Chapter 157: Samsara Refines the Flesh

Chapter 157: Forging the Physical Body in Samsara

"Kun Kun, can you protect the two of them?" Wu Hong felt his soul trembling in the face of the endless black hole, barely able to protect himself. Yet, reluctant to break his promise, he still asked Kun Kun.

Kun Kun blinked its small eyes, staring at the black hole billowing with endless black vapor, and said with drool dripping from its mouth, "No problem! Big Brother, this place has no effect on me at all! My food has arrived!"

The little beast Kun Kun suddenly emitted a brilliant light that shot toward Ox-Head and Horse-Face. Before the two could dodge, they were each enveloped by a peculiar energy.

Ordinarily, the bizarre Samsara tunnel outside was filled with boundless and oppressive might. But once wrapped in this energy from Kun Kun, the two underworld guards were pleasantly surprised to find that the endless power of Samsara exerted zero pressure on them anymore.

The two guards gradually began to believe in the extraordinary nature of the little beast before them.

"Big Brother? Do you need my help?" Kun Kun asked, widening its innocent eyes and looking at Wu Hong.

Wu Hong gently patted the top of its head and said, "When Big Brother is in extreme danger, I will naturally ask for your help. Not right now."

Wu Hong did not have masochistic tendencies or a deliberate desire for danger; rather, a profound sense of crisis stirred within his heart. This crisis stemmed from the drastic changes taking place in the outside world.

Though the passage between heaven and earth had opened, temporarily suppressing the supreme experts of the Primordial Realm, heaven alone knew how many terrifying powerhouses would suddenly flood into the mortal world once that suppression vanished entirely.

Only by making oneself sufficiently powerful could one remain unchanged in the face of all changes.

Even though the Samsara tunnel before them radiated a boundless, terrifying aura, Wu Hong refused to pass up any opportunity to grow stronger. Since the Yellow Springs could be traversed safely, why not the Samsara tunnel?

A confidence that looked down upon the entire world instantly refreshed Wu Hong's spirit, though the exact origin of this confidence remained unknown even to him.

The ghostly carriage did not halt its pace because of Wu Hong's fear or scattered thoughts.

With a whoosh, the ghostly carriage soared into empty air, flying directly into the pitch-black Samsara tunnel.

The very instant the ghostly carriage entered the Samsara tunnel, Wu Hong's expression changed drastically. "Not good—" He immediately crossed his legs and sat on the carriage floor.

The might of Samsara was so overwhelming that as soon as Wu Hong entered alongside the ghostly carriage, the powerful Samsara aura poured directly through the carriage's open windows, raging and sweeping wildly through the interior.

Fortunately, the ghostly carriage was a supreme treasure of the underworld, providing a certain degree of buffering against the power of Samsara. Moreover, Wu Hong was different from ordinary souls; he was a true physical entity carrying a soul! Though shocked by the sheer magnitude of the energy, he could barely manage to resist it.

A physical body crossing the Samsara tunnel while bearing a soul had never happened before in history. No one could predict what consequences might ensue.

As for Ox-Head and Horse-Face, they were completely protected by the layer of energy Kun Kun had attached to their bodies.

The two guards wore expressions of utter disbelief, realizing they were entirely unaffected by the Samsara tunnel.

"Ah! We can really traverse the Samsara tunnel like this? I can't believe it!" The two shouted and cheered, full of joy like children discovering a rare treasure, their previous terror completely vanished.

Truth be told, despite their vast experience, Ox-Head and Horse-Face had never encountered the myriad phenomena of the mortal realm. Such a dramatic reaction was only natural.

Meanwhile, Kun Kun's existence defied all comprehension. Leaving the others dumbfounded, its tiny body suddenly darted right out of the carriage, roaming and wandering freely within the Samsara domain as if searching for something.

The two guards watched in blank amazement, completely forgetting about Wu Hong, who was struggling desperately against the power of Samsara.

Outside the carriage, Kun Kun kept a constant watch on Wu Hong's condition, ready to intervene with protection the moment anything went amiss.

"Ah—my physical body is solidifying, and my soul is growing stronger!" Ox-Head and Horse-Face exchanged glances, seeing shock and delight mirrored in each other's eyes.

In the underworld, the two guards possessed true physical forms and were complete underworld creatures. However, passing through the Samsara tunnel should have reduced them to mere souls, destined to reach the outside world and seek the chance of reincarnation.

Yet now, all of this had changed utterly, entirely because of Kun Kun's miraculous abilities.

In truth, Kun Kun was not yet powerful enough to actively fight the power of Samsara; rather, its identity was simply too extraordinary. It belonged to an antiquity so ancient that it shared the same era as the creator of the Samsara tunnel itself.

Furthermore, its status was on par with the creator of the Samsara tunnel. For reasons unknown, however, it had regressed to its current diminutive size.

Nevertheless, this did not hinder Kun Kun from roaming freely within Samsara. The reason was simple: the Samsara tunnel only targeted living beings born after its natural creation.

Since Kun Kun had existed prior to the inception of the Samsara tunnel, it naturally remained unaffected!

Of course, Ox-Head and Horse-Face knew nothing of these profound secrets, and Wu Hong knew even less.

Wu Hong's knowledge of the Kun Kun beast's identity came solely from a chance reading of a book in the Prince Wuwei's Mansion, and at the time, he had entirely disbelieved that such a creature could exist between heaven and earth.

With a loud crash, the entire ghostly carriage shook violently. Wu Hong, Ox-Head, and Horse-Face were so startled their jaws nearly dropped to the floor. Clinging to the transparent window of the ghostly carriage was a headless human corpse, fresh blood gushing continuously from its severed neck.

Yet this entire corpse radiated rolling waves of celestial immortal energy—a presence that even the power of Samsara could not completely obliterate!

"What is that?" The two guards cried out in unison like children from the mortal realm.

Sensing the terrifying energy fluctuations, Wu Hong knew that if this monster broke into the carriage, it would instantly tear them to shreds without a doubt.

Yet the ghostly carriage was, after all, a supreme treasure, capable of carrying thousands of souls across the Samsara tunnel hundreds of times without suffering the slightest damage.

Although Ox-Head and Horse-Face were underworld creatures who had witnessed countless malicious ghosts—some even more wicked than the entity before them—the notion of soaring freely through the Samsara tunnel was something they would never have dared to imagine. What terrifying might was this?

"Ah—food, food!" Seeing the sudden appearance of the headless monster, Kun Kun shouted in a human voice, brimming with excitement as drool streamed from its mouth. With a flash, it charged straight toward the headless corpse.

The headless corpse seemed to encounter something terrifying. Catching sight of Kun Kun hurtling toward it, it immediately detached itself from the carriage window and tried to flee.

"Food, don't run, don't run!" Kun Kun panicked and shouted aloud. It was truly starving; mortal food provided only a momentary novelty and could never fill its stomach.

In its anxiety, Kun Kun's body suddenly expanded, growing limitlessly until it swelled to ten thousand zhang in the blink of an eye, as if threatening to split the Samsara tunnel apart.

Its terrifyingly gargantuan form left Ox-Head and Horse-Face with their mouths agape, filled with absolute disbelief.

In its enlarged state, Kun Kun resembled a half-fish, half-bird hybrid. Opening its massive maw, it exerted an infinite suction force that devoured the surrounding darkness.

The fleeing headless corpse, brimming with celestial energy, was instantly frozen in place. Despite struggling violently, its efforts were completely futile.

The gigantic Kun Kun drew the headless corpse into its mouth like a leviathan swallowing water, and immediately began to chew.

Before Kun Kun, the corpse was no larger than an ant, yet as Kun Kun's massive jaws ground together, crunching sounds of fracturing bone echoed out.

The sound was utterly bone-chilling, sending a freezing shiver through Ox-Head and Horse-Face. Meanwhile, Wu Hong's situation was growing increasingly perilous. As the ghostly carriage plunged deeper and deeper into the Samsara tunnel, the pressure of Samsara multiplied exponentially.

The blood vessels across Wu Hong's entire body bulged violently against his skin, looking unimaginably ferocious, like countless tiny dragons coiling around his frame.

Wu Hong was on the verge of exploding. Suddenly, Kun Kun's voice echoed in his ear, "Big Brother, do you need my help?"

Unable to spare an ounce of energy to converse with Kun Kun, Wu Hong could only shake his head slightly to indicate he could still hold on.

A moment later, just as Wu Hong reached the threshold of self-detonation and prepared to cry out to Kun Kun for assistance, a surge of intense heat flared in his chest. Startled, Wu Hong watched as a brilliant golden light burst from his chest.

Following a dazzling flash of light, a thousand-armed Tathagata Buddha statue materialized before Wu Hong—identical to the thousand-armed Tathagata dharma body Wu Hong had possessed before his demonic transformation.

The newly appeared thousand-armed Tathagata dharma body vibrated slightly with light, drawing Wu Hong's body directly into its embrace and wrapping him completely within its protection.

As underworld creatures, Ox-Head and Horse-Face loathed such sacred entities most of all. Yet this sacred aura was akin to that of a heavenly deity, its divine might pressing down like the sky itself, forcing the two guards to drop to their knees in cold sweat, dare not making any superfluous movements.

At the same time, their minds reeled in shock. *Just who on earth is this kid? How can he alternate between a monstrous, demonic aura and such supreme holiness?*

Once the thousand-armed Tathagata Buddha statue fully enclosed Wu Hong, it radiated a gentle, sacred golden light that drastically reduced the ubiquitous and oppressive pressure of Samsara.

Wu Hong finally let out a breath of relief. Yet before any disappointment could settle in, he abruptly realized that the thousand-armed Buddha statue did not isolate the power of Samsara; instead, it tempered that power, rendering it gentle as it continuously cleansed and refined his physical body.

The same applied to Ox-Head and Horse-Face. Though shielded by the energy barrier bestowed by Kun Kun, wisps of Samsara energy continually tempered their physical forms as well.

All three grew quiet. Such a once-in-a-millennium opportunity was a supreme stroke of fortune for cultivators; to waste it would be an insult to the Heavenly Dao, inviting karmic retribution.