The Sage Who Transcended Samsara

The golden bodies of Buddha disappeared one after another like a dream, depicting the word impermanence. Nothing in the world is forever, this includes love, people, deities, and Buddhas.

One cannot achieve transcendence without understanding Dao.

Various colors of glaze flew as pale and dark colors of gold fell. What Meng Qi saw before him became empty and distinct. The place of the seal was like a huge lotus platform made of stone with the bodies of thousands of Buddhas placed around its core.

With his golden body shining and his right palm looking as though it contained layers of pure land, Meng Qi advanced with caution and arrived at the core of the seal.

“If I achieve Bodhi…”

“Supreme Buddha…”

A low voice with a strange charm reverberated, like it had been mourning the traces of the remains everyday for thousands of years.

Meng Qi paused his footsteps and listened attentively, connecting the reverberating voice into complete words:

“If I achieve Bodhi, all Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Arhats, Jin-gangs, and Wisdom Kings shall incarnate for me.”

“If I achieve Bodhi, I shall be the one and only Supreme Buddha of all realms.”

As the voice went into his ears, Meng Qi’s soul was actually shaken, showing worry and impatience due to the approaching Final Trial and the bad ending he saw. He felt some ruthlessness and wanted to kill the projection of the Heavenly Lord Yuanshi that had gained wisdom straight away regardless of everything, kill them, and improve quickly.

Thump thump thump. He shook his head violently as his heart beat, holding back this bad thought. Although this place looked like a pure land, it actually had the ability to lead people into extremity and deprivation!

Looking over, he saw at the core of the huge stone lotus remained traces of the purest and cleanest glazed Buddha light ⁠- pureness and cleanliness that couldn’t tolerate anything else other than I.

“Extremity equates closer to devilism,” not knowing why, this thought suddenly flashed across Meng Qi’s mind.

Other than I are heterodoxy and heresy that have to be assimilated without any reasoning. If this is not devilism, what is devilism?

Moving another step closer, Meng Qi’s soul felt a disturbance, because the purest and cleanest glazed Buddha light had some familiar sense of karma in it.

Devil Buddha Ananda!

He actually had contact with the monster that was sealed at the final peaks of Spirited Mountain?

He squinted his eyes. Although Meng Qi who was manifested as Tathagata Zhending couldn’t revolve the Principles of Karma, he still noticed the familiarity with the help of the indiscernible relationship between him and the Devil Buddha, hence understanding that this came from the Devil Buddha Ananda.

As the second disciple of Gautama Buddha and the future head of Saha Pure Land, Ananda should know about the sealed place at the final peak of the Spirited Mountain and also know what exactly was sealed inside… Meng Qi fell into deep thought.

What was it that made Ananda who was a powerful monk and an Arhat who had already cut various obsessive thoughts still have a trace of unfinished obsessiveness and ended up becoming a devil?

Was he affected by the monster at the final peak of Spirited Mountain day after day, hence becoming more extreme and that obsessiveness becoming stronger?

Also, when Ananda practiced the Buddha’s Palm in a reversed way and became the Devil Buddha, he did not achieve Nirvana right away but left his pure land and went missing. When he appeared again, he had already achieved Nirvana. His whereabouts were unknown during this period of time. Did he come here and use the monster to achieve a breakthrough?

More importantly, how did Ananda know about trying to practice the Buddha’s Palm in a reversed way?

Meng Qi pointed to heaven with one hand and touched the ground with the other as his golden body shone, crossed the cleanest glazed Buddha light, and stepped into the core of the seal.

…

Sunrays vibrated as though they were breathing, releasing and retracting as they wrapped tightly around Qingqiu, No Thoughts, and Raka. With the three demonic deities reciting the spells, it still required much effort to get the Golden Cudgel, hence showing its power.

Spirited Mountain shook slightly with a humming sound, because the Golden Cudgel was shaking violently with the vibration of the sunrays. It started to shrink at a speed visible to the naked eye.

“Done!” Qingqiu shouted out with joy.

No Thoughts and Raka were both relieved and happy. They had heard of the Great Sages of the demonic race since a young age and had always looked forward to meeting them. They were finally going to meet them today.

Meng Qi was focusing on what the Tathagata Zhending manifestation saw and heard and didn’t let the Nether Skeleton which he had regained control of stop the demonic deities.

He already had a premonition that they couldn’t succeed so easily and there would definitely be some disruptions!

At this moment, Glow expressed her surprise, “That darkness became deeper again…”

She subconsciously looked up and his gaze froze. The sky that was filled with thunderbolts and green lotuses was fully-occupied by a giant pale golden palm!

The sky was in chaos with rotating glazed light as a Buddha voice reverberated violently, “If I achieve Bodhi, all Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Arhats, Jin-gangs, and Wisdom Kings shall incarnate for me.”

The giant Buddha-like palm fell and seemed to grab the the peak of Spirited Mountain in it. There was nothing fanciful as it just landed normally. On the other side, halfway up the mountain, there was also a giant pale golden palm falling down at the body of Maha Kasyapa. A mouth opened in the palm, showing forty teeth and making one feel creepy.

“If I achieve Bodhi, I shall be the one and only Supreme Buddha of all realms.”

The bursting Buddha’s voice stirred the hearts of people such that they wouldn’t have thoughts of rivaling it. Luckily the Phoenix Demonic Deity Glow had been using the light of virtue from the pagoda hanging above her head to protect her entire body, hence avoided being a puppet like Taili.

As she clenched her teeth and spread her wings, the patterns of five virtues lit up and agglomerated a drawing of black and white yin-yang fish and a purple ruyi scepter accumulated with merits. They flew into the air together with the pagoda, attacking the the palm that had landed.

At the same time, she raised her head and hummed softly, giving off a beautiful voice that penetrated the surroundings and woke up the other demonic deities such as Taili and No Thoughts.

The drawing of virtue eliminates attacks easily, the ruyi scepter of merit brings good fortune and avoids disasters, the golden pagoda of credit cannot be invaded easily. They were all supreme items of defense and should be impregnable. However, once the giant pale golden palm came into contact, they were all destroyed and didn’t even block it for an instant.

Poof! Amidst the fragments of the fallen pagoda, Taiji drawing, and the ruyi scepter, Glow coughed out blood and fell onto the ground from midair, creating a big hole. Just the anti-shock force alone had her seriously injured and not able to fight anymore. She could only watch helplessly at the falling giant palm.

And this was only a blow when the other party was distracted by the body of Maha Kasyapa. The other party hadn’t even shown his real form and had only used a palm to attack.

At this moment, red, green, yellow, white, and black lights lit up, embracing heaven and earth including all physical objects as they surged toward the giant palm.

The giant palm that covered the sky fell into the holy light and paused slightly like it had fallen, but it immediately pulled the five-colored holy light and pressed down, looking like it had a ceremonial robe on it!

Bang! Taili’s face was a pale white as he stood arrogantly.

Light shot out from Raka’s eyes as the destiny on his body blessed him. But nothing below the palm moved. After being hit by only the wind of the palm, he lost the blessing and smashed into the ground on the peak, struggling and unable to get up. No Thoughts’s face turned solemn as his eyes showed signs of retreat. He showed his real form of a Great Roc and wanted to escape by crossing ninety thousand miles with his wings.

However, the giant palm covered the entire sky, forming a world of its own, and beyond ninety thousand miles was still the giant palm.

Thump! The huge roc fell onto the ground, shaking Spirited Mountain. Looking like slush, its breathing had become much weaker.

Most of the sunrays dissipated and the Golden Cudgel suddenly stopped shrinking.

Seeing the four demonic deities defeated and injured, Qingqiu’s face turned white. She showed the look of five virtues on her body and lifted the Demon Divine Spear.

Suddenly, darkness fell before her and a terrifying skeleton comparable to the roc’s real form appeared ⁠- whiteness circulated in the darkness, intertwined with blood as life and death perpetuated.

On the shoulder of the skeleton was the green-robed, grey-templed, handsome and matured Jade Mirage sect leader Su Meng sitting cross-legged as blurry auspicious clouds appeared.

Dark auspicious clouds flew out and the bloody river gushed, forming a scene that Qingqiu, Raka, and Glow, etc., couldn’t forget. They turned into a giant hand before moving upward to receive the Buddha palm.

Bang!

Heaven and earth shook and Spirited Mountain seemed about to collapse. As a fierce wind blew, the giant hand of blood and darkness froze in the air together with the Buddha palm, and the surroundings were filled with shattering sounds.

It’s been blocked!

The terrifying monster was actually blocked.

Glow, No Thoughts, and the other demonic deities saw the legs of the skeleton fall into the ground of the peak whereas the Jade Mirage sect leader Su Meng didn’t move an inch as his green robe flowed.

When did he conquer the Nether Skeleton?

On the other side, the Buddha palm fell and collided with the hands of Maha Kasyapa’s body. With a bang, the mountainside collapsed and a cliff was formed again.

Maha Kasyapa’s body fell into the bottom of the cliff, emitting infinite light and illuminated Spirited Mountain.

…

Meng Qi stepped into the place covered by the pure and clean Buddha light and saw markings of someone sitting cross-legged previously. At a corner on the other side, there was a clear gemstone flickering with a green Bodhi light.

The gemstone gave Meng Qi a strange feeling of familiarity. As he took it up carefully and touched with his hand, he felt emotions like pain, struggle, and guilt.

His brain exploded and he had already understood what it was.

After the Devil Buddha Ananda fell and entered devilism, and before he achieved Nirvana, he had indeed come to this place. Not knowing the reason why, he shed a tear ⁠- one that contained Ananda’s kind thoughts and all his guilt and pain.

From then onward, the kind person no longer existed and evil thoughts prevailed!

The guilt toward the Demonic Sage and the guilt toward the Saha Pure Land appeared bit by bit. Something suddenly struck Meng Qi, and a long blade with purple light around it appeared in his hand.

The Invincible Blade actually came to the manifestation from his original body and absorbed the drop of the tear with erupting power.

Once Ananda’s kind thoughts entered, it immediately collided intensely with the Devil Buddha’s stamp. Grabbing this opportunity, the Invincible Blade displayed its explosive power and broke through a layer of suppression with majestic strength!

…

At the peak of Spirited Mountain, Meng Qi who was sitting on the shoulder of the Nether Skeleton put his right hand into his sleeve and drew out the Invincible Blade again. Its purple brilliance emitted darkness, a change that was totally different from before.

Raising his head and looking into the sky, Meng Qi closed his eyes.

At this moment, beyond the heavens at the Tushita Palace, the elderly man in the Taoist robe pulled and opened the furnace with his right hand, and a brilliant golden ray shot out from inside.

Bang!

The sky at Spirited Mountain suddenly turned red, looking both like a sea of fire and a cloak. The Golden Cudgel inserted at the peak struggled violently before jumping out, turning into a huge dragon and flew into the sky.

At this moment, a huge hairy golden hand appeared out of the sea of fire and caught hold of the huge dragon, the golden cudgel. Displaying a disposition that could make Spirited Mountain collapse, it roared, “Evildoer, take this!”