The Sage Who Transcended Samsara

Jiang Zhiwei smiled while staring at the grave and said, “It’s Zhenwu Great Emperor’s handwriting. Writing an epitaph for himself had to be a unique experience for him.”

“He buried himself,” Ruan Yushu echoed, her words full of meaning.

Qi Zhengyan blankly looked at the epitaph and asked emotionally, “After achieving the consummation in cultivation and living for 10 million years, he ended up burying himself with mud. Has anyone achieved longevity? If we reach the realm of Heavenly Primogenitor or Primogenitor of Buddhism, can we become immortal?”

After some thought, Meng Qi said , “I saw Zhenwu Great Emperor again in the black mist.”

“Did his Dharmakaya really become a ghost after his death?” Jiang Zhiwei recovered her Vital Qi and held her saber firmly.

Zhenwu Great Emperor was a top master even in mythical novels. If his Dharmakaya became a ghost, how would they deal with it? After all, they were just acupores-enenlightened Martial Artists.

Meng Qi replied to him exhaling. “Don’t worry. We’ve known that the setups here not only hide the Secrets of Heaven, but can also oppress evil ghosts. Since the ghost hasn’t attacked us itself, and instead dispatched Zombies to assault us or create that mist, it means that it’s still subdued. Thus, it can’t move according to its own will.”

“Yes. In order to protect the seal setups, we’d better not touch anything after we enter the grave.” Jiang Zhiwei pointed out the reason that Meng Qi said those words at that moment.

Ruan Yushu and Qi Zhengyan remained quiet and followed them. At the front of the inside of the tomb, Meng Qi used his Heaven Inflicted Pain to push its gate open.

With the gate silently thrown open, a path paved by black bricks unfolded in front of them. Nine ancient bronze lights were shining on each side, illuminating the passage and creating a dim environment.

Since the entrance was quite narrow, Meng Qi took the lead while Jiang Zhiwei followed closely behind him. A silvery bolt of electricity suddenly fell down from the dome and the long spear slowly stabbed Meng Qi. The Zombie launched an attack, again.

The long spear seemed to embark on a slow attack, but each stab was full of various changes. Every change was so quick that Meng Qi could not see them clearly. At the same time, it was full of the Dharma and Logos of heaven and earth.

Meng Qi felt strange upon seeing such a long spear. A feeling that he was doomed to be cut by the long spear, no matter how he dodged, no matter what moves he made, as if he had been sentenced to death.

The changes were as quick as the bolts. Besides this, he did not bring out the force of heaven and earth, relying on the shifts in his movements to attack. Meng Qi was suddenly reminded of the first battle with this Zombie. The speed of his long spear had been extremely quick, beyond what words could describe. As soon as Meng Qi had felt the long spear approached him. In fact, it had already appeared in front of him. With regards to speed, Xiao Zhenhai’s Aurora Electric Sword was child’s play.

In the first battle, he had shown the essence of his speed, but now he was demonstrating his patience. Meng Qi subconsciously thought of one change in “Five Thunder Bombardment of Sky”, a shift that he had spent a long time understanding, but failed to acquire.

Activated by his movements, Meng Qi’s momentum and confidence reached their peaks.

As soon as Jiang Zhiwei was about to wield her sword to assist Meng Qi, a bright bolt of silver lightning suddenly flashed. It was the saber energy, so swift that she couldn’t see it. She only saw its residual in midair.

“Clang!”

The saber stabbed the tip of the long spear, trying to use its quick speed to break the lethargy.

The Zombie, in a loose robe, used the rebounding force of his spear and spiraled upward. He then quickly moved along the top of the dome and disappeared at the end of the passage.

Having made his right hand numb, Meng Qi gently moved his five fingers to alleviate the stress. However, thanks to the pressure and the Zombie’s attack, he was able to break the bottleneck in his Knife Dao and he successfully springs out this change.

“Did he help me practice because he was familiar with my saber art?” Meng Qi asked after Jiang Zhiwei and the others entered the grave.

He felt acquainted with the Zombie’s spear art, too.

Jiang Zhiwei nodded her head slightly. “It seems so. Since he still remains his Exterior cultivation, he must’ve only become a Zombie a short time ago. With his lingering wisdom, he’s not completely under the control of the evil ghost. Therefore, always showing us mercy.”

After overcoming her fear of evil ghosts, Ruan Yushu said in a cold tone, “Perhaps, he wants to utilize your Supernatural Power of Shaking Heaven and Hitting Earth to free himself from being controlled.”

“I’m afraid my limited cultivation can’t render significant help to him. After all, the seal ‘evil ghost’ has been deeply imprinted in his heart.” Meng Qi was still terrified of the counterattack of last time.

“Should we make it a priority to eradicate the evil ghost?” Qi Zhengyan asked thoughtfully.

“Hehe.” Meng Qi did not how to reply to him. Zhenwu Great Emperor had used much effort to suppress the evil ghost who related with him, so it had to be insanely powerful. Unless they repaired Buddha’s Lamp, they could not destroy it alone.

Qi Zhengyan felt his proposal ridiculous as well, so he continued saying, “He still has wisdom, so he’ll show us how to help him.”

Meng Qi nodded fiercely. He was hoping to create more changes in “Five Thunder Bombardment of Sky” on the basis of the Zombie’s attacks.

After they stepped out of the course way, another one appeared. The minute Meng Qi set his foot on the new course way, a flash of electricity came from afar. The long spear was rushing at him with medium speed, but with strong power, as if carrying a mountain and the sea. It condensed the airflows nearby, causing thunder and creating a formidable suction vortex. At that moment, he felt that whatever he did, he would end up hitting the spear.

Meng Qi roughly calculated this move with his Will-projecting and Heart-reflecting. Subsequently, another kind of change in “Five Thunder Bombardment of Sky” came to his mind.

Jiang Zhiwei, Ruan Yushu, and Qi Zhengyan stayed vigilant instead of launching an attack. In their eyes, the Zombie was trying to inspire Meng Qi’s potentials so as to enable him to fully master “Five Thunder Bombardment of Sky”.

The long spear turned into a bolt of lightning and stabbed his chest. Meanwhile, Meng Qi slowly brandished his “Heaven Inflicted Pain” stirring no wind, as if the saber was weightless.

Full of saber energy, the saber was like a thunder punishment from heaven. It seemed void, but it could contain the world; it seemed empty, but it could really include any changes. As a result, with its suction vortex interwoven with the saber energy, the long spear missed its target.

All of a sudden, the saber energy disappeared with the lightning and thunder.

This time, the Zombie did not borrow any force and directly flew to the end of the course way with lightning surrounding him.

“Does ‘Five Thunder Bombardment of Sky’ have five Essences; namely speed, sluggishness, weight, vacancy and so on?” Having witnessed their spar, Jiang Zhiwei now understood Nine Annihilation at Heavenly Nights to some extent.

“I don’t know.” Meng Qi said, his lips twitching.

His “Five Thunder Bombardment of Sky” was incomplete, so he would only be capable of showing two essences for now: speed and sluggishness.

“‘Thunder God’ had the same nickname as you,” Ruan Yushu said.

She felt more relaxed, for she knew that the Exterior Zombie just gave him some faint training, and that the evil ghost remained in control.

Meng Qi instantly acted angrily. “I don’t want such an sobriquet either.”

“Killing Blade…” Ruan Yushu’s voice was ethereal.

“I think it’s a good name.” Meng Qi straightened his back, but Jiang Zhiwei, Ruan Yushu, and Qi Zhengyan looked somewhere else without replying to him.

He suddenly went silent, and then cheered up again. “Let’s continue walking.”

Since the inside grave was not big, Meng Qi and the others saw the main burial chamber after walking the passage. In a normal mausoleum, that was where its master placed his coffin.

The outside of the main burial chamber was full of phantoms. Having been divided into eight blocks, they reflected the different changes in their own blocks respectively. There also appeared to be some shadows from the outside world.

Among all the phantoms, there was the scorching sun, a bright full moon and stars, as well as the infinite sky…

“There’s sun-moon-star, heaven-earth-people, and Yin and Yang…” Meng Qi felt something was wrong, and then he was inspired. He looked up and found that nothing was above except for a vast darkness. “It lacks Yin and Yang.”

“As an extreme figure, nine is used to oppress. The moon-like palace and Yin fire area ought to be part of the arrangements as well.” Speaking of this, Ruan Yushu was much more knowledgeable than Jiang Zhiwei, seeing as Zhiwei only focused the sword and her heart during cultivation.

Meng Qi nodded to show his agreement. “In other words, whichever road we choose, we’ll pass the second arrangement of the nine?”

“Zhenwu Great Emperor’s coffin is in front of us…” Qi Zhengyan gave an irrelevant answer while in a daze.

Meng Qi had a similar feeling upon thinking that the most powerful ancient major power lay in the coffin chamber.

With eager eyes, Jiang Zhiwei held her breath and tried to control her excitement. Zhenwu Great Emperor had practiced the Three Moves of Heaven Interception Swordsmanship. If she had a chance to observe him, she would gain everlasting benefits.

“We must be more cautious, since there will be more danger ahead.” Meng Qi warned them and took the lead to the phantom zone.

Since phantoms were shapeless, Meng Qi smoothly walked through. Suddenly, a bolt of light rushed toward him with unstoppable force. The Zombie had attacked him again.

More light appeared in midair, tarnishing all of the phantoms and burning the ground. Subsequently, the black areas turned into powder.

“He’s using full force this time!”

“Is he driven by the evil ghost?”

At the same time, the Yin fire was spreading as Huang Gang came toward them. Under the moonlight, he saw some ladies appearing from all directions. The situation instantly became dangerous, as many as 13 or 14 Zombies used various moves to attack them, sending the electricity everywhere and creating a ghastly atmosphere.

Although the Zombie in the loose robe and another two were at the Exterior level, they were incapable of tackling so many Half-step Exterior Scenery enemies now.

Fortunately for them, they were Zombies.

Motivated by the surrounding energy, Jiang Zhiwei brandished his sword. With its sword light unscattered and sword Qi masked, it flew toward the long spear.

The outside of the burial chamber was suddenly illuminated. Her Sword Qi went skyrocketing and brightened the clouds, making heaven-earth and sun-moon submit to it.

Her sword light was shapeless but quite pure. It could connect with heaven and earth, and break the Dharma and Logos.

“Clang!” As the electric light scattered, the long spear was pushed back and blocked another Exterior Zombie’s attack.

Jiang Zhiwei was forced several steps back and then stood to the left of Meng Qi. She would have fallen down, if Meng Qi had not used the Immortal Pressing Art to diminish the attack’s force.

When Jiang Zhiwei wielded her sword, Ruan Yushu bit the tip of her tongue and spat out a mouthful of Blood Essence on Phoenix-perching Zither. The zither strings were dyed blood-red. It was quite formidable yet breathtaking.

Ruan Yushu played the zither with both hands, casting melodious sounds all over.

Those clear, roaring sounds were beyond wonderful. Except for the Exterior Zombies, the Zombies stopped attacking and screamed with both hands covering their ears.

Qi Zhengyan’s Dragon Stripe Golden Sword was gleaming with cold light. It then stabbed the Exterior Zombie into a world-splitting stature.

The cold light grew larger, and then turned into a hornless dragon. It broke the sky, ushered in a snowfall, and sent the cold everywhere.

Wherever the long sword passed, everything was frozen, including the airflow and Yin Qi. As the long sword leaped forward, the Exterior Zombies all froze as well.

All of the attackers were frozen for half a breath. Meng Qi seized this opportunity to inject his spirit into the Buddha’s Lamp in his left hand. That completely activated it.

The small lamp fire became two times larger than before. As the chanting sound began to spread, its fire light lit the place up, leaving them with warmth, tranquility, and dignity.

“Amitabha…”

“Just as I had heard…”

Affected by the Zen sounds, the muscles on the faces of Half-step Exterior Scenery Zombies became flabby and began to peel off. Black gas inside their bodies poured out and disappeared in the bright light.

Their physical bodies began to decompose, and turned into pus in just a breath. Their souls floated in midair and gradually disappeared under the light of the bluish-white lamp.

Under the bright light, the three Exterior Zombies shrieked with pus and blood flowing from them. They anxiously retreated as black smoke also leaked from their bodies.

Traces of pain emerged on the robed Zombie’s face. No longer as callous, he quickly took out one item and threw it beside Meng Qi. He then retreated out of the light zone of Buddha’s Lamp.

A face appeared from the depth of the darkness. He wore a crown with a flat top. He was in so much pain that he covered his face with both hands. He then entered the main burial chamber.

The bluish-white lamp flickered and gave off endless light, illuminating the world and making them feel warm.