Chapter 28: A New Mission

“This Lord of the Six Paths of Reincarnation actually has a bit of a cold sense of humor…” Meng Qi quietly muttered with a slight smirk.

After discovering that the small jade Buddha he wore around his neck mysteriously snapped in half at the end of the first cycle through the Reincarnation World, Meng Qi had suspected it was a trigger medium. He deliberately buried it in a corner of the servant quarters, hoping to interrupt the “summoning” by the “Lord of the Six Paths of Reincarnation.” However, it now seemed to have almost no effect.

Nonetheless, Meng Qi noticed that when facing the “Reincarnation World” again, he felt a vague sense of anticipation, eager to grow stronger through it and break free from his current constraints.

“Forget it, little junior apprentice-brother. This matter has already caught the attention of the Bodhi Court. I believe they definitely won’t treat us unfairly. I’m going back to my room to meditate for a while,” Meng Qi pretended to be deep in thought as he said to Zhen Hui.

Zhen Hui had already been looking toward the Martial Arts Hall with eager anticipation, but hearing Meng Qi’s words, he couldn’t help but turn back and look at him: “Senior-apprentice brother, this doesn’t seem like you at all!”

You really understand me well… Meng Qi inwardly muttered. Normally, his junior-apprentice brother seemed so clueless, but why had he suddenly become so clever now? “Little junior-apprentice brother, it’s okay. First, we must clarify the reasons behind this.”

Zhen Hui nodded as if he understood, yet not quite, and hurriedly returned to the meditation room ahead of Meng Qi to practice his cultivation techniques. He was currently at a crucial stage of opening his dantian and was particularly focused.

Meng Qi had already fully believed in the great power of the “Lord of the Six Paths of Reincarnation.” Without avoiding Zhen Hui, he closed the door and sat cross-legged to regulate his breathing.

His breath grew increasingly long and peaceful, gradually calming his inner fear and dread. Suddenly, his vision darkened, then brightened again, and he already stood in the white jade plaza.

Everything remained unchanged here; the sky was filled with drifting white clouds, the surroundings shrouded in mist, and statues of celestial birds and divine beasts faintly visible in the haze.

“Little monk, catch the blade!” Jiang Zhiwei’s crisp voice, clear like a nightingale’s song, rang out as a ceremonial knife flew gracefully toward Meng Qi in a beautiful arc.

With a flick of his right hand, Meng Qi easily caught the ceremonial knife. He then saw Jiang Zhiwei standing not far away, her light yellow gown swaying gently in the breeze. Zhang Yuanshan and Qi Zhengyan also walked over, their robes fluttering.

“You’ve made considerable progress in martial arts,” Jiang Zhiwei said with a smile, showing no signs of disappointment or frustration from not undergoing the Reincarnation Tasks again.

From Meng Qi’s motion of catching the blade, she could roughly gauge his current level.

Meeting these familiar faces, Meng Qi felt more at ease than he did in the Shaolin Temple. He chuckled and said, “This humble monk doesn’t wish to meet the Buddha while still in his prime.”

As he spoke, he gently stroked the fine steel ceremonial knife.

“Hmph, it’s rare for you to sound so monk-like,” Jiang Zhiwei noticed Meng Qi’s action and nodded slightly. “I know it’s difficult for you to obtain a ceremonial knife with a sharpened edge in Shaolin, so I prepared one for you.”

“In that case, I must thank you, Lady Jiang,” Meng Qi deliberately addressed her this way.

Before Jiang Zhiwei could retort, his expression turned serious: “Lady Jiang, Senior-apprentice brother Zhang, Senior-apprentice brother Qi, after returning from the last mission, did you notice anything unusual about yourselves or your surroundings? I noticed that my small jade Buddha had cracked.”

He decided to be honest about this matter rather than beating around the bush. After all, it was of great importance. If he spoke ambiguously, it might cause Zhang Yuanshan and others to overlook clues. Besides, now that the jade Buddha had broken into two pieces, it seemed to have lost its function. To lose the trust of Zhang Yuanshan and Jiang Zhiwei over this would be unwise.

Jiang Zhiwei furrowed her delicate brows, thought carefully, and slowly shook her head: “I haven’t noticed anything similar.”

“Nor have I,” Zhang Yuanshan answered definitively after some thought, and Qi Zhengyan also shook his head in denial.

“It seems my jade Buddha breaking was just an accident,” Meng Qi nodded lightly, though he vaguely felt that things were probably not so simple, even if he couldn’t figure it out for now.

“Oh, there was one important thing that happened inside the Great Buddha Hall that I haven’t told you yet,” Zhang Yuanshan, equally puzzled by Meng Qi’s jade Buddha, began to recount the mysterious organizations known as “Immortal Traces” and “Mythical Legends” to Meng Qi and Qi Zhengyan, with Jiang Zhiwei occasionally adding details.

“Hmph,” Meng Qi inhaled, “Could the root of this Reincarnation World actually be in our world?”

Zhang Yuanshan had already become quite accustomed to the term “world” and thoughtfully said, “Our world has had Dao Venerables and Buddha Patriarchs, Demon Emperors and Evil Sages, a Mythical Age, and numerous powerful figures who were unmatched in their time, capable of moving mountains and filling seas. Even now, there are terrestrial immortals at the level of Dharma Bodies who are no less mighty than those ancient gods and immortals. If the ‘Lord of the Six Paths of Reincarnation’ originated from there, it wouldn’t be surprising.”

“What happened to those great figures back then?” Meng Qi had always been curious about this. How could such mighty beings have vanished into the river of time?

Knowing Meng Qi was a novice in the martial world, Jiang Zhiwei smiled, revealing faint dimples: “According to rumors, some died at the hands of other great beings, while others perished from exhaustion of their lifespan.”

“Exhaustion of their lifespan?” Meng Qi asked in surprise. In his mind, beings worthy of being called gods and immortals should have achieved eternal life.

Jiang Zhiwei sighed: “It’s the decree of heaven. Even gods and immortals have concerns about their lifespans. Though they may live for thousands or even tens of thousands of years, ultimately, they cannot escape the fate of returning to dust.”

“Throughout history, countless brilliant figures have exhausted their minds and strength, devising all sorts of ingenious methods—prolonging life, resurrection, body-snatching, divine paths, ghostly ways. Unfortunately, these were only temporary solutions and failed to escape the decree of heaven. Therefore, some of these great figures built grand tombs seeking a path to eternal existence after death, while others quietly disappeared into the river of time. Perhaps only the legendary Dao Venerables and Buddha Patriarchs could transcend the heavens and remain uncorrupted through countless aeons.”

“Legendary?” Meng Qi asked keenly. Wasn’t it supposed to be eternal?

“Before the Mythical Age, Dao Venerables and Buddha Patriarchs had already become rare sights. If it weren’t for the Buddha Patriarch intervening to suppress the Demon Buddha’s attempt to destroy the Buddhist and Daoist lineages tens of thousands of years ago, people might have assumed they had also passed away. This dispelling of speculation gave all the powerful beings hope,” Zhang Yuanshan said with deep emotion. “It’s said that there’s an alternative cultivation path in Buddhism that coexists with the world, but unfortunately, it’s only a rumor.”

Meng Qi exhaled gently: “So even gods and immortals grow old and die.”

At his young age, speaking of lifespan exhaustion didn’t leave a strong impression on him.

“They don’t die of old age. Great beings who achieve the Dharma Body only decay upon death,” Qi Zhengyan, whose face usually showed little expression, revealed a faint trace of yearning.

“Dying before decaying? I wonder how long the lifespan of a great being who attains the Arhat Golden Body is?” Meng Qi asked curiously.

Zhang Yuanshan chuckled and shook his head: “Junior-apprentice brother Zhen Ding, it’s too early for you to be concerned about this. Generally speaking, terrestrial immortals at the Dharma Body level have a normal lifespan of two to three hundred years. However, it’s rumored that during the Mythical Age, the lifespans of similar great beings were dozens of times longer, perhaps due to changes in heaven and earth.”

The surviving scriptures from the Mythical Age were extremely scarce, with only various unreliable stories passed down, so later generations could only speculate.

“This mission will involve newcomers,” the voice of the Lord of the Six Paths of Reincarnation suddenly boomed, majestic and powerful.

As soon as the words ended, it seemed as if a great sun had descended, radiating brilliant light. Even the experts Zhang Yuanshan and Jiang Zhiwei, who had already opened their eye acupoints, instinctively closed their eyes due to the blinding brightness.

When everything returned to normal, Meng Qi saw four people lying on the white jade tiles—two men and two women.

“Damn it! They actually dared to come!” The first to awaken was a burly man. Dressed in a brown outfit stained with oil, he cursed as he jumped up, raising his long knife and swinging it toward Meng Qi, who was closest.

Apparently waiting for an enemy, he didn’t even bother to observe his surroundings before attacking.

The other two women and one man had just woken up and heard the curses, witnessing the scene of the man swinging his blade.

“Ahh!” One of the women, a delicate girl in a lotus-colored gown, screamed in terror, hugging her arms and trembling.

Beside her was a charming middle-aged woman who hastily pulled a hairpin from her head, her expression tense as if fearing the vicious man might attack her.

The middle-aged man in a wide-robed, long-sleeved outfit furrowed his brows, glancing around with increasing seriousness.

As soon as Meng Qi saw the man swinging his blade, he roughly judged the situation. He slid his body, ghost-like, to the man’s back and struck the back of the ceremonial knife against him, sending him staggering.

“Stop!” As the burly man barely steadied himself, Meng Qi shook his head and shouted. The man’s strength was at the early stage of Qi accumulation, equivalent to Zhen Liang, but he also had a fierce, life-or-death fighting spirit, making him quite formidable. A month ago, Meng Qi would have been flustered facing him, but now, after long-term sparring with Zhen Miao and various types of combat in the Martial Arts Hall, dealing with him was just a piece of cake.

The burly man also noticed the abnormality of the surroundings, surprised and doubtful, he held his blade horizontally, looking at Meng Qi: “May I ask, what’s going on here?”

He had been awed by Meng Qi’s strength and the strange changes, quickly lowering his guard.

Meng Qi thought that guiding newcomers might earn him merit, so he scanned the faces of the four newcomers: “You should have already noticed that this place is different. This humble monk is Zhen Ding, no different from you except that I arrived in this ‘Reincarnation World’ a bit earlier.”

“Reincarnation World?” The middle-aged man in the wide-robed, long-sleeved outfit repeated the words softly and slowly stood up.

Meng Qi pointed to the central beam of light and roughly introduced the situation regarding the “Lord of the Six Paths of Reincarnation”: “Therefore, you can exchange merit here for peerless martial arts, divine weapons, immortal pills, and any other things you can imagine.”

“‘Buddha’s Palm’? ‘Startling Book’? ‘Emperor Jade Records’?” The burly man asked eagerly, his breathing quickening.

Meng Qi pointed at the beam of light with little interest: “You can go and see for yourselves.”

After finishing the introduction, there was still no reward of merit. He would never do this again!

“Master, holy monk, I, I am weak and powerless. Could I speak with the ‘Lord of the Six Paths of Reincarnation’ to let me go back? I promise to keep my mouth shut,” the girl in the lotus-colored dress stood up anxiously, looking at Meng Qi with pleading eyes.

Meng Qi sighed, clasped his hands, and said: “Amitabha Buddha, devotee, do you think that’s possible?”

The girl already had tears in her eyes, and now tears streamed down her cheeks as she softly wept: “Mother, mother, save little Zi…”

Meng Qi had a deep sense of empathy for similar situations. He turned to Jiang Zhiwei, indicating that she, as a fellow woman, should go comfort the girl. As for whether she could protect herself during the subsequent reincarnation tasks, that would depend on the circumstances. When they couldn’t spare the effort, Meng Qi and Jiang Zhiwei probably wouldn’t have the thought of sacrificing themselves for strangers.

Jiang Zhiwei’s lips moved slightly, sending her voice into Meng Qi’s ear: “Little monk, what does the ‘Lord of the Six Paths of Reincarnation’ mean by bringing in an ordinary girl? Oh, by the way, that middle-aged man might have the strength of the Acupoint Opening Stage.”

She had always believed the Reincarnation Realm was akin to selecting Gu, specifically targeting young martial artists.

Meng Qi shook his head, indicating he couldn’t guess. Suddenly, he remembered something and said to Jiang Zhiwei, who had walked to the crying girl: “Lady Jiang, have you broken through?”

He asked vaguely since there were strangers around.

“I have,” Jiang Zhiwei patted the girl Xiao Zi’s shoulder and started to comfort her softly.

“Holy monk, my name is Xiang Hui. Please show mercy and take care of me,” the burly man, after reading the exchange list on the central beam of light, quietly approached Meng Qi, bowing and scraping, showing unusual flattery.

Meng Qi’s previous move made Xiang Hui feel that this little monk’s strength was unfathomable, probably stronger than the other three.

Meng Qi looked at Xiang Hui with a half-smile, about to speak when the surrounding scene suddenly changed, with overlapping mountains and rivers, alternating light and darkness.

“The Northern Barbarians have taken over the Central Plains, committing atrocities and slaughtering the people. Shaolin monks have joined local resistance forces.”

“General Dorcha of the Northern Barbarians plans to eliminate this threat by leading many experts and troops to Shaohua Mountain to destroy Shaolin.”

“Dorcha has secretly bribed many Shaolin monks, making this mission seem certain of success. Fortunately, a patriot sacrificed his life to send out this message.”

“Main Task One: Split into two groups, break through the interception by the experts sent by Dorcha, and deliver the list of traitors to Shaolin. The time limit is three days. Those who fail to arrive on time will lose fifty merits. At the end of the reincarnation task, those with insufficient merits will be eliminated! If successful, each person entering the temple will be rewarded with fifty merits.”

“Main Task Two: Will be announced after completing Main Task One.”