The Sage Who Transcended Samsara

The rays of sunlight could not pierce past the gloomy thick of the mists. Surrounded by the silhouettes of many figures bearing the same appearance as his own, Meng Qi could not help but felt a creeping dread.

The doppelgangers surrounding him would not have been bearing the same semblances as his if they were visions of his future. This could mean that the Mirror of Tomorrow has broken, holding on vestiges of its former aura. Thus Meng Qi could see only the possibilities of his future; an uncertain glimpse into prospects of what was to come.

He kept his mind clear and looked around him, ignoring the eeriness as he pondered while he recovered from the exertion of using the Ancient Space-breaching Talisman.

“The figure of me becoming a man of the cloth… A pursuit for peace and freedom while accepting my helplessness after being endlessly pummeled into desolation by the legendary entity behind me?” Meng Qi’s attention first fell upon the “a version of himself as a monk.” The figure of the monk has not the aura of Ananda, thus his guess. But he could not be sure of the pain and anguish that had brought about that version of his future.

This would be one of the worst renditions of what would become of him in the future!

Meng Qi then looked at another figure, where he arched back and howled with anguish into the sky. The howls of grief were so real to him that he could almost feel the pain and misery himself. He must have experienced a tragedy in that form of his future!

“Was it the death of my companions? Or the death of someone else important to me?” Meng Qi shook his head with spite, not eager at all for such a future.

This was also one of the worst possibilities!

The spear that pierced the figure of the mighty warrior seemed like the Spear of the Monster Saint to him, and the future of the deranged Taoist seemed no less different than the prospect of him being a monk; all of which were unfavorable renditions of his future.

Out of the different possibilities of his future, Meng Qi had found only two which are still decent: the one where he was a swordsman in white robes, where there were no visible signs of pain and sorrow; and another where he was clad in black, exuding a dominating presence. The sight of him with such imperious display which he enjoyed, especially when the figure of him called for his saber, was indeed a spectacle to behold.

“But the saber looked oddly alike to the Extinctive Blade of the Overlord. Must I tread the footsteps of the Overlord himself for a better outcome in my future?” Meng Qi frowned. The path of the Overlord was indeed enticing, but the outlook of having more enemies was hardly so. Still, the different possibilities of his future laid before him were not yet the end of his life’s journey. Who knows, the version of him calling for his blade might instead end with a painful death by a mob of enemies later on?

Meng Qi looked farther into the thick of the mists. There were still many figures of his indiscernible future awaiting. Those were more far-reaching future that could yet be told.

“The future is indefinite!”

Meng Qi took a careful step towards the mist to see if he could look at the figures of his future within, hoping that he could catch a peek at different endings for his life. This might allow him to understand the legendary entities that lurked from his shadow; which amongst them could be setting a trap or a gambit, which amongst them were using him as a sacrificial pawn? Perhaps a mere glance could be enough for him to free himself from the entanglements of the webs of deceits and become the master of his Fate!

He took a few steps before he paused and frowned with dismay. The obscured figures were no less visible than before; his approach had not allowed him to improve his view of them. He could still see only a few that he saw earlier.

“Were the aura and the fragments of the Mirror insufficient for me to properly see more of my future?” Meng Qi understood clearly of the fact, although he found it hard to swallow. He repressed any temporary urge to leave the domain of the Ninth Heaven and concentrated on understanding more of his current environment, hoping that he would see more insight into how he should free himself from the menace of being caught between the embroilment of the legendary entities!

Meng Qi wandered through the thick mists that seemed to grow, shrouded in the gloom and thick strands of vapor that snaked around him. He could not sense anything in the fog as if he was stranded in the Demonic World of the Nine Serenities, wondering if any monsters or demons might leap out from nowhere.

He looked intently at the various figures of him and tried hard to discern the auras of energies around him, eager to look for the ray of hope that could illuminate his salvation. Be it the shards of the Mirror of Tomorrow, or even its aura; both would be helpful to him.

Meng Qi kept his footfalls silent and inched slowly ahead. Suddenly, his sense tingled wildly, alerting him to possible danger awaiting ahead. With the tip of his foot, he leaped backward a few steps and hid amongst the thick of the mists.

After a breath, he could vague see the silhouette of a person in brown robes zipping by. With blinding speed, the person had flitted amongst the dense fog without any regard for the versions of his future that appeared around him as if his purpose here was hardly coincidental.

“Could it be Xi?” Meng Qi suppressed his aura and controlled its fluctuation, trying to blend himself with the swirling energies and vapors around. The figure speeding by seemed to be Xi, the “Sun God” of The Myths.

“But he seems to be quite familiar with the geography here?” Meng Qi wondered. He was ahead of him with Gu Xiaosang earlier with the Dharma King Dushi watching from the shadows. But Xi had been able to bypass the detection of the Dharmakaya-leveled practitioners and had overtaken them to the front via the path of the burning inferno.

This would not be possible if he were not familiar with the geography of the domain of the Ninth Heaven. Even if one were to stumble upon a shortcut by chance, one would still have to be wary of hidden dangers. Additionally, Xi had not attacked them before the arrival of Han Guang and Gao Lan. This would mean that he was aware of the presence of the Dharma King Dushi. He could not possibly attack them right under the nose of the Dharma King who also has powers of the Dharmakaya Realm.

The figure of Xi swiftly disappeared. Meng Qi reconsidered his options and decided to slowly study the auras around him while he slowly moved to the direction of the Hall of Today. The mysterious gigantic tree seemed healthy and robust. It might have grown deep into the lower levels, allowing him to absorb the tree from below with the Supreme-wisdom Tree. He was intrigued by what would happen.

As for the Supreme-wisdom Tree, despite its grand name, Meng Qi had not expected that it would be yet of any use shortly for he felt that it would only prove useful in the future.

Gu Xiaosang stopped and frowned as she pondered while standing at the site of the Hall of Tomorrow. All of a sudden, she leaped and disappeared into the thick folds of the dense fog. Her sash flapped and opened like a canopy over her as she fell.

Not far from where she stood before, an eye – with the cold stare akin to that of the Dharma King Dushi – appeared out of the swirling mists. The person thought to himself,

“There is something wrong with the fruits that she took just now…”

Gao Lan tried everything he could – including kicking and striking with his bare hands and his sword – on the gigantic tree but to no avail. With embarrassed exasperation, he complained, “Let us explore the passage at the back before we come back and settle this tree. There must surely be a way to deal with it!”

Not even the partially-awakened Sword of the Human Sovereign had been victorious save to add a few shallow gashes upon the bark of its trunk. To Han Guang, the tree seemed like an ideal material for forging Divine Weapons of the Wood Element. He studied the tree before he set aside his desire for the tree and followed after Gao Lan into the passage opposite the cave cavern, his breath still steady and deep.

Like a half-hidden phantom hanging in the air, the Dharma King Dushi kept an extremely low profile. But still, he kept up to the paces of Han Guang and Gao Lan.

The passage was empty and bare, without any form of ornamentation, denoting that it possibly could arbitrarily be created by one of the ancient legendary entities. After walking for some time, the passage grew wider and wider into a larger room with old stones of grey strewn around the ground, augmenting the air of primitive or archaic milieu around them.

The room that they have just entered seemed to be an ancient hall furnished from grey stone. Looking around, they could feel the distortions in the Time-Space continuum flickering around them as if they have returned to the ancient epoch. Nevertheless, they felt nothing more significant save for that.

“There seems to be a channel to another world or dimension here… But the connection seems more like an anomaly…” Han Guang remarked, calm and relaxed with absolute confidence. He held an arm behind his back, while he held the Diabolic Monarch in the other, the replicated Blade of Timeshadow back in its sheath.

Gao Lan took a sniff, “Where else can the domain of the Ninth Heaven lead to?”

Most skilled in the disciplines of Time-Space manipulation, the Dharma King Dushi drifted and sensed their surroundings. At length, he observed and spoke in an otherworldly voice, “It seems to be similar with the environment outside.”

That sparked an intuition. Han Guang chuckled and said, “Could it be the way that leads to the highest two levels of the Ninth Heaven?”

“I remember the way to the first few levels and the ‘Gate’ seemed to situate at the centermost regions.” Gao Lan answered skeptically.

Han Guang guessed hesitantly, “One of the ancient legendary entities might have forcibly shifted one of the upper levels here. This would explain the strange anomalies in the Time-Space continuum.”

“Forcibly shifted one of the levels of the Ninth Heaven…” Gao Lan slapped lightly the back of his hand that held his sword, “What powerful abilities it is… I would love to meet with such powerful entity!”

The anomalies occurring around them impair the senses of the three practitioners of the Dharmakaya Realm.

“It could have been the one who had made the secret passage…” Han Guang guessed, looking dauntless with his robes that flowed as he continued striding around.

The trio of the Dharmakaya Realm continued exploring and surveyed the entirety of the Ashram Hall. A black void that resembled a black hole engulfed the frontmost portion of the Hall. Even Space and Time seemed to get drawn into the complete darkness that even the Dharma King Dushi dared not brazenly approach!

Standing prominently in the midst of the dangerous gloom, was a colossal bronze door, emitting the harrowing aura of the fluctuations in the fabric of Time and Space.

An ordinary stone stele sat before the colossal bronze door. Upon it was the engraved inscription,

“Only Ye May Enter, Ye of the Realm of the Legends!”

There it stood, merely as if a testament to a set of inflicted rules that governed the Dharma and Logos of Nature!

Invisible winds spewed from the dark void, grazing against the faces of the three warriors as Han Guang was forced to keep his eyes shut while the Dharma King Dushi snorted insolently.

Gao Lan hissed, “Allow me.”

Gao Lan brandished and raised his sword. The Sword of the Human Sovereign shone handsomely in the air with multitudes of silhouettes and illusions of natural sceneries, celestial bodies with demons and deities and other supernatural beings materialized in the bright radiance of the shining blade. The Sword swung and cleaved into the space ahead, dispelling the swirling ancient aura around them!

Meng Qi continued walking and reach where he found the mist to be thickest and heaviest, surmising it to be the foundations of the Hall of Today.

He had searched along the way for the trunk of the gigantic tree he had seen earlier, not forgetting to keep an eye on any shards of the Mirror of Tomorrow that might be around.

He looked and delved wherever he could. At length, he found the ugly end of a root sprouting from the bottom of the mist. He crept his way down as the Supreme-wisdom Tree once again writhed and stir with its voracious appetite losing control.

“All at no cost.” Meng Qi muttered with delight. He took out the Supreme-wisdom Tree and held it towards the gigantic trunk.

The trees barely touched, and tongues of black fumes gushed and poured from the massive trunk into the Supreme-wisdom Tree.

In the secret passage of the Three-life Temple, the trunk of the giant tree still stood, for the energies were being drained from other healthier parts of the tree!

The branches and boughs of the tree had extended far and wide into different parts of the domain.

But as the energies of the tree were draining from the bottom near its roots, the branches that reached far into the Peach Garden began to wither and dry.

Energies flowed, and the structures of the depilated Dragon-slaying Stage, the Monster-slaying Stage and various parts of the once-divine domain began to crumble and collapse.

A huge shudder gripped the entire domain and shook it violently that cracks began to appear on the solid clouds that sustained the buildings of Heaven!

Cui Qinghe and his company were about to step into the vortex when the currents of the whirlpool began to spin quicker and quicker. Something terrible has happened inside!

“Boom!”

The defeated Gao Lan was sheathing his sword in the Ashram Hall; the bronze door before him had not yielded even to the invincible powers of his sword.

The ripples of shock that trembled the entire domain rumbled towards to them. The three practitioners of the Dharmakaya Realm shared a grim look, not knowing from whence did the sudden wretchedness stemmed from!

“Was it because of the blow of my sword?” Gao Lan asked himself, perplexed. He looked at the stone stele again. This time, he found at the bottom of the stone slab were four little words.

“Yang Jian of the Jade Virtual Palace”!

“Boom!”

All Hell broke loose around Meng Qi as he stared blankly at the Supreme-wisdom Tree, ravenously consuming on the energies that poured relentlessly. He could not help but feel something wrong might be happening.

“Damn… What have I done this time?”