The Sage Who Transcended Samsara

Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

Just as the four-faced, four-armed Divine Creator finished speaking, his aura filled every corner of the Space of Dreams, demonstrating his ability to be everywhere, even seeping into the river, extending both to the beginning of the Universe and even to alternate futures.

Within this Universe, he was the great dictator. He possessed the Legendary Realm and the layers of Nirvana Realm.

He was the projection of the Heavenly Lord Yuanshi!

Meng Qi did not know what to expect. He had never thought that due to Heavenly Lord Yuanshi's mysterious powers of concealment, the projection of his incarnations had gradually developed independence and self-awareness. The scariest part was that even though their gnosis might not be complete, they still harbored the same instinctive aspiration to overcome the limits of the universe and arrive at the Heavens to become the real Heavenly Lord Yuanshi. In order to achieve this, they had to obtain the one and only Principles of Karma. Thus he became their enemy that had to be defeated at all costs.

Ringing the ancient Kunlun bell and changing the layout of the Jade Palace helped him temporarily free himself from the control of the mighty people of the Legendary Realm, Zhao Qian and the rest. Thus, it gave him the opportunity to search for the Green Lotus Seed of Chaos at his own pace. But at the same time, he had just sent himself like a lamb to slaughter by having an audience with the Heavenly Lord Yuanshi's projection!

It is true that misfortunes and blessings are often intertwined, and the affairs of the world are unpredictable.

At that moment, the only thing Meng Qi was grateful for was that he was an outsider who had only spent a short time in this universe. There was not a time when he was powerless and vulnerable, so he would not end up getting killed as a child by the Divine Creator with no way of resisting. Thus, he was able to greatly weaken the valliance brought on by the other's layers.

Yet his powers had merely been weakened. The Four-Faced Divine Man reached out his four hands simultaneously, casting a shadow that immediately blanketed every corner of the universe, and reached for Meng Qi and Han Guang at the same time.

He was full of confidence. Even though the real Legend was here, this universe would not be affected much by the aura of the Real World, so he could provide a worthy challenge!

The palm with its mighty shadow became a whirlpool, its darkness thick and impenetrable, devouring everything in its path. It blocked Meng Qi and Han Guang's every transformation technique and chance of escape, even all possibility of a future.

Faced with such an all-encompassing attack, and countless strikes of the shadow of the palm, Meng Qi suddenly felt that he was doomed to be struck to death, and any resistance would be futile. Even the Supreme Endless Premier, Heavenly Stem Seal, Seal of Void, or the Arts of Eight-Nine could change the future.

Was this reversed karma? That he was already dead, even though the process of his death was only just happening?

Even if he could limit the power of this universe Illusory River's Nirvana Technique, no matter how illogical or unreasonable this was, or how strong he was, he still would not have the power to change his fate, and would only be a vulnerable papier-mâche doll which could be easily ripped apart.

This was the difference of an Essence Realm!

Facing his inevitable death, Meng Qi felt a sense of hopelessness, but his gaze remained calm and his spirit, pure. The Tyrant's Invincible Blade in his hand violently glowed a brilliant purple electricity, lighting up the dark universe. His primordial spirit shook the void as he roared in a voice like thunder,

"Only I can decide my fate!"

The road lit up and the River of Time appeared. The Invincible Blade of purple electricity surged with billions of thunderbolts which struck every palm around him indiscriminately. He did not wish for an afterlife, so long as he could change his fate.

Just like how a single word could dictate the order of the world, he would open a path to the future with a single swing of his blade!

Bang!

Overflowing with power, the light reflecting off his blade shattered the shadow of the palms, revealing a slit in the darkness. Meng Qi leaped out of the attacks, and appeared above the Four-Faced Divine Man as a towering Celestial Body with three heads and six arms all armed with blades.

The blade was the land that split the heavens apart, the sword was the Contracting Yin-Yang sphere; the former was extremely sharp while the latter was glimmering with light and shadow, brimming with chaos. However, before they could even get close to the Four-Faced Divine Man, they vanished without a trace, like a popped illusionary bubble, without having inflicted any injury.

"In this place, I am invincible!" bellowed the Divine Creator.

He was the incarnation of this universe, the very depiction of truth and order, and there was no parallel. How could anything hurt him?

There was no way to even get near him!

It was at that moment that Meng Qi's giant Celestial Body raised one of his arms which was holding a three and a half foot long wooden whip. The outer layer of the whip fell off to reveal a holy golden glow with twenty one nodes of talismans, as if imbued with the heavenly will of the Ninth Heaven itself.

Since he was the Divine Creator, he would be considered a congenital god.

The Holy Whip was best at battling gods!

The golden talisman landed, prepared to seal the Four-Faced Divine Man and finally inflict some damage, but even as Meng Qi took out the Holy Whip, the Divine Man's expression changed and he suddenly vanished within the lotus flower petals, thus escaping the whip and a boundless universe appeared where he was standing.

Instead of feeling disappointed, Meng Qi rejoiced as he realized that the Holy Whip, the Peerless Heavenly Weapon from the Real World, could overcome the four-faced, four-handed Divine Creator!

As the Divine Man hid himself, the shadow of the palms also vanished. Meng Qi realized that the place where Han Guang had previously stood was empty, as if he had been devoured by the dark whirlpool.

Suddenly, there was a ripple of light in that empty space. Time and space became distorted, and Devil Master Han Guang reappeared, looking just like how he was before he was surrounded by the shadow of the Four-Faced Divine Man's palms.

Could he have manipulated time and space to travel back in time, thereby avoiding the attack? Meng Qi was greatly amazed.

Ever since Han Guang used the Celestial Ruler Incarnation and was promoted to a Celestial Being, he had only been faced with little challenges which did not reveal his true power. Thus, no one could judge just how extensive his abilities were as it was like peering into a bottomless lake.

Clearly he had a chilling breakthrough while he was in the Way of Time. Although he was unable to change his destiny, he was able to navigate the River of Time, thereby avoiding the reversed karma strike from the Four-Faced Divine Man.

Naturally, unless he could sever the path to the afterlife, just by manipulating destiny and tampering with karma on a small scale, Han Guang could avoid that particular strike, but he could not dodge forever.

This kind of ability was purely a defensive measure, which could only be maintained for a while, whereas the Divine Creator could tirelessly keep up the attacks!

At that moment, Han Guang stood calmly with a smile on his face, his long sleeves fluttering around him, as if filled with confidence. However, his gaze was solemn as his right hand gently patted his left.

Waves of light encased his body, and two silhouettes shot out with a whoosh. One was dressed in imperial robes and armed with a long blade made of condensed time, and seemed majestic yet other-worldly, like a divine being overlooking humanity. The other was dressed head to toe in dark colors, with a matching deep and solemn expression, his right hand had six fingers and he radiated killing intent. Han Guang himself now sported a golden swastika between his eyebrows, which sometimes rotated clockwise, and sometimes anti-clockwise; sometimes composed and dignified, and sometimes chaotic and demonic.

With the appearance of the Time Blade, the world lost its color and faded to a monochrome. Everything seemed to slow down, but the body of the Divine Creator which had just avoided the Holy Whip's blow suddenly became incorporeal as he stepped into the universe's River of Time and followed its flow without being affected. Yama Han Guang then swung the Time Blade.

With a rumble, the void collapsed and everything disappeared. Even the law ceased to exist. Yama Han Guang charged towards the Divine Creator with an apocalyptic force.

He used the force of destruction of the universe against the creation of the universe, thereby using a corresponding force to restrain the incarnation of the universe!

With every beginning there is an end, with every incarnation of the universe, there is also an opposing force seeking the destruction of the universe!

With a rumble, the surroundings erupted into chaos. The void spread toward the Divine Creator, and along with the attack from the Time Blade, caused the Illusory River to be damaged, shackling the Divine Creator.

Meng Qi seized the opportunity to once again draw his Holy Whip, and was prepared to use the direct knowledge of Yi Qi Turning San Qing to lay down the Fairy Slaying Sword Formation which symbolized the end of the universe. This would be even more authentic than Yama!

At that moment, the Divine Creator lifted an arm, and suddenly the universe was reflected in his eyes. He bellowed,

"Try bearing the massive weight of the universe!"

With a point of his finger, the sky and earth vanished, and numerous images suddenly appeared and raced toward Meng Qi.

These images depicted the creation of the universe, detailing the birth and subsequent destruction of every bubble world, and every living being's growth and subsequent death. Everything that had happened in the universe these hundreds of billions of years all came racing toward Meng Qi and Han Guang's Dharmakayas.

This overwhelming assault of information could not be quantified. Whoever had to bear even 10% of it would be overwhelmed by the trauma and lose one's self, turning into a walking corpse with a shattered spirit, and even the Arts of Eight-Nine would not be able to defend against it.

Bang!

In a flash, the chaotic glimmer of light beneath the Supreme Endless Premier's auspicious cloud exploded. Han Guang had already stopped his assault, and had become a Dharmakaya with the face of Buddha in front and the devil at the back. The former had a swastika between its brows and one hand pointed up to the sky and the other towards the ground like a celestial incarnation.The latter was a demonic incarnation with blood red complexion and a reverse swastika and both hands spread out. They respectively used Best in the World and I Am Human to protect their real spirit, staying still as a coral even among the chaotic swirl of information.

Boom!

Meng Qi's three skulls cracked opened at the same time, unable to bear the weight of the universe.

Instead of fresh blood spurting out of his cracked skull, a clear ray of light shone through and a golden lotus blossomed from his neck. As it wilted, his brain had also regenerated.

If not for the Wu'Ji Seal blocking the attack, buying time for him to utilize Wind Changing to draw out his real spirit, he would already be dead! Meng Qi opened his eyes in his newly regenerated skull, filled with dread.

This Four-Faced Divine Man was truly frightening. His whole body was full of might and had the outstanding power of Great Mediums and influential figures. If not because his power appeared in this universe, and was restricted by his traits of Nirvana and reversed karma, he would be basically defenceless against him.

Seeing Meng Qi survive the weight of the universe, the Divine Creator ignored Han Guang, and waved away the torrent of images. Then, he generated bubbles in order to condense enough power to form a star shattering explosive ray that would obliterate all in front of him, thus finally allowing him to obtain the Principles of Karma.

Meng Qi was about to draw his Holy Whip when Han Guang's voice rang in his ears, "Even if you use the Holy Whip to vanquish him, it would be meaningless because he would immediately regenerate in the lotus flower, unless you destroy the entire universe."

The entire universe? The surrounding was dark with no end in sight. How could it be destroyed? Meng Qi suddenly had an epiphany, and remembered the first words spoken by the Divine Creator.

He said that when he wins, even if the mighty Godly Body was in deep slumber, the universe would not be destroyed.

If that was the case, why didn't he refine or eliminate the Godly Body once and for all, and why was he still at the lotus flower growing out of its belly button?

This proved that they were interconnected, and destroying one would also destroy the other. Since the slumbering Godly Body was not the incarnation of the universe, it could not regenerate.

In conclusion, instead of attacking the nearly undefeatable Four-Faced Divine Man, he should attack the vulnerable and defenceless Godly Body.

He drew the Holy Whip, but suddenly aimed it at a different direction.