The Sage Who Transcended Samsara

The lady whose legs were bitten, the injured servant holding the long saber, the abnormal tiger who fell without any external wounds… Meng Qi couldn’t help smiling as he asked her the question, for everything that happened was obvious to him.

Feng Yuanjing put on a show of calmness. “Yes, I met him. I nearly lost my life fighting the Tiger Demon earlier and barely survived thanks to the help of the youngster earlier. But he seemed to value righteousness and didn’t expect repayment. He has already left in that direction.”

With his breath and genuine Qi held back, Duan Rui was furious when he heard the first half of her words. Blood rushed to his head and his forehead bulged. This girl actually betrayed him! “Do good people still exist in the world?!”

Fortunately, Evil Spirit didn’t control his mind and he could make decisions for himself. After hearing what the girl said in its entirety, he felt a mixture of luckiness, happiness, and guilt.

It seemed that he had become paranoid after being fooled by Evil Spirit. How dare he wronged such a kind-hearted lady! He really deserved a beating.

Meng Qi was still smiling. “I see. No wonder I found its death form so familiar.”

Feng Yuanjing secretly felt relieved. Luckily, she didn’t deny seeing Childe Duan.

“But there’s something I need to remind you of.” Meng Qi looked serious.

She curtsied and said, “Do tell.”

“The youngster earlier is kind and righteous, but you can’t be careless. He suffers from the Soul-dissociating Syndrome. He’ll abruptly rise up to kill, but he won’t remember anything after that. Please stay vigilant if you see him again,” Meng Qi warned.

Feng Yuanjing was shocked. “Childe Duan appeared so normal. Which part of him looked like he was suffering from the Soul-dissociating Syndrome? Which part of him looked like an evil spirit stained with blood? Perhaps this person is trying to steal his Divine Skill scripts and so he fabricates this ridiculous lie to incapacitate Childe Duan and prevent him from establishing himself in Jianghu.”

Her expression continued to shift as various thoughts crossed her mind. She bit her lip and finally said, “Thank you for your reminder. But Childe Duan has now left and Jianghu is so vast that I doubt that we’ll meet again.”

Meng Qi smiled. “You’re right. This world is too big and even friends who part may not be able to meet again. Lady, your injuries will make it hard for you to walk. Your servant is heavily wounded as well. If you stay here in the wild, I fear something bad will happen to you. Why don’t we escort you to a nearby city?”

She instantly paled. If she agreed, he would definitely tell her to pack up the items inside the cart. If she refused, that would be too unreasonable.

Her servant replied in a hoarse voice, “Thank you for your kindness, young master. But our Master will be here any second.”

Qi Zhengyan looked at them expressionlessly, not understanding why Meng Qi was wasting so much time talking to them…

“Forgive my imprudence,” Meng Qi said graciously. “Since your family will be here soon, could you perhaps be from the Fengs in Changchuan?”

Many items scattered on the ground had proven this.

Feng Yuanjing replied instantly, “That’s right. That’s why you can rest assured.”

“I heard that Zhong Taiping, also known as Nine-nos Doctor, lives in Changchuan and is affiliated with your family. Is this true?” This was the true reason behind Meng Qi’s question.

10 years ago, Zhong Taiping made the top 23 of the ranking list and fell off of the list when old age arrived. He spent many years cultivating and became a Half-step Exterior Scenery master. However, he was more famed for his medical skill than his kung fu. He proclaimed that he could cure any wounded person below the level of the Exterior and extend their lives of everyone except the dead.”

He was dubbed Nine-nos Doctor after setting nine prohibitions in his medical practice. Rumors had it that he had once cured two people suffering from the Soul-dissociating Syndrome.

Meng Qi owed all this information to the records kept by the Six Fan School. One sentence left a particularly deep impression on him — when Zhong Taiping was in a bad mood, he refused to cure patients.

Feng Yuanjing smiled faintly. “You flatter our family. Doctor Zhong’s kung fu and medical skills are beyond extraordinary. How can he be considered our affiliate? We just happen to have a long-standing friendship with each other, so we help each other.”

Changchuan, a well-known city in the River East, was home to several Exterior and many Half-step Exterior Scenery masters. The Fengs was one of the influential families residing there.

Their current location wasn’t far from Changchuan. Since the Fengs wasn’t a major aristocratic family, it was reasonable that Feng Yuanjing came out unchaperoned by several masters.

“I heard Doctor Zhong once healed a patient suffering from the Soul-dissociating Syndrome.” Meng Qi chuckled.

She appeared stunned. “He once healed such a patient in his travels but hasn’t met anyone with the syndrome after returning to Changchuan.”

She thought of Duan Rui, who Meng Qi accused of being a Soul-dissociating Syndrome patient.

Duan Rui was overjoyed to hear that there was a doctor in Changchuan capable of curing his disease. Once he sent Su Meng and the others away, he would instantly ask for the doctor’s help.

Suddenly, a violent emotion suddenly gripped him. But because Meng Qi was standing outside, he forced himself to suppress it.

“Sigh. Little Duan is an innocent person but too bad he’s suffering from the Soul-dissociating Syndrome. I’ve been looking all over for him so I can take him to Doctor Zhong…” Meng Qi said in the manner of someone proud of his age and experience. He wanted to prepare Feng Yuanjing. If Zhong Taiping wasn’t willing to cure Duan Rui, then he would have to ask for her help.

She looked at him speechlessly. Meng Qi looked like he was about 18 or 19, at most in his early 20s! He can’t be that much older than Childe Duan, yet he was calling him Little Duan.

Meng Qi walked past her with his hands behind him, heading for the carriage. “Little Duan, come out. Did you really think you’d be able to hide from me?”

Feng Yuanjing’s expression changed dramatically. “Meng Qi already knew?”

Duan Rui’s heartbeat nearly stopped. “Impossible…”

Meng Qi slowly walked forward, every step full of confidence. Duan Rui’s devil skill was doing a good job of hiding him. It would be hard to find him with just Will-projecting. Only a person in the realm of Oneness of Heaven and Men could be sure.

However, he could be considered as an experienced Jianghu person. Once he saw the tiger, he was basically sure that Duan Rui was nearby. So he struck up a conversation with Feng Yuanjing and used his supernatural power to sense the fluctuations in her emotions to determine that she was lying. He then deliberately mentioned the Soul-dissociating Syndrome, something that Duan Rui was concerned about the most. As expected, he detected a brief moment of quickening heartbeat before it disappeared.

The first time he encountered Duan Xiangfei, he was inexperienced in Jianghu. Worse, his situation hadn’t been great back then. A similar scenario was happening again, only this time with him and Duan Rui as the protagonist. However, unlike him, Duan Rui didn’t have a trump card that could help him reverse the situation.

Duan Rui couldn’t stay put as Meng Qi closed in on him. He ran out of the carriage and tried to land a sneak attack on Meng Qi with his fist.

He was pretty smart. He knew he would be exposing his back if he ran just like that. After all, most casualties in a bandit battle happened when bandits tried to escape.

Feng Yuanjing instantly became nervous. “Since Childe Duan couldn’t match up to Meng Qi at all, it’s better for him to run…” She felt more reassured when she thought of how Duan Rui killed the Tiger Demon with just one punch.

Considering how much Duan Rui had trusted him in the past, his resentful eyes caught Meng Qi off guard. “Has his Soul-dissociating Syndrome deteriorated?”

After pondering for a moment, he allowed Duan Rui to hit him.

The punch fell on him with a fierce fist momentum and the sound of metal colliding reverberated in the air.

Meng Qi remained still as he glowed with a dark golden light. Once the hidden sinister genuine Qi entered his body, it disappeared completely. Most of it couldn’t pass the Golden Bell Shield away.

He used this opportunity to grab Duan Rui’s shoulder, his movement seemingly slow yet capable of locking all of Duan Rui’s changes. He willed his genuine Qi into the latter’s body, attacking several of his major acupoints.

Duan Rui’s eyes suddenly turned dark, nearly as black as ink. He opened his mouth and spat at Meng Qi. His saliva was black, resembling a wriggling insect.

Having expected this, Meng Qi slanted and dodged the saliva. He intensified his genuine Qi, hit all of Duan Rui’s acupoints, and carried him.

The saliva flew past Meng Qi and fell to the ground, making sizzling sounds. In just a short while, the yellowed wild grass nearby withered.

From the beginning until the end, their spar only lasted mere seconds. Feng Yuanjing had merely blinked her eyes when she saw Meng Qi defeating Duan Rui.

Childe Duan Rui, who was capable of killing a Tiger Demon with a punch, didn’t even have the strength to fight back against his opponent. Worse, he didn’t even have the ability to defend himself and was defeated with just one move!

Their spar earlier was just like an adult bullying a child. The child landed a tickle-like punch on the adult and was then picked up…

If this person was a Half-step Exterior Scenery master, she wouldn’t have been so surprised. After all, there would be a colossal gap in strength. But she didn’t feel any such momentum from Meng Qi at all.

Meng Qi smiled at the wide-eyed Duan Rui. “If I want to kill you, you would be dead by now. Stop escaping and go see Doctor Zhong with me.”

He had already entered the seventh phase of his Golden Bell Shield. Disregarding the eighth pass of Golden Bell Shield that was dedicated to cultivating his spirit, he had basically entered the final stage of his enlightenment period. Never mind hurting him, ordinary people wouldn’t even be able to tear his clothes.

The light in Duan Rui’s eyes faded and he became submissive after hearing Doctor Zhong’s name.

Meng Qi held Duan Rui and went to Feng Yuanjing, saying, “Miss Feng, you can ask Duan Rui yourself if he’s suffering from the Soul-dissociating Syndrome.”

Feng Yuanjing looked at Duan Rui with a concerned expression. “Childe Duan, are you really suffering from the Soul-dissociating Syndrome?”

Duan Rui couldn’t speak. He could only nod.

Feng Yuanjing heaved a sigh of relief. Since that was the case, then this young master before her didn’t seem like a bad person.

But even if he was a bad person, she wasn’t strong enough to stop him. If he really took Childe Duan to Changchuan, she could only ask her family elders to stop him from hurting Childe Duan and stealing his scripts.

“Miss Feng, can you go to Changchuan with us? We need you to introduce us to Doctor Zhong.” Meng Qi smiled at her.

If the Soul-dissociating Syndrome could be cured, and if he found the cure, the knowledge might turn out to be his trump card against Gu Xiaosang. In their battle, he could use it to awake Little Zi.

Feng Yuanjing became calm and agreed. “Childe Duan is my savior, so how can I refuse this request? But Doctor Zhong is a strange person. If we chance upon his bad mood, I’m afraid he won’t listen to anyone.”

On their way to Changchuan, the servant spoke to her through Secret Voice-sending. “The black-attired master is frighteningly powerful. His strength is as good as those in the top 30 of the ranking list. His companion is the same, having a deep breath and strong momentum. Both are strong enough to be on the list…”

“We actually encountered two listed masters?” Feng Yuanjing began to guess their identities.

They arrived at Changchuan shortly after noon. Feng Yuanjing bade them farewell and returned home. Meng Qi placed his arm over Duan Rui’s shoulder, ‘taking’ him to look for an inn.

After walking for a short while, the street became increasingly crowded as if people were gathering to watch something.

Meng Qi instantly became interested and randomly asked an onlooker, “What’s happening?”

The onlooker replied excitedly, “Fang Bai, nicknamed Cloud-rubbing Dragon, top 42 on the Ranking List of Young Masters, is challenging the young escort master of Changchuan Escort Agency, Yi Song. He’s the top master among youngsters.” The man repeatedly tiptoed to see the battle but the crowd blocked his vision.

“Not bad. River East really deserves its reputation. Wherever I go, I’ll come across a listed or pre-listed master.” Meng Qi grinned. Like two fishes, they slithered through the crowd and reached the middle of the street.

They saw a restaurant, its first floor gathered with many legendary figures and masters. There were two people standing on each side of the entrance, one greeting the other and saying, “Brother Fang’s dragon claw is very powerful, making me feel shameful.”

Fang Bai was a young man in his early 20s. He appeared very condescending. He smiled faintly and said, “Brother Yi is strong as well. But I’m still filled with fighting intent. Who else will step up and challenge me?”

Everyone instantly became quiet. None of the young masters dared to challenge such a strong foe. The famed ones were concerned about their reputation so they didn’t dare to recklessly challenge him.

Seeing this, Qi Zhengyan’s grip on his sword became tighter.

Meng Qi could detect his response and asked him with a smile, “You want to challenge him, Senior Brother Qi?”

“Yes. I want to test my strength and see where I fall among the ranked ones.” A rare flicker of excitement crossed his face.

He had traveled for quite a few months and his Book of the Chaos ought to be stronger than before.

To Meng Qi, Fang Bai wasn’t a worthy opponent at all. So he encouraged his friend with a chuckle. “Go ahead and challenge him. I’ll cheer you on.”

He promised he would become a very promising commentator!