The Sage Who Transcended Samsara

It was that time of the year again, Winter Solstice. The capital was covered in snow once again.

Qian Ping’an wore a gray coat, putting both his hands inside the sleeves of the opposite hand, and stepped on the snowy ground as he walked towards the tea shop that he often frequented while shivering and creating a puffing white steam out of his mouth.

Today was a big day for the owner. The rice shop had never opened, and he got to rest early, so he could go and listen to Mr. Storyteller talk about the new and interesting things published in the newspaper.

In the past year, the world underwent drastic changes, but in the eyes of Qian Ping’an, a business partner of a rice shop, his life did not really change much. The only thing he noticed was the fact that the goods from the North and the South that used to be rare and valuable were becoming more and more worthless. Even the owner, who had always been stingy, somehow got his hands on a string of Southern pearls to hire a monk from the temple to consecrate the ceremony.

Apart from that, everything was the same, except that the stories of Mr. Storyteller were becoming more and more interesting.

The Jianghu that always seemed to be very far away looked as if it was right in front of him now. Even he, who did not even know many of his neighbors, could now count the number of experts under the sky as if he was just counting the treasures in his house. Oh, that’s right, the idiom, ‘As if counting the treasures in his house’ was something that he learned from Mr. Storyteller. This made him look more like a person who had studied before and traveled the world. It would make him look like the experts who hid in small towns or played around in the secular world in front of strangers. And all of these things came from the thing called the newspaper.

These things spread the news happening all over Jianghu to everywhere. Chen Xiucai down across the lane said that this was just as the saying goes, “To know the world’s affair without stepping out of the house.”

“Owner has been frowning a lot lately, complaining that the wheat in the South only matured three times a year. Since they can plant them three times a year, just how much food do they get?” Qian Ping’an casually thought about the things that occurred over the past few days. The price of rice in the capital dropped a lot overnight, the owner’s hair grew white with worry, which was why he wanted his son to quickly get a wife and marry, to make things merry.

The young owner was quite an interesting person. It was common to see him listening to people read books at the tea shop. Qian Ping’an often consoled the owner to not be too overly concerned with the food from the South, stating that everything had its costs and benefits, if it had a strength, it would also have a weakness. Since it could be harvested three times a year, it would definitely not taste as great as the local rice. By then, different rice would have a different price. There would be rice to satiate the bellies of the poor and rice for the rich to enjoy. Things wouldn’t be that bad.

These were the things that Qian Ping’an loved to hear the most. If the rice shop could no longer operate, then he could only change his livelihood.

As his mind wandered, Qian Ping’an stepped into the tea shop. It was much warmer inside, but it was unlike those restaurants or tea houses where they used copper buckets to burn charcoal to warm themselves as if spring had come. The tea and water of the tea shop were cheap, so it could not bear such expenditures. In fact, only people like Qiang Ping’an would spend money to listen to book readings and drink tea over there.

The only fire came from beside Mr. Storyteller’s leg. The copper furnace shone bright red as it dissipated the feeling of coldness.

Mr. Storyteller had a goat-like beard. Since he was literate, and since he could immediately read the contents of the Wulin Express and other newspaper, he was well-respected by the poor people around them. Right now, he was drinking the bamboo green tea the tea shop specifically prepared for him while swaying his head as he rested his eyes as if he was humming a song, waiting for the next story.

Qian Ping’an downed a big bowl of tea and felt warmth surging in his body. The chilling frost on his body melted as he felt incredible comfort.

For a person like him, to be able to go there to drink tea every now and then, to listen to book reviews, was already an extreme luxury, if it weren’t for the fact that he was still single, it would not have been possible.

At that time, several horses ran and stopped in front of the entrance of the tea shop in a whirlwind. Several cloaked men carrying blades and swords jumped off.

“Shopkeeper, get me five bowls of good tea, boiling and strong!” the leader wore a leather cap while his left hand held a three foot long sword embedded with jades. There was a scar in between his eyebrows, which made him look like a God who had activated the Heavenly Eye.

“An eye scar on his forehead, seven jades embedded on the sword’s scabbard, Yuexi’s ‘God Eye Sword’ Gao Fuchen?” Qian Ping’an’s mind wandered and thought.

As for the guests in the tea shop, they were chatting among themselves, also thinking that this was the “God Eye Sword” Gao Fuchen who was a first-class fighter across the Jianghu. He appeared several times on the Wulin Express.

The people who often went there to listen to the news were as familiar with him as they were with their neighbors.

“The God Eye Sword who lost pathetically to the ‘Sad Godly Palm’ Gu Wenxiang?” a tea shop guest asked.

“Yes, yes, that’s him. In just three sword moves, his Seven Jade Sword was knocked out of his hands by Gu Wenxiang,” answered someone, confirming the suspicion.

“Gu Wenxiang is one of the best experts in the world. He’s one of the East Palm West Blade, it’s normal for the God Eye Sword to lose to him”… “Losing to Gu Wenxiang is natural, but back then, Gao Fuchen was the one who boasted about his swordsmanship and actively challenged him. Tsk, tsk…” The sound of gossip was like the buzzing of flies and mosquitoes, spreading quickly as the people debated about the fight where Gao Fuchen first made it on the Wulin Express.

Gao Fuchen succeeded young and was a well-known swordsman across the Jianghu. His ears were incredibly sensitive, and he had already heard all the remarks made about him. As he listened, blood gushed into his head as his face flushed red. It hurt as if he was burned. Oh, the embarrassment.

To be talked about by his peers from the Jianghu was one thing since he was definitely too arrogant as he actually challenged the Sad Godly Palm. But now, he was being criticized by normal people who did not even know martial arts, and the gossip and ridicule followed him wherever he went, it was unbelievably embarrassing.

He certainly wanted his name to spread across the land, but not like this!

The appearance of the Wulin Express miraculously changed his reputation as well as the others from across the Jianghu. To use their words, he had become a public figure. Like a bright star in the night sky, all their actions were gazed upon by the people of the world, so they had to be more mindful of their appearance. Moreover, the more personal style they had, the easier it was for them to be admired.

Something seemed wrong with this kind of Jianghu… Gao Fuchen became angry from his embarrassment. He really wanted to unsheathe his sword and just kill these noisy, poor men, but if he were to really be that impulsive, as long as he failed to thoroughly kill everyone, a few days later, something like the below would probably appear on the Wulin Express:

“The God Eye Sword became a devil and brutally murders the innocent,””Burnt out from reputation, Gao Fuchen went crazy!””Entering the heart of the demonic murderer, Gao Fuchen. Just which Jianghu rule made him pick such an extreme solution?””Spilling the bowls of beggars at seven, peeking the female bathhouse at nine, Gao Fuchen’s life of perversion,”…

As he imagined the titles. Gao Fuchen could not help but shudder. This was much worse than being pursued by the entire world. His reputation would be utterly destroyed. At least the reputation of deviating to the path of evil would still bring fear and mystery, this, this would only make the situation impossible for him, he would look like a clown. And if he took revenge against the Wulin Express, just thinking about the Godly teleportation circles of the Dong Family made it impossible for him to unsheathe his sword.

The Jianghu was big, and the number of people who did not pursue fame and fortune was incredibly low.

Gao Fuchen took a deep breath and chose to ignore the things he heard. He turned around and wanted to leave.

Then, at that time, the voice of his associate reached his ears, “Virtuous Brother Gao, the amount of praise one can withstand should be the equivalent of the ridicule one can take.”

Gao Fuchen looked at this associate of his sideways, nodded, and walked forward once more. He then sat beside a table.

This person was one who liked dances, literature, and art among the people from Jianghu, and he specifically liked some phrases in the Wulin Express, often quoting them, though some of them really made sense.

“Don’t be angry, the enemy would laugh at you,” this associate said once again, using a famous phrase that he found.

Gao Fuchen sat quietly as his mind was filled with events from the newspaper. This new thing was like bamboo shoots after a spring rain. It was everywhere, and it involved all levels of people from the Jianghu, unlike before when the Wulin Express had limited publishing pages and could only publish news related to Wulin’s best, and most of the warriors back then could not experience a change in their identities. Now, however, as long as one had a little bit of fame and did something somewhat influential, then it was incredibly hard to avoid being reported on and have one’s name spread far and wide.

“I heard that the master of the Flying Fox Village bribed the editor of their local newspaper and the Wulin Express, so that they could hide the fact that their disciples lost during a spar…” Gao Fuchen thought, feeling jealous. It was a pity that the one he challenged last time was the Sad Godly Palm which caused quite a stir, the editors simply had no way of containing the news spreading.

Pa!

Mr. Storyteller suddenly slammed the wooden block down. Everyone in the hall came back to their senses, and the place became eerily quiet.

“Today, the headline of the Wulin Express is the continuation of the events of the Jianghu. It is about the incident with the Awakening Celestial Sword. The title is, `Wandering The Land Relying on a Sword,`” Mr. Storyteller said with simple words, yet implying a profound meaning.

Gao Fuchen looked alive, “The Wulin Express actually used their headline to serialize a historical incident?”

And the Awakening Celestial Sword was one of the few seniors he respected and admired as he thought the Awakening Celestial Sword was the best swordsman in history.

As for Qian Ping’an, his gaze showed that he was ignorant and did not understand the what from the why. He only began to know about things about Jianghu in the past few months, knowing the names of some of the experts were already considered quite good, so how could he know about previous masters?

Most of the other tea shop guests were just like him.

Mr. Storyteller’s expression became very serious as he started reading the prologue, “From ancient times, the number of people who reach the peak of the martial arts world and crush the void is so few that it can be counted with the fingers of one hand, and the ones closest to our time is the Sword Emperor and the Awakening Celestial Sword.”

“The Awakening Celestial Sword learned martial arts from a young age and achieved success at a young age. As such, he was naturally perceptive and had a peek of the Heavenly Way. He stepped into the world of Jianghu as he escorted Lu Guan into the capital. Killing and poison were all impermanent to him, he guarded temples on mountains at night, his longsword stunned the capital, and then he sat down with the Sword Emperor to debate theories. He came to a realization and knew that one could not rely on someone else when it came to martial arts. He gradually left behind his fame, glory, and wealth before leaving far away. After many years, he advanced on the path of Supreme martial arts and reappeared in Jianghu. No one could stop him. He fought against the Sword Emperor at Sunset Peak as the both of them left in tatters.”

The short introduction already blew Qian Ping’an and the others away. This seemed like a real martial arts grandmaster. Compared to the Awakening Celestial Sword, the other top-class experts that he knew about earlier were all like commoners, they did not have the imposing aura of a grandmaster.

Mr. Storyteller then started talking about the main body of his story, “The Awakening Celestial Sword did not have a specific name, he was only called Xiao Meng. But after he stepped into the world of Jianghu, what he was called was no longer important because the people of the world will only remember the title, the `Awakening Celestial Sword.’”

“To practice swords, he suffered a lot of hardships and endured through loneliness. That was why he really cherished his body and patiently waited for the time to unsheathe his sword. The day to make a name for himself in an instant he unleashed his swordsmanship.”

“At that time, he and his sword were both nameless. Nobody knew what style hid within his sword sheath. When he completely accumulated his energy, the opportunity he was waiting for came. The moment he grabbed his sword and walked out of the quiet ancient temple in the depths of the mountain, the world was stunned. Just who is he? Where did he come from? How did he possess such frightening sword skills?”

“Before long, he became one of the two most famous swords in the entire Jianghu.”

“From nameless to famous, it only took one unsheathing. From then on, no one dared to look directly at him ever again.”

…

Qian Ping’an had never heard of a story like this before and never knew the existence of such a character. After one month, as long as he had money and was not busy after the rice shop closed, he would go and listen to stories at the tea shop. If it were not possible, then he would look for other tea shop guests that he was familiar with, and listen to them retell the stories. From “Relying on the sword to escort Master Lu; Overcoming five levels and cutting down six generals; Guarding the Mountain River Temple at night; Not worthy of my sword” and other stories to “The battle at Sunset Peak.” The stories captivated him as he admired and looked forward to the graceful bearing of those predecessors.

“If only I had known about the stories of the Awakening Celestial Sword long ago, I’m sure I would have thought of something to practice martial arts…” Qian Ping’an sighed.

This Awakening Celestial Sword’s Biography was much more detailed than the previous ones. The image of the Awakening Celestial Sword also became richer. Although it was somewhat different from the previous depiction of a Cold Swordsman, it was more human and much closer to one’s understanding and imagination of a swordsman. Not only did Gao Fuchen and the others who highly praised the Awakening Celestial Sword not resist it, but they quickly accepted the new image and slightly changed their perception.

This was what people called a more human Awakening Celestial Sword!

Inside the Celestial Sword Puppet placed within Shang Jiuming’s study room, Meng Qi’s divine sense, relying on this kind of changes and the medium that was the Celestial Sword Puppet, experienced the feedback of the Heaven and Earth as well as the changes in connection.

“… I should stay here and adjust a bit,” Meng Qi gained something.

The second day, when Qian Ping’an stepped once again into the tea shop, the headline of the Wulin Express in front of the storyteller had changed. It became, “Though the sword is ruthless the man is not, the secret history of the dissolute life of the Awakening Celestial Sword.”