“This life of mine, I shall not inquire into the past!”
After the long saber stroke was unleashed, the eerie presence vanished, planets shifted, blocking the sun, casting the Fengshen World into daylight darkness. Historians recorded:
“At noon in the sixth year of King Xianlie’s reign, the celestial hound devoured the sun, the day darkened again, an omen of misfortune.”
The “long night” stretched endlessly, only distant stars flickered, pitch-black and fathomless, as if concealing strange writhing, exuding an eerie aura.
At that moment, a vague and ethereal purple saber glow emerged high in the sky, abnormally illusory, as if transitioning from the spiritual world and the mysterious realm into the material and real world, making everything seem unreal.
The saber light illuminated the night, pierced through illusion and reality, revealing countless radiant star lines that shouldn’t exist within living beings’ perception. They filled the sky, seemingly countless nebulae condensed together, yet intermixed with many colors.
The lightning-infused long saber neither advanced nor retreated, neither ascended nor descended, yet it strangely surged upward, causing the radiant star lines to vanish one by one, until only a few remained, connecting Meng Qi at the Fengshen World and the A-nan clone atop Ling Mountain’s peak!
All past events were contained within.
With the saber stroke unleashed and the connection revealed, Meng Qi clearly sensed the Demon Buddha A-nan’s movements—he summoned that mysterious small seal.
The tiny seal appeared omnipresent, towering above the firmament, spinning swiftly as it flipped up and down, revealing every facet to Meng Qi’s sight. Around it, nine celestial layers materialized, teeming with gods and immortals; its base morphed into the torments of the Nine Hells, haunted by wailing evil spirits and demonic hordes. The front displayed the mortal realm, the back depicted the suffering lands of beasts, the left unveiled the myriad beings of the demonic races, and the right resonated with the mournful chants of malevolent fiends—as though encompassing all sentient beings and infinite worlds.
Upon seeing it, Meng Qi gained sudden insight—it must be one of the Ten Supreme Divine Weapons, the Wheel-Seal that rivaled the Overlord Saber. Revered as the most mysterious, it was said to be forged by a primordial deity who, out of compassion for mortals, used itself as the crucible, the Nine Hells as the fire, and a half-step Dao fruit as the material, thereby establishing cycles even for heaven, allowing limited reincarnation for living beings!
No wonder A-nan dared attempt the Reincarnation Cultivation Method—he had already obtained the Wheel-Seal!
As the Wheel-Seal turned, a deep and tranquil radiance cascaded down, casting its glow upon the Nine Hells, the mortal realm, and the Nine Heavens within the darkened firmament. The ethereal forms of deities, Buddhas, immortals, mortals, demons, malevolent spirits, and ghosts flickered faintly. The few remaining threads of connection abruptly shifted, multiplying into countless figures!
One figure wore gray monk robes, his face filled with bitterness. Behind him appeared nine golden Buddhas—some pointing to heaven and touching the earth, others smiling with a flower in hand, others forming seals that illuminated everywhere. Suddenly, they overlapped and merged into a colossal golden body filling the heavens and earth, embodying compassion and bliss, solemnity and humor, purity and freedom, with a spiral-shaped topknot, displaying the thirty-two major marks and eighty minor characteristics of a Buddha, while everything else faded into illusion—the Tathagata Golden Body!
Another figure had nine heads, twenty-six faces, stepped on black lotuses, had twenty-four arms holding bone prayer beads and human-skin wooden fish, displaying various negative emotions, apocalyptic scenes, and cruel things—the inverted Buddha demon body.
There was also a mighty figure with bronze skin, marked by countless lightning scars, appearing alongside a sea of thunder—the Nine Heavens Thunder God.
Even more striking was the direct link forged between the Wheel-Seal and Meng Qi, embodying the shadowy dotted line governed by the Lord of the Six Realms. It blazed with eerie emerald flames, swiftly unleashing a sinister force toward Meng Qi in an attempt to make him perish as miserably as Qi Xia!
All the past related to the angler, the shackles that made one helpless, all appeared, trying to resist Meng Qi’s saber stroke, attempting to control him once again.
But this saber stroke was the culmination of ten years of pain, ten years of torment, ten years of silent cultivation, fusing “All past events dissipate like smoke” with the Dao-One Seal—it was precisely for this moment, precisely for this preparation!
The illusory purple lightning saber glow suddenly brightened, erupting powerfully. Like a ten-year-suppressed volcano, like a ten-year-silent tsunami, it suddenly erupted, making heaven and earth change color. The azure vault suddenly brightened, daylight turned into night, replaced by saber light!
This saber stroke had waited ten years!
Where the saber’s light swept past, Ananda’s manifestation of the Tathagata Golden Body, the Demon Buddha’s true form with the inverted swastika, and the ancient Thunder God’s illusion of divine punishment all shattered—transforming back into radiant and enigmatic threads of karma. Struck by purple lightning, they were severed by the blade. The dark green ghostly flames, symbolizing the Wheel-Seal’s control over Meng Qi, extinguished without a trace of wind, directly severed by the Overlord Saber.
Boom!
The power within the Overlord Saber erupted, with indescribable lightning instantly expanding. The surging, overbearing pressure caused all living beings in the Fengshen World to tremble collectively as it swallowed the dark dotted line, completely annihilating it.
Instantly, Meng Qi felt the world had become much clearer, a genuine sense of ease and relief surged from within, all heavy shackles and entanglements dissipated like smoke.
Meanwhile, each side of the Wheel-Seal had already radiated boundless light, enveloping the vast heavens. The nine celestial layers brimmed with an ethereal, transcendent aura, while the Nine Hells seethed with filth and corruption. The mortal realm, a blend of light and darkness, along with the domains of beasts, demons, malevolent spirits, and ghostly hordes, all rotated in unison, manifesting six shadowy and enigmatic vortices. The sight sent an involuntary shudder through Meng Qi, as though the slightest contact would plunge him into an endless cycle of reincarnation, forever beyond salvation.
The six vortices revolved around the Overlord Saber, entangled with the erupting thunder saber qi, alternating between Nine Hells and human world, unstable and unpredictable.
The shockwaves rippled outward, nearby planets either shattered or sank, the distant Taiyin became damaged—the Fengshen World would soon lose its moon!
The Demon Buddha Ananda stood beside the Golden-Hooped Staff, his eyes flashing with red-black inverted swastikas as he undid the bindings imposed by Manjushri Bodhisattva and himself. Hastily integrating this body, his gaze remained indifferent yet filled with hatred, seemingly powerless to stop Meng Qi from severing the past and cutting the connection. Yet beneath his deep scheming nature lay concealed emotions too profound to reveal.
Witnessing the Overlord Saber locked in combat with the Wheel-Seal, while his Dharma body’s fusion reached its pivotal juncture, and with all restraints cast off, his mind and body experienced profound liberation—his primordial spirit relaxed, becoming the perfect key to unlock the grand gate. Without hesitation, Meng Qi released his grip on the saber, allowing it to clash freely with the Wheel-Seal. Simultaneously, countless silver serpents and violet dragons erupted from his being, wreathed in glazed flames of purification. These energies refined his primordial spirit, Dharma form, and physical vessel, shattering them fragment by fragment only to forge them anew into a singular, unified existence!
The three entities existing between illusion, reality, and the blend of both gradually merged, Meng Qi was about to attain the Indestructible Primordial Body.
At this moment, the Demon Buddha A-nan atop Ling Mountain’s peak smiled slightly, appearing confident!
Lit by the lightning, then enveloped in the Wheel-Seal’s gloom high above, an illusory long river suddenly emerged around Meng Qi, flowing from unknown origins, bearing all the past. Yet when it reached Meng Qi, it abruptly split, branching into countless tributaries that spread across the boundless universe!
This was the River of Time, the tributaries representing infinite futures, while the distant futures were reincarnations.
At this moment, Meng Qi’s body emanated an aura of primordial chaos, with a glazed radiance swirling around him, nearing a state of perfect unity. From the distant River of Time, countless figures surged forth—monks holding ancient lamps, men gazing defiantly at the heavens, elegant swordsmen clad in white robes, eccentric Taoists, and further beyond, ethereal beauties resembling the moon, great demons capable of devouring the skies, Buddhas seated upon lotus thrones, and Celestial Venerables towering over the chaos. Among them were also ordinary people, including sinister figures with inverted red-black swastikas gleaming in their eyes.
No, not just him—every figure had red-black inverted swastikas in their eyes.
Every future, every reincarnation, was marked by the red-black inverted swastika!
Suddenly, countless stars dotted the night sky, reflecting the infinite tributaries and illusory figures.
Each of these future incarnations transformed into Demon Buddhas, smiling faintly with confidence as they stepped forward, intent on entering Meng Qi’s earthly form, seizing his flesh once more, and merging their primordial spirits anew!
Transcendent beings pursue the past, pervade the future!
The Demon Buddha atop Ling Mountain’s peak softly laughed: “You may sever the past, but you cannot escape the future!”
Seeing these figures rushing against the River of Time, normal attacks ineffective, Meng Qi’s volcano-like erupting eyes suddenly revealed a smile.
I’ve known you’d do this all along!
Wang Siyuan repeatedly mentioning the unfinished words of “All past events dissipate like smoke” wasn’t emphasizing “stepping into the river, fate not predetermined,” but contrasting the past, cautioning about the future!
Su Wuming spoke only of the past, not the future, his words intentionally left open, indirectly warning me!
Back then, during my conversation with the Solar Sovereign Xi, the strange part was how he mentioned both past karmic entanglements and future bindings!
The Great Heavenly Prince had long proclaimed that Transcendents could dominate the future. Upon calm reflection, it must have been Senior Brother Qi, who had acquired the Demon Lord’s memories, intentionally reminding me.
Thinking back now, the Overlord severed the past, achieving legend, yet still perished due to Dao decline, probably because he still hoped for reincarnation, hoping if this life failed, there’d be another, yearning to reunite with Xuan Nu in a future life!
These subtle clues completely fused during ten years of silent meditation.
Ten years of grief wasn’t just forging the saber, but tempering the heart!
Looking at Demon Buddha A-nan, Meng Qi suddenly extended his left hand, roaring: “Sword, come!”
Boom!
Inside the Changle Palace, Gao Lan, holding the Present Life Mirror, observed through the connection feedback and snorted: “What’s borrowed must be returned; only then can it be borrowed again.”
Using the Mirror of the Present Life as a conduit and the mysteries of the Dao-One Seal, he and Meng Qi had communicated numerous times over the span of ten years!
Not unwilling to return, just not the right time yet.
Boom!
Beside him, the Human Emperor Sword radiated dazzling brilliance, thundered, and suddenly drilled into the void.
“Sword, come!”
Roaring, Meng Qi caught a sword with his left hand. On its front side were engraved sun, moon, stars, mountains, rivers; on the back side, celestial beings bowed, demons knelt, demons prostrated; on the hilt were carved scenes of farming, fishing, and the myriad aspects of humanity!
The Demon Buddha A-nan’s expression finally changed.
Meng Qi stared at him fiercely, raising his left hand, sword light surging like water.
After reincarnation, am I still me?
Before past memories awaken in the reincarnated self, that body definitely has its own life, experiences, personality, and existence imprint—it’s vivid, independent, self-contained. I emphasize self, sever the past; if I then occupy the reincarnated body, how absurd?
Buddhism always says if one cannot transcend, cultivate in the next life—it’s self-weakness, unwillingness to face reality. If one lacks confidence in this life, what foundation exists for the next? If every matter, every grievance, every effort is postponed to the next life, this life becomes no better than pigs and dogs.
Ancient great cultivators, Transcendents, for their own sakes, left various means—fish, Dao markers, reincarnated selves, countless and innumerable, their madness beyond comprehension, their state pitifully pathological.
From this world onward, from today forward, facing hardships head-on, advancing fearlessly, leaving no retreat, embracing death before rebirth, unyielding even after nine deaths!
This is my choice—to live in the present, this one life only!
Meng Qi thrust the Human Emperor Sword, continuously multiplying, confronting countless future reincarnations, roaring again:
“This life of mine, I shall not seek the next!”
His voice rolled like thunder, echoing with the peak of Ling Mountain’s cry: “This old Sun, I shall not cultivate for the next life!”
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