Chapter 158: The Shattering of the Divine Statue

Chapter 158: The Shattering of the Deity Statue

Seeing that the one human and two ghosts inside the carriage were safe, Kun Kun completely ignored them, frantically shuttling through the cycle of reincarnation in search of what it called food.

There were many unknown and powerful entities within the cycle of reincarnation. Kun Kun had only been here once before, back when it was still just an egg.

Yet it possessed a perfect memory? Having shuttled through the cycle to absorb sufficient energy, it later chanced upon entry into the Heavenly Book's miniature world to survive, until it encountered Wu Hong.

A headless demonic torso, an immortal body with half its side shattered, incomplete and bizarrely shaped powerful beings—all of these were targets of Kun Kun's hunt.

Those entities within the cycle that could hardly be called living creatures possessed an instinctive awareness; the moment Kun Kun approached, they scattered and fled in all directions.

Yet what did Kun Kun know of sympathy or pity? To Kun Kun, these things were merely food!

Kun Kun's form continuously grew larger, as if its body could expand infinitely so long as it obtained enough energy replenishment.

However, the form Kun Kun assumed at this moment was altogether too bizarre; even if it appeared in the outside world, no one would be able to recognize what species Kun Kun belonged to.

It possessed a flat, fish-like head, while simultaneously growing a pair of colossal wings composed of billions of steel blades.

Reincarnation was a terrifying existence to any living creature. Even the holy spirits of the Origin Realm, if they entered the reincarnation tunnel without protection, would be instantly pulverized into dust.

One could imagine how powerful those fragmented bodies within the cycle must have been in life, yet even the formidable power of reincarnation had failed to completely annihilate them.

Not long after, as the ghost carriage ventured deeper, vast expanses of fire appeared within the pitch-black reincarnation tunnel. This fire was the nameless heart-flame that purifies the universe, originally a flame dedicated to purifying souls.

Normally, even if a soul was protected by the ghost carriage, touching this flame—though not resulting in the complete destruction of the soul—would wear away all memories of past lives, completely purifying the soul.

At this moment, however, Wu Hong and the Ox-Head and Horse-Face felt differently. They merely felt a generalized feverish heat throughout their bodies, with even their souls showing signs of melting, yet they still faced no danger.

Wu Hong was protected by the Thousand-Handed Tathagata Buddha statue, while the Ox-Head and Horse-Face felt even more at ease. That cluster of protective energy seemed not to repel the power of reincarnation at all, preserving the wholeness of the two minor ghost officials' souls.

Whenever the protective energy of the two grew slightly weaker, Kun Kun—who was gradually growing stronger—would attach a layer of itself to the two ghost officials.

Following that came the reincarnation bound with the special energy of water, the reincarnation bound with metal energy, the reincarnation bound with wood energy, and the reincarnation bound with earth energy.

Constantly tempering the physical bodies and souls of Ox-Head, Horse-Face, and Wu Hong, all three experienced a qualitative leap in both body and soul.

The reason reincarnation possessed so many different types of energy was because the myriad things of heaven, earth, and the cosmos were likewise composed of the most basic elements.

Whether a person was alive or had died, their soul was composed of these most fundamental energies of the universe.

For the living, the five elements corresponded to the internal organs; for the dead, the attributes of the soul were similarly divided into Yin and Yang and the Five Elements.

Yet the benefits that these five different energies brought to Wu Hong, Ox-Head, and Horse-Face were completely incalculable.

The original purpose of these energies was to completely eradicate the five-element attributes from the souls of humans or any living creatures.

Yet because they could not harm the bodies of the human and the two ghost officials, they brought endless benefits to the three.

Kun Kun underwent the greatest change. Wearing a look of complete satisfaction, its body shrank and reverted to the appearance of a vulture, though its little belly could be seen bulging slightly.

The monsters in the reincarnation tunnel seemed to have been swept clean by it, leaving behind utter silence!

Wu Hong gradually discovered that the Tathagata Dharma body protecting him was developing larger and larger cracks. Those fissures had originally been caused when traversing the spatial thunder tribulations.

Judging by this momentum, if the ghost carriage's journey through the reincarnation tunnel were infinite, the supreme treasure that was the Thousand-Handed Tathagata Buddha statue would soon fail to hold out.

"Are we finally reaching the end?" Ox-Head asked, leaning on his soul-summoning banner as he stood up from the ground.

"Are we getting out? So soon?" Wu Hong asked somewhat blankly.

"What? You brat, you really are audacious! What kind of place is this reincarnation? Anyone who enters has all their marks washed away! Do you actually hope to keep staying in this terrifying place?"

The Ox-Head and Horse-Face felt that the experiences of this day were simply unheard of. Hearing Wu Hong's relaxed words, they felt it was somewhat surreal that they were about to leave the reincarnation tunnel just like that.

"Yet why do I feel that the danger still lies ahead?" Wu Hong said with some perplexity.

"How is that possible? The five-element forces of the reincarnation tunnel are the most..." Before Horse-Face could finish his sentence, with a loud *clank*, the ghost carriage suffered a violent jolt.

"Whoosh—" From the openwork windows above the ghost carriage, countless streams of gray energy poured in!

The complexions of Ox-Head and Horse-Face changed in unison, and even Kun Kun's expression became somewhat unnatural. It instantly flew to the side of Ox-Head and Horse-Face, its tiny body blazing with brilliant light to shield the two of them.

The reason it did not protect Wu Hong was because Wu Hong's various peculiar experiences of repeatedly turning peril into safety had given Kun Kun special confidence in him.

Ox-Head and Horse-Face were the objects Wu Hong had instructed it to protect; they were Kun Kun's responsibility in its heart! It could not allow these two fragrant ghost officials to suffer the slightest mishap!

At the same time, Kun Kun fantasized inwardly: "If one day my big brother gets displeased and flies into a rage with these two, these two ghost officials will make a rare and delicious treat!"

Meanwhile, Wu Hong hurriedly channeled his protective true qi. The Thousand-Handed Tathagata Dharma body, which had been on the verge of vanishing, reappeared once more, radiating dazzling light.

However, the reincarnation power that now rushed into the ghost carriage possessed an unknown attribute and proved exceedingly difficult to resist.

Although this gray reincarnation power was hard to withstand, it held tremendous benefits for Wu Hong's body and soul.

What worried Wu Hong, however, was that the cracks on the Thousand-Handed Tathagata Dharma body were growing larger and larger. He wondered if he could safely charge out of reincarnation; if it shattered just like that, it would be somewhat regrettable.

This Thousand-Handed Tathagata Dharma body had already saved him twice.

Wu Hong absorbed as much of the reincarnation power as he could to strengthen himself, so that if the Thousand-Handed Tathagata Dharma body shattered, he would still be able to resist for a while longer.

Yet even with the reincarnation energy tempering Wu Hong's physical body in such a manner, that final demonic arm still refused to condense completely.

Nevertheless, Wu Hong was not particularly worried in his heart, because after that demonic transformation, the "Shatter" manual that had turned into a demonic artifact was all the more mysterious, even more heterodox than the previous *Great Sun Tathagata True Interpretation*.

Wu Hong even doubted whether that "Shatter" was still a manual at all. He had never heard of a person's cultivation attribute changing to the extent that the original content within the manual itself changed as well.

This simply defied normal reason and logic.

The gray power of reincarnation raged wildly inside the carriage, sweeping past with such force that even the ghost carriage—originally a supreme treasure of the netherworld—showed signs of damage.

This caused the protected Ox-Head and Horse-Face to widen their eyes in utter disbelief, as if they were beholding the most terrifying thing imaginable.

The cracks on Wu Hong's Thousand-Handed Tathagata statue grew larger and larger, until finally, with a crisp *crack* that rattled the soul, the Thousand-Handed Tathagata Dharma body completely shattered, turning entirely into fine powder!

Yet instead of vanishing completely into reincarnation, it transformed into countless specks of radiance that entered Wu Hong's body.

Kun Kun was deeply startled, but then it recalled how every time Wu Hong faced a crisis, that *Great Sun Tathagata True Interpretation* manual would leap out of Wu Hong's body and hover above his head; its fluttering little heart calmed down.

The "Shatter" manual, which had remained within Wu Hong's mind, dashed out of Wu Hong's head just as he had anticipated, directly hovering in the space above his head.

Wu Hong felt the pressure vanish entirely. It was even more effortless than when he had been protected by the Thousand-Handed Buddha statue earlier; he was actually able to move freely without any hindrance at all, feeling even more at ease than Kun Kun.

"Big Brother, where is that book of yours that always comes out at critical moments?" Kun Kun asked, looking at Wu Hong with some puzzlement.

Wu Hong was greatly startled. He had always believed that only he and the old man who sold him the book could see it.

He had never expected that his *Great Sun Tathagata True Interpretation* had all along been within Kun Kun's observation.

Yet a moment later, Wu Hong's heart skipped a beat. He looked at Kun Kun with a puzzled expression, and then pointed upward with his finger.

"There's nothing above your head," Kun Kun said with even greater confusion.

Every time Wu Hong was in peril, that book would appear above his body, but the situation right now was extremely dangerous as well!

Yet in the eyes of the strengthened Kun Kun, that mysterious book did not appear at all. There was nothing whatsoever above Wu Hong's head.

And yet Wu Hong's finger pointed upward, leaving Kun Kun utterly perplexed.

"Big Brother, there's nothing on your head," Kun Kun tilted its little head, opened wide its eyes, and said with a cute expression.

Wu Hong's expression turned somewhat unnatural as he said, "Kun Kun, can you really not see the manual above my head?"

Seeing Wu Hong's dead-serious look, Kun Kun knew Wu Hong was not joking, and murmured to himself, "Could it be that in the heaven, earth, and cosmos, there truly are things even I cannot see through?"

Although his voice was low, it was filled with a majestic aura of looking down upon the world. At that very instant, Kun Kun seemed like the truly invincible Kunpeng, possessing a colossal body that blotted out the skies and spanned the universe.