The Sage Who Transcended Samsara

Carrying her zither, Ruan Yushu gently walked down from the grandstand in a white dress. Her steps were slow and purposeful and as she walked on the floor she looked both serene and humble.

After showing her respects to the old emperor, she knelt down on her heels and laid the zither down across her knees. In comparison to Meng Qi’s relaxed posture from a moment earlier, she was all the more at peace with where she was sitting. It was as if the ground wasn’t dirty at all, but rather a pure white moonlit palace.

Her every movement was cool and composed which allowed the crowd to collect themselves as they calmly awaited her performance.

“A master is simply on another level…” Meng Qi sighed inwardly.

With her left hand fretting the string, she used her right hand to pick, producing a melody that unfolded into a picturesque scene of wild geese taking flight within one’s mind.

As she played, Meng Qi began to seemingly sense a vision slowly emerging in his mind’s eye… It was the sense of fresh autumn aired skies – the sense of a grand journey unfolding in front of him. The vision was the zither, likewise, the zither was the vision. Such was very befitting with the azure skies that had now appeared. In addition, his mind expanded into the rich comforting scenes that lay there.

The birds sang a soothing melody and it was as if there was a flock of birds wheeling in the air, sometimes flying off to the side, sometimes circling. Yet always back and forth, which greatly allowed the scene to feel all the more realistic.

Just as Meng Qi was appreciating this pseudo-reality surfacing in his mind, out of the blue the birds from the forest began to emerge one after another. They began to fly in circles above Ruan Yushu’s head and their little chirps melded with the zither in synchronous a harmony!

The zither’s sound subsided a little and a beautifully fresh autumn scene of clear water pools and lavender mists sitting upon hillsides at sunset surfaced in one’s imagination.

The babbling brooks were all the more soothing and the mirror-like surfaces of the lakes were somehow clearer, reflecting the azure skies and far above cirrus clouds. It was a beautiful scene where birds flew across morning skies, where the water was the sky and the sky the water. What had been a standard melody had been altered by combining the Oneness of Heaven and Men before she then infused it with her own artistic conception.

The melody softened slightly as the birds one by one looked to roost and perched beside the zither.

The sound from the zither endlessly meandered its way through the air whilst the birds continued their song, showing no desire to return to the forest.

It embodied the Oneness of Heaven and Men, expanding out into a scene of tranquility, which was then laced with her own conception and complimented by natural undertones.

Only after quite some time did the old emperor finally give out his signatory long sigh and add, “This melody was heaven sent! It is hard to imagine that such a rarely heard sound was created by a zither!”

Wang Zai squinted slightly as if he was still immersed in the soothing expanse of the autumn vision with its circling wild geese and somniferous tranquility. When he opened his mouth to speak, he softly added, “Such a crisp and fresh expanse… Such comforting autumn scenes unfolding and soothing our hearts. The ability to bring the birds to circle, to create lakes that meet the sky. Indubitably, nobody can surpass this today!”

“She has certainly mastered the Oneness of Heaven and Man, oh, but she really is naturally talented with the zither as well…” Meng Qi had a slightly different perspective on this matter.

Nobody dared to stand on the floor and challenge this melody.

“Does anyone object to Ruan Yushu being crowned the champion in the ways of the ‘four accomplishments’?” The old emperor looked at everyone present.

With no challenges to be heard, Ruan Yushu easily took the victory in the first round of the championship. As a result, she was granted a drink from the imperial wine glass.

The old Emperor gently rubbed the armrests of the large chair he was seated in and, as a satisfied smile crept across his face, he said, “The second round will concern a particularly interesting object of mine: The Wordless Stone Stele. You are all outstanding talents with an understanding of heaven and earth that surpasses most others in your cohort, thus, as a result, you will have spent more than a little time considering matters of spiritual cultivation. This section will give you an opportunity to perceive what you can from the stele and it will ultimately be decided by who conceives the most.”

“The Wordless Stone Stele?” The notable ministers of the imperial court, along with the aristocratic families and disciples that were present, were consequently both speechless and shocked. For a moment there was a barrage of whispering and even Cui Qingyu and those from the Political Affairs Hall and such important people close to His Highness somewhat lost their composure as they took in what this meant.

Meng Qi’s past was slightly less well-founded and educated, thus, he was actually unaware of what Wang Zai was talking about.

“The Wordless Stone Stele is said to have originated in the ancient’s Celestial Court. To a certain degree, it might be considered a divine weapon.” Wang Zai, rather conveniently for Meng Qi, gave a general description to the guests.

“Divine weapon?” Meng Qi was flabbergasted the moment he heard this.

Wang Zai continued talking in that tireless fashion of his, “In terms of discussing its value, well, it is a moot point because there is no other object with such power. It cannot be deployed for attack purposes and would easily be damaged by a novice of this field. Yet, to combine one’s cultivation with the stele is the key to seeing and perceiving even more. It allows one to consolidate their Kung Fu and consummate their mental state. One may even be able to create a divine skill – only should one’s realm and experience permit this.”

“In the past when this dynasty took Ying City as it went about defeating the Kang, it also obtained the Emperor’s sword. The dynasty’s founder combined all of humanity’s arts of the sword with his own Book of Shocking the World. Then, after studying these for seven days and seven nights, he finally fused them together. Following this emerged the normal Book of Shocking the World as well as humanity’s version of the same. Moreover, a sovereign sword art had also been derived from The Eight Strokes of Turmoil. The latter, with support from a great many people, has developed quite rapidly and become even stronger. With far fewer flaws it has gradually become the mainstay of the imperial royal family.

“And from then on the imperial family has never lacked strong practitioners of the Half-step to Dharmakaya realm.”

No wonder Zhao Jingshi’s mind could gradually recover after being attacked by an Evil Master and still allow him to become Half-step to Dharmakaya… Meng Qi was momentarily shocked, yet soon after he felt joy welling up inside. “Perception is my forté! Who here has already perceived the Buddha’s Palm?”

Well, Xuanzhen, in having opened his Mid-brows’ Primal Aperture, could possibly gain some insight, yet comprehensions were not something that he attained all that often… None of which bothered Meng Qi all that much, and not just because keeping calm about things like this was one of his stronger personality traits. It was more the point that even if Meng Qi was to comprehend something from the stone, it may or may not benefit his Kung Fu practice. Indeed, it could well be worth it due to the good haul of karma points it would bring with it!

Following the initial shock from this turn of events, everyone there found themselves suddenly a lot more interested in stepping onto the floor. The value of the Wordless Stone Stele or an imperial family secret weapon such as this was priceless. It was not something that outsiders had ever been allowed to come into contact with before. His Highness was truly pulling out all the stops today so that this Sumptuous Fruits Banquet would surely be one that would go down in history books!

The potential contestants at this stage now suddenly considered the loss of their self-esteem or just losing as somewhat less important. In order to conceive something, just anything from this stele could benefit them for life!

Meng Qi’s face was beaming joyfully, to which Wang Zai grinned uponseeing this. “Xiao Meng, feeling confident, are we? Willing to give it a go?”

After he arrived in the imperial city, what had always “Brother Su Xian” had become a little out place, and Wang Zai had switched to calling him “Xiao Meng”.

Meng Qi sat up straight and coughed, “One believes that there are quite a few here who wish to try their luck, thus one shall await their turn and go last if His Highness has no objections?”

“Aren’t ‘the bigger players’ usually the last ones to play their hands?”

At an attempt in keeping with the current tone, he altered what he usually referred to himself as, to “one”.

“There is merit to your words.” Wang Zai nodded gently and was prepared to wait a while.

A stone tablet left his old hands, the stele, and flew across to land below the grandstand area. The stone was grayish-white with lots of small fissures running across its unadorned and old looking exterior. Its top plane was devoid of any patterns or writing, but somehow it felt deep and profound to observe. Indeed, such a strange artifact to behold such that gazing upon it felt akin to looking into an abyss!

“To each person a cup of tea.” As the words had barely left the old Emperor’s lips, all of those “heroes” that had previously been less than willing to leave their seats were now making their way forward in an attempt to queue up for their chance at the “stele”.

The geniuses from each aristocratic family appeared to be beaming with joy whilst somehow looking concerned at the same time, as they could not understand why His Highness had, quite suddenly, decided to be so unusually generous.

…

Outside the imperial city, “Progenitor Doumu” altered her appearance, attiring herself in a plain skirt and blue top.

Next to her was a fierce looking man with a weathered old face, as if it had seen too many hard days on the streets. It was, in fact, the Lord of Purity and Magic in disguise.

The Lord of Purity and Magic communicated using their secret code, “Primogenitor Guangcheng has confirmed that Gu Xiaosang is within the palace. The Luo Denomination are likely to be there as well.”

Progenitor Doumu gazed at the imperial palace intently, whispering, “Everyone that should be attending the banquet is there by now, I presume?”

“Indeed. Shall we barge straight in? It may be best to take a more prudent approach, as this matter is just getting quirkier and quirkier. Who knows, we could still run into ‘Dharma King Dushi’.” The Lord of Purity and Magic frowned.

His Eminence the Dharma King Dushi of the Luo Denomination claimed to already have attained Vacancy Dharmakaya.

Progenitor Doumu gave a rare sneer, “Let’s wait a bit and see what happens. One really would likely have no idea about what they were playing at if it wasn’t for something like this ever happening before…”

She had a confidence in herself as if she had thought of something else.

The Lord of Purity and Magic questioned, “Something like this has happened before?”

Progenitor Doumu gave a slight nod, “Yes, a few years ago…”

…

As it approached noon the sun was reaching its zenith. One after another, the various talents approached the Wordless Stone Stele and left empty handed without any conception or change taking place for them. So much so that people began to wonder whether it was just a plain old stone and that conceiving anything from it was really all just something made up.

The imperial court’s important ministers were few in number, additionally, they had only been permitted to bring one guest to the banquet. As such, up until this point, there were still about 10 or so people that had not yet had an opportunity to comprehend anything from the Wordless Stone Stele.

Wang Zai had decided to take his chance and now sat cross-legged before the Stele with his cup of tea and his eyes closed. Though his breath fluctuated a few times, ultimately there was no change for him either.

He got to his feet and bowed, and, giving a long sigh, he said to Meng Qi, “In spite of one feeling like the Noble Spirit is within one from having accumulated much from one’s wide readings of the Confucian classics, one ultimately lacks something, thus, in lacking this it has not proven possible to conceive anything.”

“Does that mean that only those that have already found and begun their journey on their path will be able to conceive anything from it?” Meng Qi analyzed what Wang Zai actually meant.

Ruan Yushu, with her zither, was now sat in front of the stele, yet after some time she returned with nothing as well.

Cui Zhe was next and placed his sword horizontally across him as he sat in front of the stele, yet he also failed to find the enlightenment he sought.

The Oneness of Heaven and Earth monk attached to the Crown Prince also walked away with nothing.

It was at this moment that Yan Chong vaulted down from the grandstand like he was riding a wave and approached the stele. Then with his sword across his knees, he sat cross-legged before the stele and closed his eyes.

Meng Qi subdued all other thoughts and watched intently. Yan Chong had consummated the Oneness of Heaven and Men some time ago. He had been at this realm for many years longer than Meng Qi and, as such, who knew where he was now – maybe he would have already found his path and started his journey…

Time flew by and gradually the cup of tea was depleted; however, the stele and its surrounding were still the same as before.

Then unlike before, there came a ringing and the sound of rushing water, followed by the appearance of a blue corona before the stele. It had a deep subdued nature about it, as though it harbored a storm inside it. The crowd watched, their mouths agape.

Boom!

It was as if the tide waters had burst and saber radiance broke free. Yan Chong rose up into the air and then slowly descended back to earth. His face was a mix of emotions and surprise. “I am truly grateful to my lord!”

“It would appear that he was only a whisker away from finding his journey onto his path. This realization today would likely save him about a year’s worth of Kung Fu. Whilst it may not mean he makes a massive leap forward in his abilities in the near future, it won’t be all that different…” Meng Qi found himself lamenting.

He greatly respected those such as Yan Chong whom could come from such sects of little prominence and achieve such heights as he had, as to do so meant investing so much more effort and trying so much harder than other people.

As to making a great leap forward was concerned, it was very rarely seen in any case. Besides, just from having found the path one is to journey upon, does not in and of itself mean one can walk along it. The now-absent He Jiu, did he not also rely somewhat on luck, along with the stimulation from a few life and death events in order to ascend further and make more breakthroughs?

Admiration was written all over Wang Zai’s face. “Yan Chong, you have worked very hard, thus it is appropriate that you should find this comprehension as a reward for your vigilance.”

In seeing Yan Chong’s comprehension here today, Prince Jin Zhao Yi who had not yet reached the previous realm went down to the stele himself. His Oneness of Heaven and Men had already been acquired through resources, and with this, he went about opening his mid-brows’ Hidden Latch.

Sadly for him, no comprehension was expected.

The Crown Prince followed Zhao Yi, and his Hidden Latch had already been opened a year or more now. He was currently on the verge of converging his inner and outer realms.

With his expression serene and a gentle smile on his face, he sat before the stele. Golden lotus blossoms rose up from the ground not long after and opened out slowly into bloom. The top of the stele lit up with what looked like Sanskrit scrolling down.

Wang Zai exclaimed, “Wow, the Crown Prince will reach the Exterior realm within the next six months.”

Following one’s opening of their Hidden Latch, it was possible to make changes to their Inner World, thus they could start upon their journey on their path. However, it should be mentioned that the types of paths one may choose from are strictly limited. The Hidden Latch is not bothered in the slightest about those that fundamentally do not coincide well with the individual themselves.

Meng Qi looked about and found that of those yet to try their luck at conceiving something form the stele, there was only himself, Zhao Heng, Qi Zhengyan, Fan Changmiao, Xuan Zhen and Aunt Bai remaining.