The Sage Who Transcended Samsara

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

At the sight of Jiang Hengchuan's back, Meng Qi shook his head and finally smiled with a gloomy and obscure expression in his eyes. And then, he went down the Hero Tower and straight toward the Yellow Court Temple.

Since he had not been recognized as a chessman of a chessboard, he could visit every young master openly and see how the main villain dealt with it without revealing his identity of Secret-searching Nark when being asked the reason.

It was called a Trying Move in Go.

Located in the east of the city, the Yellow Court Temple was bathed in the morning light and cold moon, making people feel elegant and peaceful.

Qing Yu lived in the Guest House, and when Meng Qi opened the door under the lead of the guest-prefect Taoist, he just saw Qing Yu with his back turned to him, worshipping the Heaven Sovereign and doing afternoon courses.

Wearing a green priest's frock with a purple polar cap on his head, his movements were meticulous, unlike a young person, but like an elder who seemed to be absorbed in only one thing, with half of his body buried by time and tide.

With the experience of watching the statue of that old man in the morning, Meng Qi did not disturb him, keeping his mind and body calm. He sat on a stone chair by himself, waiting for Qing Yu.

After a long time, when Qing Yu had finished his afternoon courses, he turned around slowly, carrying the "Time Sword" and moving toward Meng Qi. With a smile on his face that was difficult to understand, he said, "There was a great drama last night."

"A drama?" Meng Qi responded by asking subconsciously, but then he quickly understood what Qing Yu meant. That weird plot drama seemed to be stereotypical but it was full of loopholes.

As he stopped smiling and sat straight as an arrow, Qing Yu asked, "Donor Shi, what brings you here?"

"I was wondering why you have come to Maoling," Meng Qi said without mincing his words and with nothing to hide.

Raising his eyebrows and closing his thin lips lightly, Qing Yu could not help laughing and said, "So, you are not him."

"I'm not," Meng Qi said without feeling ashamed at all.

Qing Yu did not answer directly but fondled the knife-blade with the stars of the "Time Sword" and asked, "Since you are not that man, why should I tell you about that?"

"Because it is related to the incident of me falling into a trap last night," Meng Qi said, with the corners of his mouth twitching.

Qing Yu still gave no answer to the question and stared at Meng Qi, looking like he would not talk to him unless he provided some valuable information.

Meng Qi paused and said, "'The Astounding' came here since his family was involved in the Chance, and 'Ledgerkeeper of Lives' came here since someone wanted to compete with him for Setups. Well, every young master who came to Maoling was regarded as a chessman."

Qing Yu suddenly tightened his hand that touched the "Time Sword" with his look changing a bit and getting as cold as ice. He said, "Someone told me that there was a relic in Maoling, and many young masters would come here, including several masters who were among the top 10 on the Ranking List of Young Masters. I could learn from them by performing skills, and have experiences with them to my heart's content, so here I am."

"Did you just come here to exchange skills and learn from them?" he asked. Thinking about what Qing Yu said on Hero Tower, Meng Qi believed this was the reason.

With there seeming to be a fever of enthusiasm on his face, Qing Yu said, "Yes, I believe I can meet all the heroes around the world."

"I am wondering who told you about that?" Meng Qi asked, getting to the heart of the matter.

Qing Yu shook his head and said, "I don't know, someone sent me a letter indirectly. And stealthy villains definitely could not build up a buzz to hurt me, since Maoling is the hub of the great river with a great number of masters. Therefore, after a prolonged rest, I thought of moving to Maoling and it turned out that it conformed with what I believed, but I was unexpectedly just treated as a chessman by others…"

When he spoke the second half of his words, he ground his teeth slightly.

"In fact, it is easy to break this situation," Meng Qi smiled and said.

Qing Yu kept his hand that held his sword relaxed and said, "I would like to hear more information."

"No matter what kind of Setups or conspiracy that they made, it will all be in vain as long as all of you leave Maoling and go home." When saying these words, Meng Qi suddenly had the feeling that he was persuading a child who had run away from home to return to the arms of his parents.

Qing Yu snorted, "Am I as timid as a mouse? Since some people take me for a chessman, I want to turn over their chessboard to see what are they going to do!"

"And the more I do, the more young masters that are looking forward to it. How can I be willing to leave without visiting them?"

Knowing that Qing Yu's attitude was very firm, Meng Qi did not know how to persuade him. So he just said, "Please let me know if you find out any clues in the future."

Qing Yu held the blade of his "Time Sword" and stopped his moods such as arrogance, stubbornness, and teeth-gnashing. He said without any expression, "You have to prove that my clues won't be known by people who are unreliable. If you die in a dark corner directly after I take the pains to tell you the news, then my efforts will be wasted. Isn't that right?"

Grasping the meaning of Qing Yu's words, Meng Qi cupped his hand in the other before his chest and said, "Please bestow me with your instruction."

Qing Yu did not draw out his sword immediately, but looked at Meng Qi's eyes and said very slowly, "The bladesmanship that I practice is the 'Five Emperors' Knife' recorded in the "Heavenly Emperor's Scripts". There are five types in total that can evolve into multifarious types."

When speaking, he seemed to be distinguished and dignified with his momentum rising gradually. He looked down on the common people and seemed to pay respect to domination, with everything in the void shaking slightly around him.

During ancient times, Patriarch of the East Qingdi, the Golden Emperor Queen Mother of the West, Black Deity True Warrior, and Fire Emperor Feng Xi had a joint name in the world—they were called the "Five Emperors in Five Orientations" in combination with the Central Heavenly Emperor. However, they were still inferior to the Heaven Sovereign, so Qing Yu told him that the Heaven Sovereign overpowered the ancients.

Fire Emperor Feng Xi was a Monster Saint among them and she could reach the pinnacle to make a mess as a monster only after the Celestial Court fell to dust, the Ninth Heaven disappeared, the Heaven Sovereign fell from the sky, and the other three emperors were missing or had passed away.

With his Qi movement conflicting and spirit engaging in a battle, Meng Qi changed his momentum accordingly to make it in harmony with the stone tables, stone stools, green grass, trees, the smoke of the Yellow Court Temple, and finches flying over the sky and brought out the best in each other. He was surrounded by the vanity of the world, but seemed not to be in the world, and he said, "The bladesmanship that I practice is the 'Ananda Break Buddhist Commandment Blade' which implies that, in this changeable world, there is cause and effect that both immortal and ordinary people can't get rid of."

The bladesmanship that he could frankly introduce was "Ananda Oath-breaking Bladesmanship". He also ran the heart sutras of this bladesmanship at that moment to make his spirit extroverted and to continue blending in with his surroundings.

At the same time, Meng Qi used the Eight Nine Mysteries to change his outer muscle response and spread his body surface's Genuine Qi intentionally, so that he could not feel Qing Yu's state and also to make it hard for Qing Yu to spy on him.

Qing Yu drew out his "Time Sword" slowly. His movement was unadorned and strangely cautious. He seemed not to dare to disturb time, leaving it mottled and full of charm.

A beam of knife energy sparkled abruptly, and it passed on just like the flow of water!

Under the impetus of Qi movement, Meng Qi also reached out for his handle with a very quick movement that was like an illusion. Qing Yu saw the silvery-white brilliant rays spring out when the thought arose to draw out his sword.

Life was short, and so was death, which made your life flash before your eyes. Infinite youth evolved instantly to make your whole life brilliant. This was the real interest of the world of mortals.

Meng Qi qualitatively changed his state of mind so he could draw his sword out so quickly, with countless movement in an instant. When those movements broke out at the same time, their traces could be left in time.

Of course, under the impetus of Qi movement, the momentum from both sides motivated the other. The momentum of each of them climbed to a peak that they had never been able to reach before.

For that reason, there were so many powerhouses who wanted to find equivalent opponents. It was easy to get a confidant, but difficult to find a great enemy. "How can I realize God's will if I brandish a sword alone without 'you'?"

Qing Yu's movement was very slow, with a long, drawn-out, lingering charm while his sound was dimly discernible, like falling from the Ninth Heaven.

"This kind of sword skill is 'Blue Deity Extinguishing Immortality'."

Hardly had his voice faded away that the "Time Sword" fell down from the sky like lightning.

The path of this blade method was mysterious and could not be described by words. Without any sound of the wind, the sword strength seemed to disappear and the airflow around did not change at all. However, Meng Qi felt that the vitality was disappearing and moving toward the "Time Sword".

The vitality of the fallen leaves and the stone table had disappeared, as did his own vitality!

If the vitality stopped, what would be the difference between hiding and not escaping?

The silvery-white brilliant rays shone and flickered suddenly, like a crazy snake swinging insanely, which made people scared like there were ghosts and monsters living in their heart.

The knife energy was dimly discernible, it seemed to be greedy and unconventional.

With a dull look in his eyes and a fever of enthusiasm on his face, Qing Yu slowed down his "Time Sword".

It was exactly the tardiness! "Heaven Inflicted Pain" came out with streaks of electricity and cut over the knife momentum of the "Blue Deity Extinguishing Immortality", grasping its vitality!

"Dong!" The two swords hit against each other, making clear and sweet sounds like chimes.

"What a great bladesmanship!" Qing Yu put his sword back into its sheath and praised him without fear or favor, his face full of the excitement of having a fight.

"There is not any flaw in the 'Blue Deity Extinguishing Immortality', but the man holding the sword isn't the Blue Deity, since he has the heart of the world of mortals." Meng Qi praised him in this way.

Experiencing another wonderful bladesmanship made him very glad. He could not wait to ponder over it carefully to increase his bladesmanship accumulation and improve his Essence of the Knife Dao.

"It's worthy to be at the peak of the Knife Dao because it can break down the precepts wholeheartedly on both sides." Qing Yu paused and said, "After receiving the letter, I once sent the members of my sect to find the villain, but instead of getting some information, I only found the trail of two martial art methods that had been lost."

"What kind of martial arts methods?" That lifted Meng Qi's spirits. It seemed that Qing Yu was not as arrogant and disdainful as his appearance led him to believe, and that he had come here after conducting a survey.

Qing Yu smiled and said, "Maybe others don't know them, but since my sect is the Denomination of Heaven Sovereign, I surely recognize them. One is the 'Heaven-ensnaring Skill of Nine Fires' of the Fire Lord and the other is the 'Power of Omni-concealment' of the 'Civil Star'."

"A lost Celestial Court martial arts method…" It made Meng Qi think a lot about it. It could not be determined what kind of force it was, so it could be a Gu demoness or "The Myths" organization known as the "Ancient Gods".

Qing Yu patted his "Time Sword" with his tunic floating and his look of pleasure.

"We will stop here for today's skill exchange. When I see you again next time, I will have developed the 'Fire Emperor Incinerating Heaven and Earth'."

"Good." Meng Qi was so happy about that.

Both of them fought with the Exterior knife trick, but they did not continue to consume each other's strength because they worried about the one pulling the strings.

…..

After leaving the Yellow Court Temple, Meng Qi immediately raised his alertness. "How does the one pulling the strings deal with me after I place chess?"

Other young masters had not yet emerged from the water and he did not know that anyone else could appear. Thus, he could only cease all activities to wait for the change.

When coming back to the house that he rented, Meng Qi found that the coffin had been taken away by Jiang Hengchuan. Seeing the courtyard empty, he discarded his distracting thoughts and started to practice the Golden Bell Shield and the Eight Nine Mysteries. It was the foundation that could not be forgotten.

"Dong! Dong! Dong!"

At dusk, a knock on the door startled the flying Birds, which roused Meng Qi from his practice.

He had recognized the identity of the person arriving by his breath and movement before he had even opened the door. It was Jiang Hengchuan of "The Astounding".

"Are there any clues?" Meng Qi pulled open the courtyard door with a creaking sound.

With a sullen look on his face, Jiang Hengchuan said, "No. There was an obvious feature of a wood carving and we found the craftsman, but there were many people coming and going there to buy wood carvings every day. Besides, every wood carving has the same appearance, so could he even remember who bought this wood carving? I used some tricks to make sure that he did not tell a lie or hide anything. And the note did not have any clues."

The so-called obvious feature of the wood carving was that if it was made purely manually, different craftsmen had different styles and characteristics, therefore, it would be easy to distinguish them as long as you could find the man who knew what to look for. The wood carvings themselves almost always belonged to the same kind of wood carvings made by one craftsman. Although they could not get the exact right size and shape, the craftsman surely could not distinguish if the one he that had sold at that time was this wood carving, unless it was completely perfect or incomplete. However, the one pulling the strings could not buy the special wood carving with high distinguishability.

"I will study the wood carving, the note, and the spitball again." Meng Qi frowned slightly and asked, "Right, who was the craftsman?"

"He was craftsman Li from Yellow Flower Alley, and he made wood carvings by himself to sell in the street." Jiang Hengchuan returned those three things to Meng Qi and then took his leave, intending to investigate other clues from the Wing Listening Villa.

Meng Qi looked at the note written with "Killing Blade" Su Meng, finding that the ink marks along the margin of the note were indistinct. Apparently, the writer had touched it.

And then, he picked up the wood carving, going out directly.

Other people were unable to get any clues, but perhaps he could get some information about it.