Stranger Danger

Chapter 1170: Black Flame of Nirvana

Mara Buddha Sovereign taunted Devi Ruyi, “I thought you said that I am not the real Mara Buddha Sovereign? Aren’t you afraid that you would be criticized for bringing me back to your sect?”

“If I say you’re the one, then you are the one—no matter who or what you really are!” Devi Ruyi declared. “If you accept my offer, then I will turn you into the real Mara Buddha Sovereign. You will enjoy the position of a boundless Buddha and receive the worship of all.”

“Hahaha! Hahahaha!” Suddenly, Mara Buddha Sovereign burst out laughing.

“What is your answer? Yes, or no?” Devi Ruyi asked.

“It is certainly my desire to be a boundless Buddha and receive the worship of all,” Mara Buddha Sovereign said slowly.

“So, you agree to my proposal,” Devi Ruyi said.

“I do.” Mara Buddha Sovereign smiled at her. “But I would like to make some tweaks to the arrangement.”

“What tweaks?” Devi Ruyi asked.

“It’s nothing complicated. I just want you to serve me as master, and the Mara Sect to submit to my rule.”

Mara Buddha Sovereign laughed loudly. “If I can regain my strength, I will surely return the Mara Sect to its former glory. It’s not a bad arrangement, no?”

“It’s a no then. I guess I have to wipe you out after all.”

Devi Ruyi shook her head and lifted a finger. Then, she dropped it.

As if on cue, the Mayadevi Sarira descended as well.

Rumble...

When the finger descended, the space between Devi Ruyi’s finger and Mara Buddha Sovereign began breaking inch by inch like a crushed mirror.

At the center of the breaking space, pure, holy light and tainted, bloody light clashed soundlessly against one another and produced all sorts of colorful, fantastical clouds.

Despite how pretty the clouds looked, there was no doubt that they were beyond dangerous. Chaos, destruction, death, ruination... all sorts of terrifying energies were blending into one another and wreaking havoc upon the world.

“Hahahahaha!”

Mara Buddha Sovereign laughed like a madman as one of his eyeballs suddenly exploded. A river of dirty blood spilled out into the open and divided the nine firmaments in half.

Countless Buddhas were drowning within the river of blood, and all beings wept as a result.

The river of blood was as fierce as it was torrential. It attacked the Mayadevi Sarira from every direction.

The light of the Mayadevi Sarira remained strong despite the assault, but its area of effect was shrinking by the second. Devi Ruyi’s complexion was growing paler as well.

“Haha! The Mayadevi Sarira is potent, but you are not strong enough to control it completely, much less use it for a prolonged period. How can you possibly fight against me?”

Losing an eye only made Mara Buddha Sovereign look scarier and uglier. “My strength will grow once I’ve consumed the Mayadevi Sarira. When the time comes, you will all become my slave!”

“Hahaha!”

“You’re right. I alone cannot use the Mayadevi Sarira for long.”

The contrast between Devi Ruyi’s pale complexion and the dirty river of blood only made her look even holier and divine. “But do you know why I came anyway? It’s because I am not alone.”

As she spoke, the ancient face on Devi Ruyi’s forehead suddenly flew out into the open and turned tangible. In just the blink of an eye, it had transformed into a gigantic face that spanned dozens of kilometers.

The next moment, the human face opened its mouth until it resembled a giant black hole that seemed to connect yin and yang, life and death. Inside the mouth, countless currents were spinning and clashing against each other, though they subsided just as quickly. It was as if they were being consumed by an invisible energy.

Mara Buddha Sovereign immediately felt a sense of crisis. The twin-headed, human-faced serpent he was riding immediately hissed at the face and spat a torrent of deathly qi at it.

Right before the giant serpent would bite the human face though, a pair of giant hands reached out from within the mouth.

One hand was translucent like snow, and the other was fiery red like fire. The two hands clearly did not belong to the same person.

Two hands struck two heads, and—

Boom!

The serpent began disintegrating from the top.

There was a difference though. One head was frozen in ice first before it began crumbling into dust. The other head had caught on fire—so vicious was the red flame that its flesh withered, and its bones melted by the second—before dissolving into ash.

Once the cold ice and crimson flame had consumed the serpent entirely, they spread onto Mara Buddha Sovereign as well.

That wasn’t all. When the cold ice and hot flame made contact with each other, the ice abruptly melted, and the flame no longer burned hot. Instead, they merged into a black flame that was neither scorching hot nor shivering cold; that was overflowing with warmth, auspiciousness, and tranquility.

However, lurking underneath the facade of peace was a deadly power that could end the heavens and deliver all beings to nirvana. In just the blink of an eye, Mara Buddha Sovereign was engulfed by the black flames.

“The Black Flame of Nirvana? Impossible! Impossible!”

Mara Buddha Sovereign was shocked and furious. Although he couldn’t feel any pain or discomfort from the black flame whatsoever—on the contrary, he felt warm and peaceful like he was basking under the sun—his voice was filled with unbridled terror.

It was because this was the Black Flame of Nirvana; the flame that was said to be capable of ending the heavens and delivering all beings to nirvana.

Legend had it that the Black Flame of Nirvana was a divine flame commanded by the Ten Directions Grand Venerable One of Nirvana, a Buddha Sovereign serving under the Mara Buddha Emperor and the master of death and samsara of all Buddhas. Anyone who was engulfed by the Black Flame of Nirvana would dissolve into nothingness and return to the void in peace and harmony. They would feel no pain or sensation, obsession or resentment, love or hate from the beginning until the end.

The fake Mara Buddha Sovereign was an artifact spirit born from the broken remains of the Buddha Emperor Mountain. Therefore, he possessed only part of the memories and inheritances of the Buddha Emperor Mountain. That was why he didn’t know what the Mayadevi Sarira was until Devi Ruyi told him.

He knew about the Black Flame of Nirvana though. According to the memories he inherited from the Buddha Emperor Mountain, the Black Flame of Nirvana was one of the deadliest types of Buddha flame among the many flames and arts of the Mara Sect. In fact, it was on par with the Mara Sacred Flame commanded by the Buddha Emperor Mountain.

Although the two flames were on par with each other in terms of potency, there were of course differences. For starters, the Mara Sacred Flame was exceedingly deadly against non-believers of the Mara Buddha Emperor, but almost useless against the believers. The Black Flame of Nirvana was the opposite. It was the flame that could end the heavens and deliver all Buddhas to Nirvana. It was also the flame where all the Buddhas of the Mara Sect were reborn. That was why it was especially deadly against the Buddhas of the Mara Sect.

Although he wasn’t the real Mara Buddha Sovereign, he was still the offspring of the Buddha Emperor Mountain. He even possessed the mark of the original Mara Buddha Sovereign. Naturally, the Black Flame of Nirvana was highly deadly to him.

As expected, the Black Flame of Nirvana easily dissolved his bloody light. His consciousness and sentience were slowly but surely falling toward death and chaos as well.

“Since you know of the Black Flame of Nirvana, you must know that you stand no chance against it. You still have time to change your mind!” Devi Ruyi said while staring at the flame-wreathed Mara Buddha Sovereign.

“I won’t accept this!”

Mara Buddha Sovereign roared as his remaining eye exploded into bits. It wasn’t a river of blood that gushed out into the open, however. It was a sea of pure, blue flame.

“The Mara Sacred Flame...”

As the Mara Sacred Flame merged together with the river of blood, it gradually became crimson, evil, and vicious. It eroded heaven and earth and scorched anything and everything.

The bloody flame let out a soundless howl before transforming into a dragon and a serpent.

The dragon was a sky-scorching dragon carrying a demonic saber that could slay all of heaven in its maw.

The serpent was an earth-eroding serpent carrying a demonic sword that could erode sun and moon on its head.

The next moment, the sky-scorching dragon flew up to the two giant hands and brought its demonic saber down on them.

As for the earth-eroding serpent, it slithered down the Mara Buddha Sovereign’s body and rammed the demonic sword on its head against the Nirvana Black Flame.