Chapter 218: Nirvana and Rebirth

"Hmph! If your true form had arrived, I might fear you by three parts, but now you are merely a phantom; how can you turn the heavens upside down!"

The Western Sect Leader attacked, his Golden Body brilliant throughout, radiating boundless golden light, sprouting a thousand hands that rotated in unison, transforming into a Thousand-Hand Golden Body; this was simply terrifying beyond measure.

"Above heaven and below earth, I alone am honored!"

In an instant, the Western Sect Leader chanted true words, one finger pointing to the sky, one finger pointing to the earth, forming his strongest Dharma Image.

"Heh heh... what a massive joke!" The Vajra Pestle emitted a resonant sound of mockery.

"If my true form were here, I fear you would be so terrified you'd wish to crawl back into your mother's womb! How dare you jump out at this time."

"Let alone my true form descending, even this phantom of mine is far beyond your reach!"

In just a moment, the illusory figure of the Vajra Pestle erupted with grand light, golden divine patterns surging up to confront it.

Divine patterns shone, and one after another, Runes shot out, forming a thousand chains of order, erupting with immeasurable light, shaking the Thousand-Hand Golden Body until it retreated.

"Boom!"

Following this, the Vajra Pestle phantom continued its assault, the thousand-plus chains of order intertwining and merging, transforming into a Divine Spear covered in golden light patterns, which suddenly shot toward the retreating Thousand-Hand Golden Body.

The Western Sect Leader waved his thousand hands, erupting with grand light, unleashing a brilliant, world-shaking divine radiance, causing the two to collide with a boom.

"Ssh...!"

The Divine Spear was unstoppable, and the brilliant divine radiance unleashed by the Western Sect Leader was instantly disintegrated.

"Crack..."

In nearly an instant, the Western Sect Leader's massive Golden Body was pierced by the Divine Spear, revealing a gaping, transparent hole.

Afterwards, the Western Sect Leader's Golden Body dimmed, his thousand hands dissipated, and he staggered backward.

"To think a single strike broke my Golden Body!"

At this moment, the Western Sect Leader was exceptionally terrified; he had not expected that even a mere phantom would be so terrifying. It was hard to imagine what level of existence its true form was!

"To think you didn't die in one strike! Consider yourself lucky; I shall spare your life today, but one day someone will come to collect this debt!" Seeing that the Western Sect Leader had not been killed in one strike, the Vajra Pestle phantom said.

"You are not worthy of possessing the inheritance of my Ancient Monk Lineage!"

As the words fell, the Vajra Pestle phantom roared, transmitting a burst of Dao sound. Instantly, the Gilded Zen Staff that had been seized by the Western Sect Leader erupted with crimson-gold divine radiance and broke free.

"Let's go! Ssh!"

The Vajra Pestle phantom shook in mid-air and re-concealed itself within the Golden Bowl, making the Golden Bowl appear like ten suns piercing the sky.

At this moment, the Golden Bowl spewed out divine rainbows, absorbing Mengchen, Jinchanzi, Xiyao, Heizi, Qingyi, and Xiaohuang.

Following that, the Golden Bowl ascended into the sky, its divine rainbows brilliant, tearing through the void and departing.

The Western Sect Leader's Golden Body was broken, and he felt deeply shocked, forced to watch helplessly as the Golden Bowl vanished before his eyes, not daring to strike again.

"What a miscalculation! I never thought that Ancient Divine Weapon would have left behind such measures; I have truly made a great enemy today!" The Western Sect Leader felt terrified in his heart.

"Repairing the Golden Body is the priority!" As the words fell, the Western Sect Leader also vanished from this heaven and earth.

The Golden Bowl, not knowing where it was headed, bloomed with divine rainbows while traveling through the void channel.

It is unknown how much time passed before the Golden Bowl broke through the void channel and appeared in the outside world.

The lone smoke of the desert rises straight, the long river sets round! This was an endless desert; a light breeze stirred up fine sand, making the sound of shifting sand and stone, filled with desolation.

The Golden Bowl rushed out from the void and slowly descended, mouth facing downward. A streak of divine rainbow shone upon the fine, soft sand, causing the wounded bodies of Mengchen and the others to emerge one by one, lying limp there, fresh blood still flowing from their bodies, staining the fine sand red.

Their bones were nearly all shattered by the Western Sect Leader. Although they had been rescued, their bodies had suffered unprecedented destruction.

Mengchen endured the intense pain, struggling to turn his head to look at the others one by one.

"Lao Tuzi, Qingyi, Heizi, Xiaohuang, Xiyao, how... how are you all?" Mengchen asked with a voice as thin as a thread.

"Still alive! Little bald thief, you are also heavily injured!" Jinchanzi said, looking at Mengchen.

Looking at Mengchen, whom he had raised with his own hands and who had never suffered a single injury, Jinchanzi felt great pain in his heart, and tears already appeared in his eyes.

"Big Brother! Injuries will always heal; the key is that we still have a future. For today's actions, I will surely repay the Western Sect Leader a hundred or a thousand times over in the future, settling this debt for myself and for Big Brother," Heizi said.

"Master, only by undergoing Nirvana here can we fully recover," Xiaohuang said.

"Mm! Nirvana, to welcome a new life!" Mengchen replied.

At this time, Mengchen, Xiaohuang, Qingyi, and Xiyao possessed the Zhenhuang Art, while Jinchanzi and Heizi did not possess it at all.

Therefore, Mengchen said: "Lao Tuzi, Heizi, I will now pass the Zhenhuang Art to you. Let us undergo Nirvana together and welcome a new life."

"Mm!"

Jinchanzi and Heizi nodded simultaneously.

Afterwards, Mengchen's brow glowed, shooting out two golden-red Runes, which sank into the brows of Jinchanzi and Heizi respectively.

With the Runes in their bodies and under the guidance and enlightenment of Mengchen, Xiaohuang, and the others, it took only seven days for Jinchanzi and Heizi to be able to rotate the Zhenhuang Art to undergo Nirvana.

Given their current physical condition, using the method of Nirvana to recover was most appropriate.

Nirvana not only allows for a new life but can also cast off various past constraints, enabling one to transcend the self.

During these past few days, the phantom of the Vajra Pestle did not appear again, but the Golden Bowl remained brilliant, suspended in mid-air, and the divine rainbows it sprayed shrouded them within, which seemed like a form of protection.

Sunrises and sunsets, time passed quickly and in the blink of an eye, half a month had already passed by today.

At this moment, under the shroud of the divine radiance sprayed by the Golden Bowl, golden-red flames erupted from the surfaces of the six people: Mengchen, Qingyi, Jinchanzi, Heizi, Xiyao, and Xiaohuang.

These flames were like the fire of life, burning from the inside out; this burning flame was not for destruction, but for creation, creating an endless spread of vitality.

As vitality grew more exuberant, the shattered bones were refined and expelled from their bodies, and new bones gradually grew, like glistening white jade, even shimmering with a faint golden light.

In the blink of an eye, another half-month passed, and Xiaohuang was the first to succeed in Nirvana. After being reborn, her skin became as glistening as jade and even more lustrous.

This demonstrated the powerful regenerative ability of the Zhenhuang Bloodline; even though Mengchen, Heizi, and the others had all practiced the Zhenhuang Art, they could not be compared to her.

Three days later, Mengchen opened his eyes; he had also completed Nirvana. At the moment his eyes cleared, his aura was once again vigorous and compelling. Clearly, through this Nirvana, both his physical functions and his cultivation had significantly increased.

In the following half-month, Heizi, Qingyi, Jinchanzi, Xiyao, and the others also successively completed Nirvana, and compared to before, their strength and physical body toughness had each increased.

In the blink of an eye, a month and a half had passed since they escaped the last crisis.

As everyone had returned to their peak, the Golden Bowl seemed to sense it and retracted the divine radiance that had been shrouding them.

It slowly descended, appearing before Mengchen and the others, and slowly, the phantom image of the Vajra Pestle also emerged from within it once more.

"Gangzi! Where have you, Liu Shen, and Small Tower all gone? I miss you very much." Mengchen gazed up at the Vajra Pestle, the longing buried deep in his heart surging forth.

The phantom image of the Vajra Pestle said faintly: "This cannot answer you! This is merely a strand of consciousness I left within the Golden Bowl; as for where the main body has gone or how it fares, I have no way of knowing."

"If it were not for someone other than you trying to extract the Ancient Scripture within the Golden Bowl, this strand of consciousness would not have been triggered."

(End of this chapter)