Volume 4: The Revelation Revealed – Chapter 432: Seizing the Corpse and Abandoning It

Xuan Nu had a vague sense of foreboding. Suddenly, a loud explosion came from the south—the mountain guarded by the Three Pure Ones shattered abruptly. Xuan Nu thought to herself that something was wrong; surely the Golden Buddha had emerged. Seeing the Three Pure Ones flying backward lightly, she felt slightly relieved. Hmph, these three still hadn’t exerted their full strength. Once the Corpse-Abandoning Buddha was possessed by the spirit of the Vairocana Corpse Buddha, he would be far stronger than before, leaving the Three Pure Ones unprepared.

Yuan Shi let out a soft exclamation and shouted, “Stabilize!”

The Three Pure Ones gathered around again, using the same “Stabilize” spell to suppress the Corpse-Abandoning Buddha. But this time, the Corpse-Abandoning Buddha was different from before—he even showed a strange smile. His massive body sank underground before emerging again using earthearthearth magic magic from beside the Creation Pool!

He appeared right near the Qilin. As the Qilin stepped down, the Corpse-Abandoning Buddha’s large hand swiftly grabbed its ankle and squeezed tightly. The Qilin felt excruciating pain and quickly reverted to human form, pulling its leg back.

The Corpse-Abandoning Buddha then swung a punch at it. Realizing his immense strength, the Qilin dodged quickly. The Corpse-Abandoning Buddha stood up, his six-zhang-tall golden body imposing. Without using any spells, he knocked over three or four of the yellow-robed Buddhas around him.

The Three Pure Ones arrived. Laojun took out his banana fan and swatted at the Corpse-Abandoning Buddha. It was a fan that generated wind. A gust of cold wind blew, but the Corpse-Abandoning Buddha didn’t retreat even half a step—he actually stepped forward two steps and praised, “What a nice wind!”

Laojun frowned. Yuan Shi said, “Can your banana fan really move his physical body?” Xuan Nu stepped forward and said, “That’s not it! He has a treasure on him!”

“Huh? What treasure?” Hearing that there was a treasure, Yuan Shi realized it must be something extraordinary.

Xuan Nu replied, “The Earth Spirit Pearl!”

Upon hearing this, Laojun suddenly understood. His banana fan was most vulnerable to artifacts like the Wind-Stabilizing Pearl. The Earth Spirit Pearl, created from Pangu’s axe, was countless times more powerful. Even if he swatted at it all night, it wouldn’t have any effect on the Corpse-Abandoning Buddha.

The Spirit Treasure Daoist snapped, “Then seize it!”

Xuan Nu said with a wry smile, “The Corpse-Abandoning Buddha’s physical body is extremely tough. Even spells can’t harm him. Now that his spirit is controlled by the Vairocana Corpse Buddha, he can act at will. It will be very difficult to take his treasure.”

Yuan Shi suggested, “How about using a formation to trap him?”

Xuan Nu replied, “That’s the only option left!”

At this moment, Shi Qi Fo was fighting alongside everyone else. His strength was immense, and his physical body was even more durable than any magical weapon. When he unleashed his power, it was difficult for others to counter him, forcing them to retreat step by step under his pressure. Fortunately, the Earth Goddess used her earth-related powers to trap Shi Qi Fo on the ground; otherwise, it would have been even harder to resist him.

Jùmáng summoned the Everlasting Tree, causing it to twist endlessly. Its green trunk spread across Shi Qi Fo’s body, wrapping around him tightly.

Shi Qi Fo paid no attention to this. With a few simple movements, he thinned the Everlasting Tree out significantly. Although the tree wouldn’t break, it had little effect on him. At that moment, a bright white disc fell from the sky and struck Shi Qi Fo on the head. His head shook, and he saw it was Laojun’s Vajra Axe. He roared in anger, “Ox-nosed fellow, you always know how to launch sneak attacks!”

Laojun retracted his Vajra Axe, feeling quite helpless. This Shi Qi Fo had become almost invincible.

As for Wukong, he entered the Pool of Creation, just like a magnet thrown into iron powder. The powerful forces within the pool surged into his body.

The Divine Ape of Creation—how could it fear creation? Wukong knew that countless masters above were protecting him, so he sat calmly at the bottom of the pool, absorbing the creative energies. This time, he had no concerns. Whether to cherish or squander these energies didn’t matter; if his strength was insufficient, the energies could still be used by others. Whether that led to good or evil was beyond his control.

It was unknown how many lives this pool of creative energies had destroyed. As Wukong focused his energy, he thought to himself that in this world, instead of the heavens causing harm, it was the sages who tormented living beings. Compared to nature’s tendency to oppress the weak, exploiting one’s soul was a hundred times more vile.

With no distractions, Wukong’s nine orifices were fully open, and the creative energies flowed into his body as if finding their way home.

After absorbing the creative energies from the Immortal Peaches, Wukong no longer had to worry about an overflow of ordinary creative energies. Thus, no matter how rapidly they came, he could process them calmly. The white leaf on the Hunyuan Dao Fruit grew fuller, while the black leaf remained unchanged.

It took an unknown amount of time before Wukong had absorbed every last bit of energy from the pool. He wondered why no one had come to disturb him after such a long time. Could it be that the Tathagata really didn’t care about this pool of creative energies?

He opened his eyes and looked up, seeing a golden Buddha wreaking havoc on the ground. Xuan Nu, the Three Pure Ones, Ksitigarbha, and others surrounded the Buddha tightly. They didn’t attack directly but used their magic to hold the Buddha in place.

The Earth Goddess’s face turned red from exertion. Among all these people, she was struggling the most, as she had to constantly maintain her earth-related powers to prevent Shi Qi Fo from escaping underground.

Yuan Shi’s figure was as elusive as a phantom, circling the Corpse-Abandoning Buddha countless times. With his hands moving rapidly, he seemed to be casting some kind of spell. Seeing how formidable this golden Buddha was, Wukong didn’t hesitate at all. He leaped out of the pool and swung his staff down in a fierce strike. The Corpse-Abandoning Buddha didn’t dodge; the staff hit him right on the top of the head. Wukong felt as if his arm bone had been shattered, filled with shock. When he looked again, a dent had appeared on the Corpse-Abandoning Buddha’s head from the strike of his Tianji Staff. Xuan Nu was overjoyed—she hadn’t expected the Tianji Staff to be the perfect weapon against the Corpse-Abandoning Buddha. She quickly shouted, “Turn it into a sharp blade!” Wukong immediately understood and transformed the Tianji Staff into a serrated sword. Taking advantage of the Corpse-Abandoning Buddha being trapped by others and unable to move, he began sawing at the Buddha’s head with repeated blows. Qilin laughed and said, “What a great saw!” No matter how strong the Corpse-Abandoning Buddha was, he couldn’t withstand so many opponents. In desperation, he screamed loudly. Halfway through the sawing, Qilin cursed, “This monster is actually solid!” Wukong replied with a smile, “Constant effort eventually breaks through—whether it’s solid or hollow, it doesn’t matter!” After much effort, the Corpse-Abandoning Buddha’s head finally fell off, silent once more. If not for the magical forces holding it up, it might have collapsed. Many people felt relieved, but Xuan Nu shouted, “Wukong, be careful!” Wukong became alert and looked closely. Another ordinary Buddha emerged from the Corpse-Abandoning Buddha’s neck. Xuan Nu said, “This is the true form of the Corpse-Abandoning Buddha. This physical body belongs to the previous Yuan Tathagata. Right now, the spirit of the Vairocana Corpse Buddha is inside it—be careful.” As soon as the Corpse-Abandoning Buddha appeared, Yuan Shi immediately unfurled a hanging banner. Seeing it, Xuan Nu whispered, “The Hunyuan Banner has appeared!” Yuan Shi held the Hunyuan Banner upside down, unfurled its surface, and covered the Corpse-Abandoning Buddha with it. The Corpse-Abandoning Buddha’s body was much more agile; it bent and rushed outward. Lu Shou intercepted it, swinging his double axes at it. The Corpse-Abandoning Buddha stretched out his palms to block the axes’ blades and used the momentum to fly backward, landing in front of Ran Deng. Ran Deng wrapped his sleeves around it, and a faint golden light shone through. The Corpse-Abandoning Buddha seemed to fear this golden light and rushed toward Qilin instead. Qilin fought against both the Vairocana Corpse Buddha and the Corpse-Abandoning Buddha, but neither side gained any advantage. Frustrated, he ignored the fact that his defensive barriers were open and threw both fists at once, not caring whether he could hit them or not—his only goal was to vent his anger first. The Corpse-Abandoning Buddha saw that Qilin was only attacking and not defending, so he also threw both fists at the same time. All four fists struck the opponent’s chest. The Corpse-Abandoning Buddha remained unmoved, but Qilin spat out a mouthful of blood, splashing it all over the Corpse-Abandoning Buddha’s head and face.

Seeing the qilin injured, everyone was terrified. Dayu quickly picked up the qilin, who replied with a smile, “Impressive!” Meanwhile, Shi Qi Fo let out a loud scream and covered his eyes. Wukong suddenly realized that the qilin’s blood could harm Shi Qi Fo! He glanced at Xuan Nu, about to speak, when she also realized something and said, “His body was indeed forged from the Pillar That Supports the Heavens; only the blood of the five kings can break it!” Wukong hurried to Randalan’s side and asked, “Master, how much of that sacred liquid remains?” Randalan was stunned and replied, “Two drops.” Wukong nearly fainted—two drops? What good could they do against Shi Qi Fo? Randalan explained, “Almost all of it was used to create the Creation Furnace; these two drops are what I managed to save.” Wukong pondered silently. Now that the phoenix was gone, where could they find the blood of the five kings? Would no one be able to control Shi Qi Fo from now on? Xuan Nu, knowing what Wukong was thinking, came over and said, “The phoenix may not be gone forever. Matters concerning the universe aren’t as simple as one might think. Even small changes over thousands of years are significant events.” Wukong thought to himself, “I’ve only been in this world for a short time—do I really have to encounter such major events?” Just as Shi Qi Fo could no longer see, the Yuan Shi Hun Yuan Banner finally covered him. Laojun’s Vajra Axe was summoned and placed on Shi Qi Fo. Ling Bao Dao Zun, who never used magical weapons, waved his sleeves, wrapping countless loops around Shi Qi Fo’s feet. Everyone understood and used their own supernatural powers to bind Shi Qi Fo tightly again. Yuan Shi recited a spell, and the banner wrapped around Shi Qi Fo like a cylinder, allowing air only at the top and bottom. He took out two pieces of yellow paper from his bosom and threw them casually—one above and one below—sealing the cylinder formed by the banner. Laojun ordered, “Retire your powers!” Doubtful, only a few people stopped using their magic. Xuan Nu said, “Even if you don’t trust the Great Heavenly Venerable, you should trust the power of the Hun Yuan Banner!” Yuan Shi smiled bitterly and agreed, “Sister, you’re right.” After everyone withdrew their powers, Shi Qi Fo continued to wriggle inside the banner but couldn’t escape. Laojun took out a red gourd and put Shi Qi Fo inside it, saying, “We’ll deal with him later.” Seeing Shi Qi Fo finally captured, everyone felt relieved. Of the sixty-plus people, more than a dozen were injured, but thankfully none were seriously hurt except for the qilin. Yet the qilin’s blood wasn’t in vain—it had led to a way to counter Shi Qi Fo.

After the arduous journey through Hell of Waiting, the task was finally completed. Xuan Nu glanced once more at the empty Pool of Creation and said to Wukong, “It only took you five days to absorb all the essence from this pool—much faster than I expected.”
Wukong replied, “In the Eight Hells of Buddhism, it takes forty days to complete the task.”
Xuan Nu snapped, “That sounds easy for you to say. If the Tathagata hasn’t acted yet, there must be a reason. It’s better to act swiftly while he’s unable to move.”
At her command, the group set off in large numbers toward the second Buddhist hell—the Hell of Black Ropes.