The abyss of the Himalayan mountain range. The earth cracked, crumbled, and split into countless massive fragments, falling rapidly amidst the tremors. A golden-red light rose from the earth’s core, enveloping a shattered skeleton of a prehistoric giant bird, slowly ascending, its magnificent glow illuminating the sky.
The remains suddenly stretched, countless charred bones raining down like a storm, then flapped their wings, and enveloped in the raging Phoenix True Fire, surged upwards towards the firmament!
Further away, the Tibetan snowy plains stretched for ten thousand miles. Countless believers witnessed this miraculous scene, prostrating themselves in the golden-red glow, like a surging tide.
In the Formless Heaven.
The entire Buddhist hall’s tremors grew stronger and stronger, like a small boat tossing in giant waves. Zhou Hui could no longer stand. He gritted his teeth and embraced the nearest Yunying stone pillar, but then the colossal pillar that reached the heavens instantly collapsed into countless stones, almost burying him alive.
“Phoenix!”
Zhou Hui was utterly enraged. His upper garment was already torn, exposing his strong and scarred upper body. He violently pushed away several large, pristine white fragments: “Phoenix!—Don’t do this, come back to me!”
Suddenly, a gust of wind swept past his ear. In a split second, Zhou Hui dodged, only to see Sakyamuni, missing an arm and clutching the dagger formed from his divinity, charging at him. The blade grazed his ear.
That was a close call. Zhou Hui’s breath hitched. He seized the opportunity to grab Sakyamuni’s arm and push him forward, simultaneously reaching for the dagger. However, Sakyamuni was incredibly fast even in his eruption. The two exchanged blows like lightning for a moment. Zhou Hui’s cheek was grazed by the blade, leaving a bloody mark. At the same time, he delivered a flying kick, sending Sakyamuni flying backward, struck squarely in the chest!
With a sharp clang, the dagger dropped to the ground. Zhou Hui pounced like lightning and snatched it.
“Give it back to me!” Sakyamuni staggered to his feet amidst the earthquake, his roar echoing endlessly, like the sound of a Vajra bell struck by a god of the Nine Heavens: “You lowly demon, do you even deserve to touch a divinity?! Give it back to me—!”
As the last echo reverberated, Zhou Hui felt the divinity suddenly lurch forward, seeming to slip from his grasp. He immediately gripped it tightly and thrust it forward, in the midst of the chaos, striking Sakyamuni’s palm head-on.
The Golden Buddha instantly spewed blood. Sakyamuni’s hand transformed into a giant palm, powerfully chopping down on Zhou Hui’s head!
If that strike had landed, it would have instantly crushed Zhou Hui into a puddle of blood and mud. However, in that critical moment, the ceiling of the Formless Heaven completely collapsed like a string pulled to its limit. Golden-red true fire enveloped the phoenix’s skeleton, surging upwards with a deafening roar, and suddenly spread its immense wings!
Zhou Hui had already resigned himself to death. Even if it meant taking the full brunt of that fatal blow, he would drag Sakyamuni down with him to hell. But in that instant, the entire world collapsed. The ground beneath his feet turned into a deep chasm, and he uncontrollably fell backward.
The next moment, a golden-red ethereal figure descended from the sky. Chu He reached out and grabbed him.
Their hands clasped together as they fell, gazing into each other’s eyes against the backdrop of a disintegrating world.
“Goodbye,” Chu He said softly.
He took the dagger, crackling with fine lightning, from Zhou Hui’s hand. The moment it touched him, it transformed into a gray-black divinity, its aura intensifying greatly, then becoming formless.
At the same time, the burning phoenix illusion around him erupted with a roar. The skeleton with outstretched wings enveloped him until his entire body was engulfed in blazing fire!
That was the fire of nirvana.
The indestructible fire of phoenix nirvana, which had been able to burn again, powered by the Great Asura King’s divinity, transcending the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths.
Zhou Hui muttered “Phoenix”, his voice desperate and hoarse, but in the thunderous roar of heaven and earth collapsing, no one could hear it, not even himself.
At the same time, Sakyamuni’s pupils behind them sharply constricted. He turned to retreat, but it was already too late.
Phoenix turned and let out a clear cry, spreading its wings and tightly grasping him. Sakyamuni, missing an arm, was utterly unable to struggle and immediately let out a painful roar!
“Do you want me to die too, Phoenix? Do you want me to die so much?! Have you forgotten who cared for you and raised you?!”
In the firelight, Sakyamuni grabbed Phoenix’s collar, but the latter only shook his head, saying hoarsely and calmly, “Yes, I have… forgotten everything.”
Sakyamuni was stunned, and then heard the ground shake with a roar. The last ethereal barrier of the Buddhist hall finally turned to dust in the fire of nirvana, and the entire Formless Heaven completely fell into the vastness of hell!
That moment was unprecedented, a sight never before witnessed in the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths. The Formless Heaven, transcending the thirty-three heavens, completely plunged into the vastness of hell, igniting a spectacular sea of fire at the peak of Mount Buzhou, like a second creation of all the gods and Buddhas.
In the sea of fire, Chu He raised the Buddhist bone blade. The scorching golden-white blade reflected Sakyamuni’s astonished face.
“True… True Buddha’s soul…” Sakyamuni could barely believe it: “The true Buddha’s soul forged by Phoenix True Fire?!”
“This is the bone you extracted from me.” Chu He’s lips were cracked and bleeding, but he showed a weary smile: “When you gave it to me, you said that the pain of bone extraction was this feeling… But you don’t know that besides those, I experienced even more pain, fear, and confusion. If you don’t die, none of this will end. The chaos from the Heavenly Dao to the Four Evil Realms will continue indefinitely…”
Fear finally appeared in Sakyamuni’s eyes, but the next second, the tip of the Buddhist bone blade pressed against his neck.
“Farewell, Sakyamuni.”
Chu He exerted force, and the blade’s tip pierced his throat.
—At that very moment of drawing blood, the Buddhist bone blade slowly melted. An ethereal figure emerged from the blade; strikingly, it was Zhang Shun!
He didn’t quite look like Zhang Shun anymore. Although his features were familiar as always, his expression had changed completely, filled with serenity, peace, and an indescribable sense of suppression. As soon as Sakyamuni saw him, he let out a cry of fear and immediately tried to escape, but he was held tightly by the phoenix’s skeleton. His body made a terrifying crackling sound as it burned in the fire of nirvana.
The True Buddha rose and walked towards him from the void, like a shadow enveloped in Buddha’s light, effortlessly squeezing little by little into his scorched body.
With this movement, the parts of the Buddha’s body that were charred and melted by the fire of nirvana actually began to gradually repair and regenerate, while a pitch-black, electricity-infused entity slowly “squeezed” out from behind the Buddha’s body, emitting a sharp shriek.
—That was the true Sakyamuni, the inner demon that had arisen in the True Buddha’s heart in the Hell Demonic Eye tens of thousands of years ago.
“Why! Why are you still coming back?!” The inner demon roared at the True Buddha, trying to reoccupy the golden body, but was repeatedly pushed back by the fire of nirvana.
“Why didn’t you die in the Formless Heaven! Why didn’t you completely disappear?!”
“Why are you still able to return—!”
The True Buddha finally completely entered the golden body, radiating endless light in the sea of fire, like a divine being of the Nine Heavens descending to earth. He turned and looked at his inner demon with compassion, his eyes filled with complex and indescribable emotions.
He did not answer. After a long moment, he only gently shook his head.
The inner demon burst with dazzling electric arcs in the flames, letting out a piercing roar as it lunged at the True Buddha. However, the next moment, its body was pulled by something, and then everything went black.
In the last second before consciousness disappeared, he desperately turned his head, but only saw a jewel-like, brilliantly glowing bird opening its gigantic mouth towards him.
—That was Peacock.
Peacock traversed the mountain peaks, crossed the sea of fire, and pounced on its birth mother, Phoenix, who was disappearing in the fire of nirvana. In the sea of fire, it encountered the inner demon blocking its path, and without a second thought, swallowed it whole.
In the ethereal realm, karma had come full circle, and retribution was swift and precise. Sakyamuni, the inner demon born from the True Buddha’s eighth consciousness, ultimately met his end in the mouth of the Great Peacock Wisdom King.
The True Buddha looked at Peacock, then turned to gaze at Phoenix, who was becoming increasingly transparent in the fire of nirvana. Then, following the cracked earth of hell and the endless Iron Wheel Mountains, he looked towards the human realm in the distance, a nostalgic look flashing in his eyes.
He finally stood up, only to see Zhou Hui approaching from high in the sky not far away, battling against the raging sea of fire.
“…”
The True Buddha seemed to murmur something, but no one could hear it. After a moment, he sighed wistfully, his figure suddenly ascended towards the collapsed Formless Heaven, and he waved his first hand at the sea of fire in the void.
With that movement, the sea of fire roared and became formless, dust and smoke swirling and disappearing into the sky. The True Buddha waved his hand a second time. Zhou Hui was propelled forward by an invisible force, passing through layers of smoke and clouds, stopping at the center of Phoenix’s nirvana.
Zhou Hui looked back in astonishment, only to see the Buddha in the cloud light, waving his third hand at them.
—But that was just a farewell.
Immediately, the Golden Buddha turned and hastened towards the Formless Heaven, Buddha’s light shining universally, celestial music resonating; the Buddha, who had not been able to assume his rightful position for tens of thousands of years, finally returned to his lotus throne at the peak of Mount Buzhou in Hell.
The flames gradually extinguished, leaving only dense smoke.
Zhou Hui’s face was covered in blood. He knelt in mid-air, panting, then fiercely pushed away Peacock Mingwang, who had stepped forward, and plunged into the black clouds.
—”If I turn into an egg, will you pick me up?”
Yes.
“If I leave, will you wait for me to come back?”
Yes.
“If you don’t want me… where else can I go?”
You have nowhere to go, which is why you must return to me.
Zhou Hui frantically searched for his target in the thick black clouds generated by the burning. He moved through the choking smoke, looking disheveled, but he didn’t care. Finally, after countless searches, he saw a glowing dot deep within the cloud sea, faint and fleeting, but the next second he shot out like an arrow from a bow, almost instantly grasping the target in his palm.
Then he rapidly descended, plummeting through the swirling currents, and landed on the ground, falling to his knees at the edge of a cliff above the surging waves of the sea of blood.
At that moment, he hardly dared to open his hand, to even glance at what was in his palm. His heart beat so fast, thumping, almost leaping out of his throat with a throbbing pain.
“Hoo…”
After a long moment, Zhou Hui finally let out a long, complete breath, seemingly only just managing to control his trembling body through this action, then spread his fingers.
In his palm lay an egg.
An egg that barely fit in his grasp, pure white as snow, glowing with an ethereal light, as if carved from jade.
—That was the phoenix’s jade embryo after nirvana.
Zhou Hui’s fingers dug deep into the hard rock, so hard they cramped. After a long moment, he let out a hoarse, distorted wail.
