Chapter 154: Massive Surge in Strength, A Step Away from the Xiantian Realm

Chapter 154: Massive Surge in Strength, A Step Away from the Xiantian Realm

Wu Hong was pleasantly surprised to discover that another demonic arm had condensed on his wall of demons. He had not expected the demonic Thousand-Armed Tathagata to be so bizarre that it could not only shoot and kill human souls, but also increase his own strength.

The immobilized, demonized True Explanation of the Great Sun Tathagata floating above Wu Hong's head had undergone a complete transformation. Even the title of the book had changed.

It was no longer called the True Explanation of the Great Sun Tathagata. Instead, it was now called "Shatter". On the cover of this entire manual, there was only a single character: "Shatter", with nothing else.

That character seemed to possess an endless suction force, devouring human souls, devouring everything between heaven and earth, causing all things in the universe to shatter and perish.

The original manual of the Great Sun Tathagata had now turned into a book of "Shatter". Wu Hong could not comprehend the meaning behind this, but the manual of "Shatter" hovering above his head at this moment automatically flipped to a page. Wu Hong remembered the contents of this page clearly; it originally read, "Deliver all living beings from suffering." Yet now, it read, "Slaughter all living beings, shatter everything."

Wu Hong's soul trembled. He had never known who the author of this mysterious manual was, nor did he know what kind of entity the old man who sold the manual was.

However, the scene before him seemed far too bizarre. The contents of a manual could actually change along with his demonization, altering even the text within.

A flash of insight flowed through Wu Hong's heart at this moment. The original meaning of delivering all living beings from suffering was to help people escape suffering and exist with pure souls untouched by the boundless miseries of hell.

Was it a technique of righteous awe? In the past, Wu Hong had laughingly and simply categorized it as evil, believing that such a bizarre method of forcibly transforming people was extremely malicious.

As it turned out, anyone assimilated by the vertical eyes in the palms of the Thousand-Armed Tathagata had their souls purified. Even if they died and entered the Nether Springs, they bore no residual sin or karma, and were spared the suffering of being cleansed by the boundless bloody waters of the Nether Springs.

Could this be considered supreme benevolence?

On the other hand, the current doctrine of slaughtering all living beings was truly a boundless evil technique. The vertical eyes in the palms of the thousand hands of the Tathagata form—

Not only could they not deliver all living beings from suffering, but they would also completely scatter a person's soul and mortal spirit. Moreover, all the power of that person's soul would be possessed by Wu Hong. This was the true, complete demonic art.

Meanwhile, the original True Explanation of the Great Sun Tathagata was a genuine, awe-inspiring, supreme secret manual of the Buddhist clan.

Only at this very moment did Wu Hong fully understand the true function within the True Explanation of the Great Sun Tathagata.

However, it was already too late. The manual of the True Explanation of the Great Sun Tathagata, along with its very title, had changed, and the contents within were now completely the opposite of what they once were.

The character "Shatter" on the manual did not belong to any known script; it seemed to have existed since the heaven and earth formed themselves! Of course, it was only because Wu Hong's soul had completely fused with this mysterious manual that he recognized the character on it as "Shatter".

In an unknown and unfathomable space, an old man stood suspended in mid-air, suddenly opening his eyes wide with a face full of disbelief.

Wu Hong opened his eyes, which seemed devoid of any emotion that a human should possess. Looking at the souls inside the ghost carriage, which were constantly being cleansed by the boundless waters of the Nether Springs, he murmured with absolute indifference and coldness, "You people committed boundless evils in life. Upon reaching hell, you must endure boundless suffering. Better that you vanish completely from heaven and earth..."

The thousands of arms belonging to Wu Hong's manifestation suddenly waved in unison, growing longer and larger. The vertical eyes within the thousand palms glared with fury, continuously shooting streams of demonic light toward the struggling souls trapped inside the ghost carriage.

Instantly, hundreds and thousands of souls shattered, completely vanishing between heaven and earth.

Streaks of black light continuously surged into Wu Hong's body, causing arm after arm to become solid! Wu Hong's strength grew with violent ferocity.

The demonic Qi surrounding Wu Hong's body grew denser and denser, eventually obscuring the main body of the Thousand-Armed Tathagata from sight altogether.

Yet Wu Hong's strength skyrocketed crazily due to the eradication of soul after soul.

Wu Hong did not know whether to feel joy or sorrow. His soul remained as tranquil as an ancient well, though he felt a sense of urgency: if he continued like this, he might very well become the enemy of everyone in heaven and earth in the future.

For even he himself felt terrified by his own abilities.

With good reason: no matter the Demon King, regardless of what demonic art they practiced, when they killed someone, the slain person would still enter the cycle of reincarnation rather than truly vanish from heaven and earth and be completely obliterated.

What Wu Hong was doing right now, however, was the most heinous and heaven-defying act. Although in his own understanding, these wicked people were merely receiving the punishment they deserved—

Yet the pain of those who had been harmed by these villains still remained, and the absolute best solution was for these souls to vanish entirely from heaven and earth.

The space within the ghost carriage was a vast minor world, and it was impossible to tell how many souls it held—humans, beasts, everything was there, all burdened by sin and enduring boundless suffering.

The demonized dharma body of the Thousand-Armed Tathagata manifested by Wu Hong grew larger against the wind, expanding until it was almost level with the heavens and the earth. His hands grew massive, covering everything, and the demonic eyes in his palms became even more bizarre, continuously shooting demonic light that shifted gradually from black to blood-red, ruthlessly striking down all the wickedness around him.

"Ah—!" With a single cry, a soul shrouded in boundless black Qi was struck down, barely managing to emit a final miserable scream.

Wu Hong discovered with astonishment that this soul was extremely peculiar; it had actually been impervious to being completely cleansed by the bloody waters of the Nether Springs, and only under the illumination of Wu Hong's demonic light was it thoroughly dissolved into heaven and earth.

The number of solidified arms on Wu Hong's body had already exceeded nine hundred. It was simply unimaginable how many evil souls Wu Hong had caused to vanish from heaven and earth in this brief moment.

One had to know that Wu Hong's strength would only condense a single arm when he shot and killed a soul at the Post-Nativity Great Perfection realm.

For a realm one level lower than the Post-Nativity Great Perfection, it took one thousand times as many souls, and for yet another level lower, it required a thousand times more than that.

With such geometric growth, the fact that Wu Hong had managed to condense over nine hundred arms meant an astronomical number of evil souls must have been slaughtered.

Though Wu Hong initially felt a trace of dread in his heart, upon realizing that his nine hundred-plus arms were incomparably solid, a profound sense of calm settled over him.

He sighed inwardly, "There really are so many wicked people in this world!"

Wu Hong raised his head and roared angrily, "This heaven—I shall use my slaughter to purify it! This earth—I shall protect it with my blood! Wherever there is wickedness, there shall I be to punish it!!!"

Whether due to some misperception or some other reason, the bloody waters of the Nether Springs churned even more violently after Wu Hong's defiant roar.

Even the spiritual Qi of the entire Heavenly Journey Continent trembled at Wu Hong's vow, jolting awake several beings who had been immersed in cultivation.

Some wicked individuals were directly jolted to the point of vomiting blood, nearly suffering a deviation in their cultivation.

What Wu Hong did not know—and what everyone who had yet to reach the Xiantian realm shared in ignorance—was that the higher one's cultivation realm, the less one could casually make vows; otherwise, failing to fulfill them would inevitably draw the entanglement of boundless karmic retribution.

It held no benefit whatsoever for cultivation.

Wu Hong's heaven-defying oath from a moment ago was clearly recognized by the Heavenly Dao, which was why it resonated and caused a tremor throughout heaven and earth.

Wu Hong banished the shackles from his heart, rendering his mind even clearer. His thousand demonic hands once more frantically lashed out with demonic light, and instantly, countless millions of evil souls were forcibly slain and made to vanish from heaven and earth.

Finally, no more evil souls remained. The entire interior of the ghost carriage fell silent, and through this massacre, Wu Hong had condensed nine hundred and ninety-nine demonic arms.

Now, within the ghost carriage, there were no longer any souls entangled by black Qi. Remaining instead were figures with serene expressions; when the boundless bloody waters of the Nether Springs touched these individuals, they naturally turned gentle and did not stain their bodies in the slightest.

Clearly, these people had performed an immense number of good deeds during their lifetimes and were often benefactors of their communities.

Wu Hong still held deep respect for these individuals; at the very least, the current state of his own soul was vastly more evil than theirs.

Yet evidently, the soul strength of these benevolent people was not as formidable as the souls of those who had accumulated boundless grievances and committed limitless slaughter during their lifetimes.

But that was no longer important. Suddenly, Wu Hong understood a truth: people in the mortal world often said that good and evil would eventually be recompensed, and that if retribution had not come, the time simply had not yet arrived.

As it turned out, this referred precisely to the varying amounts of disaster one had to endure during the journey through hell after death.

The souls of these good people did not suffer the special, harsh cleansing of the bloody waters of the Nether Springs; they passed through their brief suffering safely. Yet those who had acted wickedly in the mortal world had to endure the boundless agony of the cleansing.

So, this was where the retribution for good and evil people truly lay.

In the past, Wu Hong had also felt lost. His father, Prince Wuwei, had fought glorious battles throughout his life and, although he had caused boundless slaughter, he had also brought well-being to countless millions of commoners of the Great Gan. Summarizing it all, he could be considered a truly great benefactor...

For a person's benevolence or wickedness could not be judged solely by whether they did good or bad deeds; one had to evaluate their good and evil actions comprehensively.

Although Prince Wuwei had followed Emperor Yang Guang to conquer the world and committed countless killings, he had also delivered the millions of commoners who suffered under the cruel oppression of the Great Li Dynasty. After balancing his merits and demerits, he still retained boundless blessed rewards.

Calculated this way, it was a massive affinity for goodness.

If Prince Wuwei were to die at this moment and arrive at these Nether Springs, he would undoubtedly be judged as a great benefactor.