Chapter 858: Using a Human as Bait to Trap the Supreme Supreme Tian Mo

With Cao Cao Xuanwei's Buddhist attainments, he was not far from achieving the Golden Body, yet no one knew which path he had taken.

Previously, he had wielded the Great Divine Art of Qimen Qimen Dunjia, which required a Rank-One Jin Dan to crystallize the seed of a great divine art. Yet the thirty-four rings of Buddhist light behind his head were but one step away from drawing infinite incense and vows to forge his true Golden Body.

Such dual cultivation of Dao and Buddha, both standing just one step before the Yang Shen realm, earned him the title of one of the finest talents of the Central Lands.

This also sufficiently explained his deep familiarity with the Golden Body…

But when Cao Cao Xuanwei saw the Golden Body behind Tan Tan Wuchen, he was startled:

The Golden Body, once forged like gold and bearing a hint of immortality, now bore patches of rust, like a bronze statue in a temple, tinged with the hue of ancient bronze from the Three Divine Dynasties.

Two sturdy arms encircled Tan Tan Wuchen's chest, clasped together in prayer, locking him in place.

The most eerie thing was the face of the Golden Body!

Instead of bearing the myriad Buddhist signs, the ushnisha atop its head curled like a coiled serpent.

The white hair between its brows, which should have spiraled rightward and radiated light, now glowed a vivid crimson—as if blood were being drawn directly from its third eye…

Its eyelashes were like those of a king of bulls, yet its eyes bloomed like blood lotuses; when the pupils rolled upward, two emerald-green irises flipped up from beneath the lids, as if each eyeball contained multiple pupils rolling within.

The upper half of the Golden Body resembled a majestic lion, embracing the old monk like a lion devouring its prey!

Tan Tan Wuchen's skull appeared trapped in the Golden Body's mouth, emaciated as a corpse.

He looked at Cao Cao Xuanwei and the group behind him, including He He Basheng, and sighed: "Your Highness, I misjudged this. During dual cultivation, I was invaded by the Moon Demon and was forced to seal myself within this stupa!"

Cao Cao Xuanwei's face grew grave: "Moon Demon? The one who sent us down…?"

Tan Tan Wuchen replied calmly: "He is a great being of our Buddhist sect who has attained fruition."

Attained fruition…

In other words, he had achieved the Primordial Spirit.

All of Cao Cao Xuanwei's previous doubts found their answer.

At this moment, Brother Qian Chen arrived slowly, holding a tea flower; it was a mandala, within which a thousand armored elite cavalry were sealed. Li Zhong stumbled behind him, one foot deep, one foot shallow, crawling and rolling, as if haunted by shadows beneath the tower's underground palace.

Brother Qian Chen looked through the eyes of the Golden Body into its interior.

A pair of bloodshot eyes, brimming with boundless evil, suddenly rolled up and fixed fiercely upon Brother Qian Chen.

In that instant, the Golden Body nearly transformed into a demonic Buddha; its evil eyes locked onto Brother Qian Chen, as if burning with endless demonic hatred…

"So it's true—the Moon Demon of the Moon Demon Sect has become part of Little Murong Chui!" Brother Qian Chen smiled. "Thus, after the Moon Demon infiltrated the Golden Body, even if you could hold it off temporarily, Little Murong Chui would eventually use the imprint within to fully devour you!"

Tan Tan Wuchen's face twisted into a bitter smile.

The Hu man's face was already gaunt, wrinkled like the gnarled roots of an ancient tree; his forced smile now tasted as bitter as coptis root.

"Had my elder brother not used the Golden Buddha-nature within all sentient beings as a shell, merging the stupa and the Golden Body into one seamless vessel to lock the Moon Demon outside, and transformed the evil roots and demonic nature of three hundred and sixty million sentient beings into the womb-malignancy to suppress the Moon Demon from within—creating a dual seal, one inner, one outer, one Buddha, one demon, like the Twin Mandalas of Jin Gang Womb and Jin Gang Realm imprisoning the demon—when Little Murong Chui sent down even a sliver of demonic awareness, I would have perished!"

Tan Tan Wuchen stared dryly at Brother Qian Chen; behind him, the Golden Body's arms tightened slightly, and his emaciated frame cracked with a series of sharp, snapping sounds.

As if about to crush his spine in half!

Seeing this, Cao Cao Xuanwei frowned slightly, raised a finger, and summoned the Great Precious Radiant Cloud from above his head, intending to reinforce Tan Tan Wuchen.

At that moment, the hand hidden in the shadow beneath the Golden Body's ribs suddenly rose.

The palm flipped open, revealing two blood-red eyes; as soon as they were seen, a fire of the Five Aggregates erupted, instantly shattering the pure, ever-present light-cloud.

Only then did Tan Tan Wuchen shake his head: "Your Highness, do not save me. This great calamity is half due to Little Murong Chui's casual scheming, and half due to my own cultivation deviation—I have borne this karmic debt."

"This Jin Gang Samadhi Stupa was forged when my master, upon completing the salvation of three hundred and sixty million faithful in the kingdom of Juyinajie, entered Nirvana. The Nirvana Fire melted his Golden Body and fused it with the capital of Juyinajie, forming this relic stupa."

Tan Tan Wuchen sighed: "In ancient times, Juyinajie was a Buddhist land within the sands of the infinite worlds."

"Later, when our Buddhist sect spread the Dharma in the Western Prefecture, which was barren and desolate, we used magic to relocate the most devout believers from countless worlds across the heavens and built twenty-eight Buddhist cities there."

"We forged the city walls from the Seven Treasures: gold, silver, amber, coral, agate, lapis lazuli, and conch shell!"

"Within the cities stood countless pagodas, halls, and towers, inlaid with the relics of countless high monks. The gold was the eternal sand from the milk ocean's surging waves; the silver came from the mines of Mount Sumeru; the amber contained bone, blood, fire, gold, and honey; the coral was solidified blood of the Naga deities of the Dragon Clan; the lapis lazuli was pure heavenly water-lapis; the conch shell was of the type known in Sanskrit as Mūṣāloka-jāla!"

"At its peak, the twenty-eight Buddhist cities spawned thousands of Buddhist realms, and the Dharma flourished beyond compare."

"Later, the Daoist sects debated our Buddhist sect three times. The first time, the Supreme Dao destroyed eighteen cities. The second time, a swordsman from Shaoclear shattered nine more. The final city, called the Great Jin Gang Altar City, housed the last remnants of all twenty-eight cities."

"Then a Zhang Tian Shi arrived from the east, holding a golden whip—it was the First Zhang Tian Shi, Qi Bo. He shattered the last Great Jin Gang Altar City with a single stroke of his whip."

"Juyinajie was the remnant of the twentieth of the twenty-eight Buddhist cities."

"At that time, my master led the surviving faithful and the ruins of the city, fleeing from Shaoclear's killing monster beneath the great snow mountains of the Western Prefecture's border. His injuries were too grave—he could not endure, and entered Nirvana, shedding his mortal shell to attain the unfathomable Primordial Spirit, seated upon a lotus throne."

"The three hundred and sixty million faithful of Juyinajie sat beside my master, chanting the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, offering boundless vows and devotion."

"Yet in the end, my master still entered Nirvana. The Nirvana Fire burned his Golden Body and the entire kingdom of Juyinajie into molten gold. Within the extinguishing Nirvana Fire, the Mahaparinirvana Sutra channeled infinite vows to forge this stupa!"

Li Zhong heard this history from Tan Tan Wuchen for the first time. Even though he already knew each golden brick was a living soul,

he had never imagined that this ordinary six-story stupa concealed such a brutal chapter in the Dao-Buddhist conflict.

Not to mention Cao Cao Xuanwei and the others!

He He Basheng examined the pure gold bricks engraved with Sanskrit script around him.

Thinking that these were living people melted into molten gold—devout followers of a Buddhist city, forcibly refined into a Buddhist treasure meant to spread across the Western Prefecture—he broke out in goosebumps.

And yet the Buddhist sect revered this as its greatest treasure—Tan Tan Wuchen dwelled within it daily, cultivating by drawing on the Buddha-nature and vows of three hundred and sixty million faithful…

For this, He He Basheng could only say one thing: the Buddhist sect truly was the Buddhist sect—they saw too clearly!

If he were inside, he wouldn't dare close his eyes.

After recounting this history, Tan Tan Wuchen paused to catch his breath, then whispered: "This stupa, forged from the most devout believers of the sands of infinite worlds, reflects their Buddha-nature within its structure. Seated atop the tower, it is as if three hundred and sixty million people chant scriptures for you day and night, strengthening your cultivation—its spiritual marvel is beyond measure."

"I had assumed that the three hundred and sixty million believers, having perished in Nirvana Fire, had achieved inner peace, severed endless karmic debts, and attained great purity."

"Had my elder brother not enlightened me, I would never have known that the stupa's dark side concealed demonic thoughts far stronger than its Buddha-nature!"

He He Basheng's expression turned strange: "You truly believed something forged by burning three hundred and sixty million people alive was a Buddhist treasure?"

"It is a Buddhist treasure!" Tan Tan Wuchen said coolly. "What do you think Nirvana Fire is? It severs all karmic debts, grants great purity—it is the highest fire of our sect, arising from the heart, burning away all distractions, forms, and illusions, marvelously profound!"

"Though the distractions are many, they are scattered thoughts, easily swept away compared to the deeply rooted Buddha-nature."

Tan Tan Wuchen said coldly: "If you stir the stupa's hidden distractions, I need only a single thought to ignite the Nirvana Fire within and burn them all away, restoring the stupa to its pristine brilliance."

Here, he looked at Brother Qian Chen, his expression complex.

Brother Qian Chen took up the thread: "But I awakened the most deeply rooted, seed-like demonic thought among countless distractions—planted it upon the most stubborn part of the Juyinajie people's hearts, hardened by centuries of Buddhist influence. Once the Buddha-nature wavered and the meditative focus regressed, even the Jin Gang Samadhi was suppressed, forced to hide in shadows, becoming the stupa's other face, correct?"

Tan Tan Wuchen nodded slightly.

"The Moon Demon could not shake that womb-demonic thought, so after my elder brother suppressed it, he locked both me and the demon beneath the tower…"

At this, Tan Tan Wuchen's long eyebrows trembled slightly, as if a tremor had surged from his heart, vibrating all the way to his brows.

"Two hours ago, an invisible demonic awareness descended upon the Moon Demon. The Moon Demon, previously struggling, suddenly changed… At that moment, I knew a being a thousand times more terrifying than it had arrived!"

Cao Cao Xuanwei's expression shifted, grave: "Little Murong Chui?"

Brother Qian Chen said coolly: "This is not something for children to meddle in…"

He turned to Tan Tan Wuchen: "How did he suppress the womb-demon?"

Tan Tan Wuchen's slender eyebrows trembled violently; behind him, the Golden Body's thick arms tightened further, squeezing his waist to the thickness of two hands clasped together. The continuous snapping of bones made onlookers shudder—but he remained oblivious.

"Only a faint aura of majesty—and countless demons from the three hundred and sixty million demonic realms all submitted!"

Brother Qian Chen's expression finally cracked; he murmured softly: "The Great Supreme Supreme Tian Mo Lord's title?"

Little Murong Chui had not wielded the Conquest Dao Seed—he had used the most mysterious of all: the Great Supreme Supreme Tian Mo Lord's title!

The eternal lamp before the old monk Tan Tan Wuchen suddenly flickered violently. As the flame shook, a chilling wind seemed to blow—though they were deep within the underground palace, the wind froze every limb and bone!

Brother Qian Chen pinched his fingers, and the flame leapt to his fingertip.

Merely raising that finger, the light illuminated the entire underground palace; instantly, the wind ceased, the air stilled, and all was calm.

Watching Tan Tan Wuchen's shattered composure, Brother Qian Chen said dryly: "Even if Little Murong Chui is terrifying, hasn't he failed to break through the prison I built using your body? What are you afraid of?"

Tan Tan Wuchen only smiled bitterly—he feared you… and your battle with Little Murong Chui.

Little Murong Chui needed only a single thought to subdue the entire womb-demon forged from Juyinajie.

And yet even so, he could not break free from the Golden Body's human skin. Tan Tan Wuchen now understood—he had been nothing but a trap set by Brother Qian Chen all along.

Once Little Murong Chui fell into the trap, it would be Brother Qian Chen's time to reap the harvest…

Brother Qian Chen stepped behind the Golden Body and pressed his palm against the second vertebral protrusion from the top of its spine.