The Sage Who Transcended Samsara

“Don’t get entangled. Get past quickly to avoid unforeseen events,” thoughts flashed across the minds of the demonic deities and they quickly came to an agreement.

Although the corpses at the bottom of the cliff and the body of Maha Kasyapa in front seemed to have some faintly discernible wisdom, it was obvious that they were still far from normal. Confronting them face to face instead of by wits was in fact utilizing their own strengths to attack the other parties’ weaknesses, but they might not win and it was also very time-consuming. Now that the Spirited Mountain had undergone unforeseen changes, the longer they dragged, the more dangerous and higher possibility they might fail.

Therefore, the five demonic deities including Qingqiu made a decision almost without any argument – not to get entangled with the body of Maha Kasyapa and the corpses at the bottom of the cliff, quickly get past and shake off the enemies without much wisdom.

As for what idea Meng Qi had, other than Qingqiu and Taili who took a glance at him to make sure that he had no disagreement, Glow, Raka, and No Thoughts had completely overlooked this celestial helper.

Once the decision was made, red, green, yellow, white, and black lights surged simultaneously like an opened tail feather behind Taili, attacking the smiling Maha Kasyapa who was seated with his fists together.

Glow shot out of the pagoda at the top of her head toward the real-looking bloody river that was filled with corpses in order to suppress it for the time being. Raka and No Thoughts followed closely behind to prevent any unforeseen changes while Qingqiu and Meng Qi were at the back.

Once Taili and Glow succeeded, they quickly got got past the cliff, shook off the enemies and reached the peak!

The five-colored holy light attacked all things, and the body of Maha Kasyapa was also not spared and hit down directly. However, when Taili was about to retract the five-colored light, he seemed to be pinned to the place and was unable to move the huge Arhat golden body.

Not only was he heavy physically but also heavy on the soul!

The color of Taili’s face changed. With a shake of his body, he showed his real body of a peacock – huge and majestic – and did his best to retract the five-colored light.

The holy light was like a fishing net, able to cover all fish. But when it caught a big shark, the owner of the net might not have the strength to pull up the prey!

At this moment, Maha Kasyapa who appeared blurry having fallen into the five-colored holy light gave a weak sigh. He lifted his right hand, his thumb and middle finger in the shape of holding a flower, and swung it out.

Flowers that bloom will eventually fall. Love as strong as gold cannot rival time. Although the stars in the night sky are brilliant, they will still be extinguished one day. All things will change and be destroyed – this is known as impermanence.

Impermanence doesn’t last and everything is emptiness!

As tranquility filled the surroundings, Maha Kasyapa’s dark golden finger penetrated the five-colored light directly like there was no obstacles and pointed at in between Taili’s brows.

Seeing this, Glow’s face slightly changed color. She changed area covered by the pagoda by force, causing it to fly out and block Maha Kasyapa’s right hand.

Buddha light shone and the dark golden finger reached the top of the pagoda and penetrated it as though it was non-existent!

Like what I had seen, everything was unfathomable and like an illusion!

Splash!

As though feeling the impact, the bloody river surged toward Glow as well as No Thoughts and Raka behind her. As for Taili, no matter what changes he did or how the holy light swayed, he was unable to shake off the dark golden finger attacking between his brows. He wouldn’t be able to escape once he was hit.

As compared to the previous time Meng Qi entered, the abilities shown by Maha Kasyapa had a dramatic change. Spirited Mountain had really undergone unforeseen changes!

As Glow took in a deep breath, phoenix wings grew out from her back. She moved forward by a distance to avoid the engulfment of the bloody river before quietly displayed a mudra sign with her hands. Purple light soared in her eyes, forming a purple scepter of great fortune that hung on top of Taili’s head.

The dark golden finger glimmered and was about to hit Taili’s brows. However, it was off by just a little bit, and the other party was always able to avoid it.

Moving around in midair and protected by fortune, Taili finally braced himself through until Maha Kasyapa died down.

Roar!

The screaming sound at the bottom of the cliff seemed to come from the bottom of one’s heart, erupting every living thing’s hidden fear toward death and shaking their souls. The bloody and turbid river surged toward the Great Roc Demonic Deity No Thoughts and the Kirin Demonic Deity Raka.

The river was filled with dead air, and anyone who touched it would have his spirit fall into it and become a water ghost, unable to escape. It was like an explicitation of death in this world, capable of destroying all lives.

No Thoughts displayed all kinds of powerful skills to counter but they all disappeared in the water and stopped reacting. Even the Water and Wind Formation around him collapsed and died off!

Seeing that he was about to be swallowed by the river, Raka shot out an evil-destroying light from his eyes at the crucial moment, hitting the bloody river and dispelling it partially. As that moment was slowed down, No Thoughts grabbed this opportunity and turned into a bird with a long whistling, breaking the void gap with rising momentum and broke out of the range swept by the river.

As the waves rolled, the corpses stretched out their hands, wanting to pull the Kirin Demonic Deity who was blocking in front of them into the water. Raka was shaky as his evil-destroying light braced with difficulty. If not for his luck at the peak and heaven’s protection, he would have had been washed away by the river and lost his life.

Splash!

The flow of the river became stronger and Raka was unable to stay calm anymore. Using his consciousness, he transmitted a message to Qingqiu, “Use the Demon Divine Spear to destroy the evilness!”

The damned No Thoughts actually feared the explicitation of the river, hovering in midair and dared not descend. His so called helping hand was just a useless attempt!

Just as Raka finished his words, he suddenly felt darkness before his eyes. A fierce wind gushed over but it was different from the Samadhi Wind. The surrounding world seemed to have been replaced by another place.

In the darkness, he saw the bloody and turbid river changed direction in a strange manner, surging to the side and entered a huge sleeve. The owner of the sleeve was wearing a Taoist hat and a green robe, his temples were gray and his face was handsome — he was the human helper whom Qingqiu brought along.

“The World in the Sleeve!” he blurted.

The World in the Sleeve? No Thoughts who was hovering in midair also looked over in shock.

That celestial being actually knows this powerful skill!

The bloody river that penetrated heaven and earth and connected to death was like a waterfall, and was kept into the sleeve by Meng Qi. With his clothes flowing, he stepped into the sky with auspicious clouds appearing by themselves, looking like a Heavenly Lord of Taoism. Then, the sleeve shook forward and threw out the untrappable river at Maha Kasyapa to let him handle it.

“Let’s go!” Meng Qi said in a clear voice after looking around. He was confident of handling the situation after catching hold of the river.

There is no better time than this to leave!

Glow, Taili, and the other demonic deities who had gotten out of the predicament for the time being looked at one another with glimmering eyes but didn’t say anything much. They were about to follow Meng Qi to go past the cliff and the body of Maha Kasyapa.

The roaring sound at the deep bottom continued, but never crawled out.

…

Meng Qi’s Tathagata Zhending manifestation moved forward, along with the wide river that could remove one’s mortal body, observing the surrounding scene and searching for the mortal body of Tripitaka removed in the past. The scenery at both sides remained the same. If not for the rumbling river, one would think that he was at the same place throughout.

After walking for a while, Meng Qi’s eyes swept across the surface of the river and was slightly taken aback. Inside the sparkling water were various scenes that were all related to him, such as sitting cross-legged inside Kunlun Jade Mirage Palace, the sword formation trapping the Afflatus King, going back to the Middle Ages and deceiving the Tyrant, crossing hands with the Taishang Demon, there were too many to be named. His entire life after achieving Dharmakaya appeared in a reversed chronological order, except for a few experiences such as the Jade Mirage Palace and the Demonic King’s Palace that were not clear.

What does this mean? Examining the past? Meng Qi frowned slightly, reminiscing these experiences as he advanced forward to see if he could figure out what the issue was.

After backtracking to him stepping out of the Jade Mirage Palace and traveling around the World of Gods, the scenes inside the sparkling water became completely dark and blurry. Nothing could be seen anymore, making him feel even more puzzled.

Meng Qi continued to advance, conveying for a while before finally seeing the darkness inside the river end and showed a new scene. It was a scene of him watching the World Cup in his rented apartment on earth.

Hmm, why did it jump directly to the experience on earth?

Meng Qi pondered for a while, linking together what he had seen just now. Thoughts came to his mind and he gradually had an idea.

What I saw was the past of this body. The darkness were the years hiding inside the real Jade Mirage Palace which couldn’t be shown, so it skipped the past and showed the scene on earth, backtracking the corresponding body and not the real spirit.

That means, after a mortal body flows down along the river, it would enter its corresponding past, backtracking bit by bit, before reaching the very beginning where his mother is ten months pregnant?

And completely returning to the beginning this way before disappearing?

With this speculation, Meng Qi increased the speed of his conveyance light and went downward along the flow of the river. On the way, he indeed backtracked from working to college, from college to high school, middle school, elementary school, and from studying to babbling his first words, and finally from babbling his first words to the scene of his mother pregnant with him.

The pregnant stomach gradually became smaller, and the body seemed to disappear without a trace.

Moving forward, the scene stopped and the river flowed into darkness. The void in front was full of cracks and the mountain was steep – it was the final peak of Spirited Mountain!

Meng Qi stopped here and looked at the rumbling river as he pondered.

Seems like when I entered Spirited Mountain previously, the mortal body of Su Ziyuan removed went down with the river flow, changing in a reversed direction and returned to the state of being Zhending, a son of a concubine in the Su family, a baby, and then finally back in the stomach and into flesh, with nothing remaining.

It’s really a river filled with the true meaning of Buddhism…

What else would I see if I continued on?

What would the mortal body of Tripitaka eventually become?

The dust-free white-robed monk pondered for a while before stepping onto the final peak of Spirited Mountain.