunyue to take out books about making weapons in the Night Emperor’s collection. He read through it and asked them to bring the weapon materials to do an experiment.

Everything went peacefully. After sunset, they could already see Tianyi Island where the Golden Crow Sect was.

“Yunyue, go visit the head of the Golden Crow Sect and ask him to make a piece of a Heavenly Weapon for me and see what he wants in return,” Meng Qi gave the order as if he was the real Night Emperor.

Yunyue gave a sweet smile and said, “Understood. The Golden Crow Sect don’t ask their customers any questions. All they care about is money.”

Of course there was a price.

Yunyue felt sad for her real master’s treasure…

“The Golden Crow Sect used to be one of the top sects and was not any worse than the Island of Three Clouds. But after ancient times, their hometown Wu Chao disappeared together with the ancient Fusang tree and turned to a mirage. People can only watch it but can not reach them.” Liushang exclaimed, “Nothing lasts forever…”

Wu Chao? Meng Qi stroked a piece of Gengjin in his left hand.

…

Green is the theme color of the Yin Master’s palace. Tower buildings and pavilions seemed to be covered by a black cloth and no strays of sunshine could get in. Everywhere were lamps and candles flickering with green lights.

Even after achieving Dharmakaya and no longer afraid of sunshine, Yin Master Xu Bei still lived in the old style.

When he came out from the pond of Nine Nether color, a man dressed in feather clothes and a bright crown was sitting inside the waterside pavilion. The man was surrounded by fog with scenes of sunrise and stars shifting appearing, as if a new world just arrived there, gathering with Seven Seas and Twenty-Eight Worlds in an imposing manner.

“How do you do?” Xu Bei bowed.

The man was ambassador of Golden Turtle Island, a mysterious Divine Fairy!

The ambassador looked over with his weathered eyes, which seemed to be linked with another world. He said, ” Yin Feilong was killed by secret organization?”

He came to visit as he sensed it.

“Yes, I was focusing on my own battle with the Night Emperor and could not help him in time,” Xu Bei said humbly.

The ambassador sighed and said, “I did fortune-telling for him and knew that he was going to experience mahakappa this year. But I did not know it would come so soon. Poor little thing. He was the only talented one in all my descendants. I will kill that murderer and destroy that secret organization that bastard works for.”

At Island of Ten Magnificence, Night Emperor Huo Lishang shuddered.

No wonder he liked Yin Feilong so much and asked him to contact me… Xu Bei pondered and then brought a different subject of the Night Emperor refusing to participate even after knowing about Golden Turtle Island. At the end, he said, “Now I think back, maybe he knew just a little and just talked with me to get more information. I did not notice it then.”

“No worries,” the ambassador closed his eyes as if he fell asleep.

He then continued, “The Night Emperor is something. He hid himself so well. It seems he is now more than just a Man Fairy level. He set it up in Island of Ten Magnificence, Rosy Cloud Island, etc. His scheme looked familiar. He must have other intentions…”

Xu Bei could not understand his words. He waited at his side and dared not say another word.

“Find the Night Emperor as soon as possible. Ask for help from the Heavenly Way Alliance. I would then kill that person myself,” the ambassador stood up and disappeared.

Xu Bei looked at the empty place and stood still for a long time. He was thinking hard.

He could hope for achieving Land Fairy one day if he was chosen as one of the members to deal with external affairs of Golden Turtle Island. The less people knew about it, the better. The less subordinates one have, the more attention the subordinates can get. Therefore Xu Bei did not tell it to anyone or share it with the other four old deities of the Heavenly Way. He would rather tell it only to the Night Emperor.

However he did not know if Golden Turtle Island had sent ambassadors to talk to other Dharmakaya. For example, how did they get the Night Emperor’s profile. That’s why he did not get super angry at the Night Emperor after his refusal. He wanted to check if any other Dharmakaya was also the member of Golden Turtle Island.

Know the enemy, know yourself, and then one can decide which way to go!

…

Huo Lishang stood still at the pier in the cold wind. He laughed after a while and said, “How interesting. This experience.”

He was still not trapped completely. He now had the strength to enter the Exterior Realm and could go to other islands to find his other subordinates.

Though not every one of them knew him personally and he did not bring anything that could prove his identity, the head of each local office and those who were at the same level of his concubines should be able to recognize him. He would be able to get back his identity and everything if he could get their help. Then he could finally say game over and let everybody know that he is the Night Emperor.

He turned around with a smile, pondering which one local head he should go to first.

Suddenly, a figure came forward. A man in a feather robe and star crown, surrounded by mist. His imposing manner appeared so scary and was surely much more powerful than that Primeval Deity.

“Are you the Night Emperor?” the man asked.

Huo Lishang tried to stay calm and thought for a while before he gave his answer,

“No, I’m not.”

“No way I could be the Night Emperor.”