The Sage Who Transcended Samsara

His pitch-black pupils were like unfathomably deep pools of water. Gan Ruoxu felt like he was being sucked into those pools, drowning in the suffocating darkness. The only thing he could see were tiny specks of light flickering from far away.

This was an actual universe, but Gan Ruoxu felt like it belonged to his spiritual world. All of his thoughts and consciousness were being buried in the darkness, separated from each other, difficult to perceive.

At that moment, he noticed that a seed was emerging from the darkness, exactly the same as the one that had appeared in his mind. The seed continued to change its appearance at a gradual pace, turning into a priest who seemed like he could accommodate everything in the universe within his comparatively microscopic torso. Everything about him, be it his appearance, aura, breath, or senses, were identical to the green-robed priest, one of the Three Pristines of the Jade Palace.

Out of nowhere, Gan Ruoxu’s mind clicked. “This is the Premier Priest!”

Once the Premier appeared, heaven and earth were excavated. Boundless light expanded and shone through the endless pitch black darkness. Gan Ruoxu’s sea of heart emerged, followed by rays of golden light that could be seen flickering through the mist covering the sea.

Once the heart was lit up, there would be no more darkness!

The Premier Priest was meditating while suspended above the sea of heart. He could not differentiate up from down, left from right. Both of his hands were formed into seals. On his right hand was Yang, brimming with the vitality of life, whereas on his left was Yin, overflowing with the fatality of death. Beneath him were the elements: earth, fire, wind, and water, floating with Seal Scripts, appearing to be some sort of Prohibited Spell.

Gazing upon this scenario, Gan Ruoxu instinctively left his reverie and opened his eyes. The old priest next to him realized in shock that while one of his eyes was normal, white with a black pupil, the other eye was in fact, black with a white pupil. The colors of both eyes kept circulating, as if they were the Yin Yang Taiji.

When the circulating stabilized, Gan Ruoxu looked at his hands. The palm of his left hand was stained black, while his right hand was covered in a layer of pure white light. As a thought flashed through his mind, both of it disappeared.

“Congratulations, Elder Gan, for obtaining the blessing of the God Master and achieving the initialization of your medium powers!” the old priest was ruddy-faced with joy.

The main benefit of learning the art of connecting with gods, compared with other styles of practices, was that its growth and enhancement were very fast. As it was equivalent to having a shortcut, people would give up on training the other parts of their body and instead focus on polishing their mental strength, while trying to get into the good graces of a guardian deity. Following that path, a single year of training could top years of practice in another field. Before this, Gan Ruoxu was merely an average teenager. Although his spirit was strong, it was not strong enough to manifest in reality. Now, by communicating with a Fairy God, he was able to reach the peak of his ability in a single leap, and obtained the power of direct knowledge.

Of course, it was not that he could stop training after obtaining the Art of Connecting with Gods. In the future, in addition to practicing, his spirit would need to be improved too, otherwise he would not be able to further communicate with the Fairy Gods. Through further communication, he could obtain more power to strengthen his body and enhance his direct knowledge. To delve deeper into the art, he must be mindful of his words and deeds to achieve a higher connection with the deities that he intended to communicate with. By increasing his rapport with them, he could even invoke their descension to the mortal realm.

After reliving the feeling of direct knowledge again, Gan Ruoxu finally stood up. He smiled gratefully and said, “Thank you so much for your advice. How can I address you?”

The elderly man with silvery hair stroked his beard and smiled, “My name is Sun Gan, but you can just address me as Chief Sun.”

At that point, he could no longer conceal his curiosity, hence, he asked in a soft voice, “Did you sense the Heavenly Lord Yuanshi, Gan? Does the God Master look like the one on the altar?”

Since the existence of the Chart of Deities Achievement Ranking, there had been two ways to ascertain the appearance of the deities. First, people could observe the deities by converting a seed of divine knowledge into the figure of a corresponding deity through meditation. The other way was to sculpt a statue of a deity after someone could catch a glimpse of the true appearance of a deity while meditating, which might help in sculpting more accurate and realistic portrayals of the deities.

However, since the Three Pristines had never manifested before, no one could describe in certainty what they looked like. Their statues were carved according to ancient sculptures that were passed down for generations. No one knew how much the statues resembled or differed from the real thing.

It was also worth mentioning that not all deity’s figures could be seen during meditation. There might be parts that were not able to be seen at all, or parts that only showed corresponding features like different kinds of thunderstorms or different kinds of flames and so on.

Gan Ruoxu nodded, “The figure I saw was different from the statue. One is a priest in green robes, while the other is an indescribably mysterious Heavenly Lord…”

“I would like to humbly request that Mr. Gan describe what you have seen in words or by drawing it out, in as much detail as possible. I will submit it to headquarters, in order to correct the inaccuracies of the statue,” as a Taoist, it was a great honor to uphold the image of the Premier Priest. It was a great privilege and opportunity, thus Sun Gan would not let it out of his grasp.

Gan Ruoxu was fine with it, but he suddenly recalled something, “The esteemed appellation of the God Master seems to have changed to Heavenly Lord Yuanshi.”

“Sure, I will submit both,” Sun Gan beamed with joy.

The night was silent. Gan Ruoxu, Wu Ju, and and the rest continued their journey to capital. In two days, they had arrived at the majestic river that separated the north and the south.

The water was flowing by rapidly, and the waves were violent. There was already a ferry parked by the shore, waiting for them.

“This way, Gan,” the minister in charge of accompanying Gan Ruoxu spoke as he gestured at the ship.

Gan Ruoxu was still indulged in his meditation of Heavenly Lord Yuanshi, familiarizing himself with the communication between mortals and gods. He was also pondering on the intention of the forbidden spells beneath the Premier Priest, resulting in his absentminded behaviour as he boarded the ship in silence with the rest of his team.

Out of nowhere, the water surged apart, revealing a silhouette that flew out while brandishing a longsword. The blade gleamed with blue light as it stabbed toward Gan Ruoxu.

The attacker’s aura was stately, and his body was covered in ethereal scales formed by water. He was like a Dragon Emperor, violent storms and roaring waves called forward by a wave of his sword. The ship was tossed around violently, causing the elites like Sun Gan and others who were sent by the State City Taoist Temple to lose their balance. They were so busy fending for themselves that their actions were slowed. They could only watch helplessly as the blue light of the blade slashed toward Gan Ruoxu.

Gan Ruoxu had never experienced any fast-paced battles like this before. Although he had direct knowledge, his reflexes were sluggish. His heart filled with terror as the blue light from the sword dominated his vision.

At that moment, Wu Ju, who was next to him, screamed horrifically at the top of his lungs. Gigantic waves surged from all around and flung the ship from its original position, causing it to land somewhere far away, avoiding the deadly blade.

The ship swayed dizzyingly. Gan Ruoxu recovered from his panic and immediately extended his left hand, aiming it toward the silhouette of the Dragon Emperor.

His palm shone with an eerie light. All of a sudden, the assassin lost all of his vitality and sunk like a rock in the ocean. He plummeted right into the river.

One single hit was enough to finish off such powerful assassin that was so hard to deal with? Sun Gan, Wu Ju, and the others were stupefied, staring at the fluctuating river.

Although the Dragon Emperor was only rank five, but everyone’s communication level was different. The powers borrowed were different, and the grades of the guardian deities were not the only affecting factor. In fact, days and nights of persistent communication were also vital. That assassin was obviously categorized as someone powerful, but facing the direct knowledge of Gan Ruoxu, he died without any resistance!

Such a terrifyingly powerful demonstration of direct knowledge!

It was indeed the Heavenly Lord Yuanshi, the Heavenly Lord Yuanshi indeed!

“Please retrieve the assassin’s body, Chief Sun,” Gan Ruoxu took a deep breath, trying to suppress the feeling of fear in the aftermath.

The old Taoist Sun Gan was stunned by the powerful showcase of direct knowledge. He felt as if he was facing his master. As a result, he did not dare to object, instead quickly calling upon his own guardian deity General of Pleiades Suns and Stars, using his direct knowledge to search for the body.

After a short while, the assassin, who was wearing clothes made of sharkskin, was scooped from the river. He was not breathing, life all gone.

As Sun Gan and the minister moved forward to inspect the corpse for clues, Gan Ruoxu spoke up, “Seal and contain the assassin.”

“Sealing a corpse?” Sun Gan and the minister were baffled. However, after seeing Gan Ruoxu’s decisive gaze, and recalling what they saw moments ago, they did as ordered by him.

Gan Ruoxu waited until they were done sealing before he flipped his right hand. A pure white ray shone on the assassin, followed by him emitting groan of pain as his vitality returned.

“Just kill me already!” he screeched.

That was his last cry before his death.

A dead man was revived? Gan Ruoxu was able to bring a dead man back to life? Is such mysterious and overpowered direct knowledge gifted by Heavenly Lord Yuanshi?

Sun Gan and the rest were not able to close their jaws, their eyes filled with incredulity. Despite that, the truth was right in front of them.

No wonder high ranked gods like the Great Emperor Zhenwu and the Master of Purple Stars had such considerable influence, amassing followers everywhere they reached. It was all due to the power of the essence of their direct knowledge. If they were already that powerful, then what about the cream of the godly crop, Heavenly Lord Yuanshi?

That was the first time Gan Ruoxu officially used the Yin Yang Seal of direct knowledge. He was still not used to it, as evidenced by an irritating buzzing in his brain. He also felt slightly dizzy, thus he excused himself, “Chief Sun, Minister Chong, please interrogate with the assassin. I’m going to get some rest.”

“Understood, Mr. Gan!” Sun Gan and the minister were clearly more respectful now while addressing Gan Ruoxu.

Accompanied by Wu Ju, Gan Ruoxu entered his cabin. He turned to his companion and stated sincerely, “It was all thanks to you that we’re safe right now. Without you, I wouldn’t have been able to use my direct knowledge in time.”

“No, no, I was terribly scared at that time! I merely flailed around and lashed out with my own direct knowledge,” Wu Ju laughed self-deprecatingly at himself.

“But your direct knowledge is indeed quite powerful. You even managed to wrestle the control of the river flow from the assassin,” Gan Ruoxu mused as he narrowed his eyes in doubt.

Wu Ju’s expression cycled through a complicated series of emotions. Finally, he lowered his voice and explained, “I was relying on a family heirloom.”

While speaking, he revealed a sharp spike that glowed with an eerie pale blue light. Its deadly sharpness could penetrate a human body, straight into the heart. However, the bottom part of it was cracked and uneven, a clear sign that it had been broken off.

As he laid eyes on the spike, Gan Ruoxu sensed that the Premier Priest in his brain had opened his eyes. The world suddenly brightened, and words came out involuntarily from his mouth, “A broken spike from the Nine-Pronged Trident?”

Eh, how did I know that it is from a Nine-Pronged Trident?

Wu Ju nodded slightly, “One of my ancestors was the family of Marshal Tianpeng. He managed to obtain an array formation that could enhance communication with guardian deities and open the gateway to laying down a more advanced array for receiving bestowed items.”

Normally, communication with the gods would grant only strength and direct knowledge. If someone wanted to be gifted items such as elixirs, weapons, or magical artifacts, they must come up with alternative ways.

“After much trial and error, my ancestors finally succeeded. However, the weapon that arrived was this one broken section of a spike.” Wu Ju shook his head, “Aside from being capable of manipulating water, there’s not much other use to it.”

Gan Ruoxu’s mind was whirring, as if he was curious. “Did you see the figure of Marshal Tianpeng in your meditation?”

“No, it was either a river in the sky that was filled with stars, or a tremendous fireball burning in a river,” Wu Ju paused and continued, “My ancestors saw the same thing.”

Gan Ruoxu’s mind calmed. He felt that he had behaved quite peculiarly just now, uncharacteristic of his usual self. However, he did not think too much of it, believing that how he behaved was justified.

Right at that moment, Wu Ju lowered his voice and said, “Brother Gan, let me show you the array formation. Let’s see if you can obtain anything extraordinary from Heavenly Lord Yuanshi.”