Chapter 100: Supreme Power Over Life and Death

Chapter One Hundred: The Power of Life and Death

“Ran, and… Lan… what’s wrong with you?” Wu Hong stammered as he looked at Wu Songran and Li Ruolan.

“Brother, is it our fault? Please forgive me!” Wu Songran, not knowing what Wu Hong meant, was so frightened she nearly burst into tears.

Li Ruolan, usually calm and composed, was now trembling all over.

Only then did Wu Hong realize something was wrong. Around him, a thousand people stood, their true energy glowing gold, seemingly sharing the same origin as himself. Even Wu Songran and Li Ruolan were like this.

At first, Wu Hong had been delighted to see the two women’s cultivation had advanced, but now his heart turned cold.

Just as Wu Hong was caught off guard, a figure darted before him with a whoosh, and suddenly knelt, saying, “Young master! Please forgive this old servant; I did not know you were the reincarnation of the True Buddha. I have gravely offended you!”

Wu Hong was startled. When he saw the elder’s face, his jaw nearly hit the ground—he knew this man. This was Zhao Luo, whom he had once fought during a night raid on Blackwood Cliff.

Why had Zhao Luo suddenly bowed to him with such sincerity? Wu Hong said nothing, and Zhao Luo continued to kowtow, begging for mercy.

Wu Hong quickly reached out to help him up, saying, “Old Zhao, why must you be like this? If anything, I owe you.”

Zhao Luo became even more anxious. “What is my status compared to yours, young master? Your words humble and frighten me!” He continued to kneel.

Wu Hong tried several times to help him rise, but Zhao Luo insisted his guilt was too great. Wu Hong feigned anger: “Get up! If you keep kowtowing, I’ll leave at once.”

Wu Hong’s commanding tone made Zhao Luo stop immediately, terror written across his face. He stood to the side, trembling, silent.

Only now did Wu Hong realize something was amiss. The people around him saw his frown and did not disturb him, letting him ponder.

Wu Hong quietly gathered true energy at his upper dantian, concentrating. Soon, the “True Explanation of the Great Sun Tathagata” appeared in his hands.

He casually flipped to the latest chapter’s first night and saw bold characters: “Great Thousand Tathagata Palm,” signed “Deliverance for All Beings.”

He read further and found every page depicted an arm with a vertical eye in the palm, each arm illustrated with complex diagrams of true energy circulation.

After flipping through 1001 pages, he found no more. Wu Hong sighed in awe. His previous breakthroughs had only added a few dozen pages to the Tathagata’s nineteen forms and Vajra Palm. He hadn’t expected this breakthrough to add a thousand pages, yet the book felt only as thick as before.

On the last page, his gaze focused. There, besides a complete image of the Thousand-armed Tathagata, were many tiny annotations.

“Great Thousand Tathagata Palm! For every peer you deliver, you fully manifest a living arm. When you have delivered a thousand peers, you condense the Thousand-armed Tathagata Dharma Body and ascend to the next realm.”

The tiny script explained everything in detail. Wu Hong carefully read every word, undisturbed.

“For every thousand people two realms below you, delivering them is equivalent to delivering one peer.”

That meant, in his current realm—Postnatal Perfection—he had to deliver a thousand marrow-refining novices to manifest a single living Tathagata arm.

To assimilate those below the marrow-refining realm, he would need to deliver tens or even hundreds of thousands to condense one arm. For ordinary folk, perhaps a million would equal the power of one Postnatal Perfection cultivator.

Wu Hong knew that once he condensed a thousand Tathagata arms, he would break through to the Innate realm. The difficulty was enormous.

There might not even be ten or a hundred thousand marrow-refining novices in the entire Great Qian Dynasty for him to assimilate.

If you calculated: one arm equals a thousand marrow-refining novices; a thousand arms equals ten thousand. Even if marrow-refining novices weren’t rare, it would be hard to gather such numbers across the empire.

Wu Hong steeled his heart and continued reading.

“Those who are delivered may have their strength altered. Their true energy transforms fully into Great Sun Tathagata energy. Those delivered… have no birth, no thought, no desire, no anger, and regard me, the Tathagata, as their master of life. The Tathagata holds supreme power over life and death.”

Seeing this, Wu Hong finally understood why those around him, and Wu Songran and Li Ruolan, acted so unnaturally.

There was more on the page, and Wu Hong patiently continued.

“I, the Buddha, deliver all beings and perceive their true nature.”

Suddenly, Wu Hong felt his mind flooded with countless memories—the past experiences of the thousand people around him. His head throbbed. Anyone containing thousands of lives’ worth of memories would be lucky not to go mad.

Fortunately, Wu Hong had reached Postnatal Perfection, his marrow refined like molten gold.

Among these thousands, there were both good and evil, and even hidden criminals who had committed heinous acts. The humble Zhao Luo before him had killed many souls and committed secret atrocities.

Then, a mantra appeared in Wu Hong’s mind.

He was overjoyed. This mantra was the solution to his current predicament.

Its function was to allow delivered people to return to secular life, escaping the Buddha’s control. Their cultivation would decrease, but Wu Hong cared little for that now; among the thousand, many were virtuous.

The method to return to secular life was simple: by reversing the flow of true energy along a specific route, pressing his palm to the person’s back, he could restore their original true energy.

“Ran, come here!” Wu Hong most wanted to restore Wu Songran and Li Ruolan.

Before being assimilated, Wu Songran had always obeyed Wu Hong; now, she was even more docile and obedient as she walked up.

“Sit down,” Wu Hong said casually.

Wu Songran blushed, not knowing what he intended, but obediently sat on the ground.

Wu Hong sat behind her, pressed his palm to her back, and quietly reversed the flow of true energy, restoring her original attributes.

Soon, a dark flash glimmered, and Wu Hong exhaled, standing up. “Ran, how do you feel? Anything wrong?”

Wu Songran’s true energy had reverted, her strength dropping to her original bone-refining level. But Wu Hong believed, having experienced marrow-refining energy, she would soon advance again—there would be no obstacles.

“Brother, nothing’s wrong; I just feel a little tired. I thought my strength had reached the marrow-refining stage, but it was just a dream. How could such a thing happen in this world?”

Wu Hong frowned slightly. Wu Songran noticed and blushed, thinking he was worried about her.

Next, Wu Hong restored Li Ruolan, then called each name in turn, restoring all the virtuous people who had inadvertently been assimilated by his Great Thousand Tathagata energy.

He discovered something odd: after returning their original energy, even those who had previously disliked him no longer viewed him with hostility. Some even smiled approvingly. Apparently, the experience left lingering effects, even after the bonds were loosened.

Ran and Li Ruolan were the most obvious examples. From now on, this peculiar method of delivering all beings could only be used on the wicked.

Wu Hong’s Great Thousand Tathagata Palm was akin to Emperor Yang Guang’s Ten Thousand Demons Heart Sutra, though even more miraculous.

Wu Hong could simultaneously fire golden light from a thousand hands, assimilating all those two realms below him and absorbing their energy.

He could also deliver countless followers, stabilizing their cultivation at two realms below his own. Whenever he advanced, so would they.

If he wished, these followers could offer all their power to him.

The Ten Thousand Demons Heart Sutra was even more domineering; if someone swore loyalty to its master, even if the follower surpassed the master in cultivation, it wouldn’t matter—the master still held the power of life and death.

Of course, Wu Hong knew nothing of the Ten Thousand Demons Heart Sutra.

In summary, Wu Hong’s Great Thousand Tathagata Palm had two main features: it could forcibly extract the cultivation of those two or more realms below himself, and it could forcibly deliver those people as his followers. As he grew stronger, so would they, and they would be utterly devoted to him.