Volume 4: The Revelation Unveiled – Chapter 431: The Tathagata Body

Seeing the strangeness of the Vairocana Corpse Buddha, Xuan Nu summoned the Holy Mother of Lishan back and said, “Who has ever told you about the Corpse Abandonment Buddha?” The Holy Mother replied, “Venerable Maitreya once mentioned it, but he knew little about it as well.”
Xuan Nu said, “He was ordinary before. In this Buddhist hell, his power has multiplied greatly—this is surely related to the strange scriptures recited by these Buddha corpses. If we kill all these Buddha corpses…”
“They’re already dead. How can we kill them again?” asked the Holy Mother of Lishan.
“Haven’t you heard that when the body dies, the soul wanders; when the soul dies, the spirit wanders; when the spirit dies, everything comes to an end?” Xuan Nu replied indifferently.
The Holy Mother of Lishan naturally understood. Xuan Nu meant to erase these Buddha corpses completely from the world, leaving them without even the chance of rebirth. At this thought, she felt a chill in her heart. When immortals kill, they usually don’t destroy a person’s soul or essence—except in cases of deep hatred. Though these Buddha corpses had acted as accomplices, they were merely underlings. It seemed Xuan Nu was determined to uproot this Buddhist hell entirely.
As the Holy Mother of Lishan’s teacher, Xuan Nu’s orders were strictly followed. She then gathered Arhat Huangyi, one of Burn the Lamp’s subordinates, and headed toward those Buddha corpses.
Burn the Lamp looked around but saw no trace of the Three Pure Ones. He asked Xuan Nu, “Where have the Three Pure Ones gone?”
Xuan Nu glanced around and saw, in the far south of this living hell, a completely unremarkable mountain peak. The Three Pure Ones were above this peak, arranged in the three directions of heaven, earth, and man, with their six palms facing downward as if covering something extremely powerful beneath the peak.
Curious, Xuan Nu said to Burn the Lamp and Ksitigarbha, “Hold back the Vairocana Corpse Buddha.” With a flash, she arrived beside the Three Pure Ones and glanced down at the base of the peak. What she saw was astonishing—a golden Buddha seated there, six or seven zhang tall. The golden Buddha’s eyes were tightly closed; it seemed unconscious. By its posture, it seemed to be trying to stand up, but it was firmly suppressed by the Three Pure Ones’ magic.
“Which Buddha is this?” Xuan Nu asked.
The Three Pure Ones replied solemnly, “That one outside is the Vairocana Corpse Buddha. This one is the true Corpse Abandonment Buddha!”
Xuan Nu was surprised. “How do you know?”
The Three Pure Ones said, “I’ve heard a little about this technique. The Corpse Abandonment Buddha is actually a Buddha corpse created by the Vairocana Corpse Buddha. You should be able to see what lies hidden beneath this golden body.”
Xuan Nu focused and looked through the golden body. Inside, there lay a person, sitting in lotus position right at the Buddha’s dantian. She could see that this person was also just a corpse. But when she saw his face, she gasped in shock and exclaimed, “How could it be him!”

Yuan Shi said, “Back then, he leaped out of the Creation Furnace and turned into ashes in an instant. Naturally, we thought there was no more Tathagata in the world. Later, when the World-Honored One appeared, various signs made us believe that the Tathagata still existed.”
Xuan Nu sighed, “He deceived everyone. His death back then was fake! Not only was his soul untouched, but his physical body is also here.”
Yuan Shi asked, “I don’t understand. Why would he abandon such an excellent physical body and rebuild the three bodies of the Tathagata?”
Xuan Nu shook her head and said, “There must be something unsatisfactory about it. Given his personality, why would he do something unprofitable?”
Since this Buddha body is the true Corpse-Abandoned Buddha, then what the Holy Mother of Lishan said is wrong. Vairocana Corpse Buddha will not turn into a corpse body; he is alive, while the Corpse-Abandoned Buddha is dead. Inside the golden body lies the physical body of the previous Yuan Tathagata. It’s obvious this corpse cannot be underestimated!
Seeing the Three Pure Ones handling the situation so effortlessly, Xuan Nu asked, “How long will this go on?”
Yuan Shi replied, “Because it’s a real corpse, it’s hard to kill! Thinking back today, the hardness of the previous Yuan Tathagata’s body was somewhat similar to that of the Pillar Holding Up the Sky.”
“Huh?” Xuan Nu was surprised. “Do you feel the same?”
“A body so solid, and yet he was willing to discard it. This shows just how terrifying the third body he’s cultivating now must be,” said Yuan Shi.
Xuan Nu said, “The Corpse-Abandoned Buddha has only a corpse body, without any soul or consciousness. Whoever controls him must be driving his actions. What is Vairocana Corpse Buddha’s background?”
Yuan Shi asked, “Can you find a way to kill him?”
Xuan Nu replied, “Killing him isn’t difficult, but there may be consequences later!” She thought to herself that with countless Buddhas under the Tathagata’s command and so many experts, sending only Vairocana Corpse Buddha to guard this vast living hell must have a reason. Either Vairocana Corpse Buddha has a hidden killing technique, or the people in this hell can be discarded!
The magic techniques practiced by Vairocana Corpse Buddha are all related to corpses. Naturally, he won’t hesitate to sacrifice the lives of the Buddhas in this hell. Even if they all die, it might just fulfill his desires. What exactly is the connection between Vairocana Corpse Buddha and this Corpse-Abandoned Buddha hiding the previous Yuan Tathagata’s body? Knowing he is the controller of the Corpse-Abandoned Buddha, why did Vairocana Corpse Buddha go to the front line? Isn’t he afraid of being killed?
Just then, the golden Buddha suddenly planted his hands on the ground and squatted up. The Three Pure Ones were blown upward by a powerful force, all showing shocked expressions. What kind of cultivation level did they possess, to combine their forces yet still not be able to subdue this Corpse-Abandoned Buddha?
Xuan Nu laughed and said, “Don’t be lazy!”

Yuan Shi said, “Controlling him is no problem, but we can’t keep the three of us tied up here; there are still many things to do!” The three combined their strength and pushed the Golden Buddha back a hundred zhang underground.
Xuan Nu said, “The proper way is to extract the Tathagata’s flesh from his dantian.”
At that moment, Vairocana had already grasped the Jiumang Everlasting Tree and began to compete with Jiumang in strength. Jiumang was highly skilled in overcoming hardness with softness, while Vairocana’s brute force only struck empty space.
The crowd surrounded Vairocana but had few effective methods. Even Rù Shōu’s golden strength could not harm him, let alone others. Even if Hou Tu intervened, she could only trap him—killing him was truly impossible.
Ran Deng slowly stood up and moved swiftly to Vairocana’s side. A halo of light appeared around him, enveloping Vairocana. Vairocana revealed his rows of white teeth and gave Ran Deng a sinister smile, saying, “Ran Deng Buddha? Have you also betrayed the World-Honored One?”
Ran Deng remained silent. His magical power spread, with beams of golden light shining upon Vairocana. Originally pale, Vairocana now showed a golden glow under the light. Ran Deng shouted, “The lights he burns may be extinguished by wind, by running out of oil, by burning out the wicks, or by all of these at once. All lights under heaven belong to me!”
As soon as he spoke, before his voice even faded, the halo around him vanished. Strangely, the golden glow on Vairocana’s body was also absorbed by Ran Deng. As the light flowed away, it seemed to take something with it—wherever the light touched Vairocana’s body, his bones turned black instantly before falling off like coal dust.
Vairocana let out a scream and swung his bone fingers at Ran Deng. Jiumang quickly used the Everlasting Tree to pull Vairocana’s body away. Ran Deng turned behind Vairocana, and another wave of light beams shot at him. With nowhere to escape, Vairocana stretched out his right arm, and five bone fingers shot forth. Ran Deng couldn’t dodge in time. With a flip of his left hand, he revealed a alms bowl, and the five bone fingers fell into it with a thud. When Ran Deng turned the bowl over, he saw that the bottom had been pierced by the five bones.
Ran Deng was shocked. How had Vairocana’s flesh body become so hard? As he prepared to move forward, Xuan Nu said, “Let me handle it!”
Ran Deng stepped back to the Pool of Creation. He could no longer see the myriad elements within the pool; only Wukong sat alone with his eyes closed at the bottom. The entire vast pool was empty except for Wukong. Ran Deng couldn’t help but sigh. Though the lineage of creation was crucial, at this moment, it remained lonely and desolate.

Since its birth, the Divine Ape of Fate had not known days of peace for long before becoming the lineage with the most tortuous destiny in this world. And now, in this time of crisis, it was once again the Divine Ape that was needed to save them. Watching Wukong, Ran Deng couldn’t help but feel deep pity for him.

Xuan Nu approached Vairocana Buddha and first instructed Jiumang to retrieve the Tree of Immortality. Vairocana Buddha glanced at Xuan Nu, who stood still, concentrating her energy. The withered bones that had been turned black by Ran Deng’s light shield gradually turned white—his bones could even heal on their own, just like flesh and skin!

Xuan Nu asked, “Did you obtain this physical body from the Buddha of Corpse Abandonment?”

Vairocana Buddha was slightly surprised and said, “How do you know?”

Xuan Nu replied, “Apart from the Pillar That Supports the Heavens, where else in the world could there be something so hard?”

Vairocana Buddha’s strange eyes rolled twice as he said, “Bodhisattva Virupa, you do have some insight. How about joining the World-Honored One?”

Xuan Nu sneered, “To become a walking corpse like you all for a lifetime? Go ask the Tathagata—would he ever make me submit?”

Upon hearing Xuan Nu mention the Tathagata, Vairocana Buddha’s eyes lit up, and he shouted, “If you won’t enter the Buddhist path, then enter my hell!” He folded his arms and rushed toward Xuan Nu.

Xuan Nu had already activated her secret technique of Xuan Kong. Mastering this spell to perfection, she immediately saw that though Vairocana Buddha’s physical body was hard, it was still not as perfect as the Tathagata’s own body from earlier—it still had many weaknesses.

With a light touch, Xuan Nu sent a gentle, feminine force through the gaps in Vairocana Buddha’s sternum. His movements suddenly froze, and he exclaimed in shock, “How do you know?”

Xuan Nu guided this force to move throughout Vairocana Buddha’s body. Instantly, he turned into a puppet controlled by strings, performing various strange movements uncontrollably.

Xuan Nu said, “If you had truly mastered that physical body, I might not be able to do anything to you. But right now, killing you is as easy as flipping my hand!”

Fear appeared on Vairocana Buddha’s face as he cried, “Please don’t kill me!”

Xuan Nu sneered, “You want to trick me into killing you? Delusional!” She didn’t know what connection Vairocana Buddha had with the Buddha of Corpse Abandonment. If Vairocana Buddha died, it might trigger a drastic change in the Buddha of Corpse Abandonment, allowing that indestructible physical body to emerge—which would be a terrible loss.

Just then, from above the Buddhist hell, an almost invisible thread of black fate swiftly penetrated Vairocana Buddha’s body. At first, he was shocked, but then relief appeared on his face as he fell backward and died.

Xuan Nu was shocked. This thread of black fate had arrived at just the right time—it must be related to the Tathagata. And if the Tathagata had killed Vairocana Buddha at this moment, he surely had an even more powerful move in store.

Xuan Nu immediately thought of something, so she approached the corpse of Vairocana to seek his original spirit. Inside the skull, Vairocana’s spirit flashed, and Xuan Nu reached out to catch it, but the spirit vanished like light in nothingness.