In Buddhist legends, the Eighteen Arhats referred to the eighteen Arhats who lived eternally in this world and protected the righteous Dharma. According to legend, they were the disciples of the Buddha.
Buddhism was divided into Mahayana and Minor Mahayana, and the Arhats were Buddhists who had cultivated the Minor Mahayana to the Great Perfection. Although they weren't as powerful as the Bodhisattvas, they were still Buddhists who had achieved the Great Perfection and were no different from Gods.
Of course, these eighteen phantoms couldn't be the real bodies of the Eighteen Arhats. Otherwise, the evil sacrificial spirit wouldn't have only been injured.
After observing for a while, I could tell from the power of these eighteen phantoms that there was a wisp of Buddha's will in them. Although they weren't real bodies, they should be the Arhat phantoms of some eminent monk who had used the supreme Buddha's will to nurture them for one hundred years.
This place was Chiyou's tomb, and it shouldn't have anything to do with Buddhism. The only possibility was that the evil sacrificial spirit was right. During the several thousand years he had been dormant, a Buddhist monk had come to this place. The phantoms of the Eighteen Arhats and even the entire Ten Terminal Formation were arranged by a Buddhist monk.
While I was pondering, a light flashed in front of me. I saw a bronze statue with Dragon Vanquisher Sage behind it on the left side of the evil sacrificial spirit. The statue used its claws to attack the evil sacrificial spirit. The surging Buddhist power illuminated the entire passage with golden light.
Instinctively, I shouted at the evil sacrificial spirit, "Hurry up and come out! I know where they came from!"
Hearing my voice, the evil sacrificial spirit put down his hands that he had prepared to defend himself and turned around to retreat. However, he seemed to have underestimated the bronze man's speed. Just as he turned around and before he could retreat, the shining bronze arhat man's claws had already reached his side. It was so fast that it created an explosive sound in the air, like a dragon's roar.
I was anxious, but there was nothing I could do. A battle of this level wasn't something a small Heavenly Seal Master like me could participate in. Not to mention the bronze statue's attack, I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to deal with it even if it waved its hand.
I could only shout again to warn the evil sacrificial spirit.
However, the bronze Arhat statue seemed to be even faster than the sound waves. As soon as I made the first sound, the bronze statue's hands were already on the evil sacrificial spirit's shoulders!
Even with the naked eye, one could see what kind of power was contained in the copper man's claw. But strangely, after being struck by the claw, the evil sacrificial spirit was not sent flying. Instead, it was restrained by the claw. Suddenly, a golden dragon appeared from the copper man's arm and coiled around the evil sacrificial spirit's body, firmly restraining it and preventing it from moving.
At the same time, the 17 bronze men behind the bronze man also swarmed forward like a tidal wave.
A single Bronze Arhat Man was already difficult for the evil sacrificial spirit to resist. How could the evil sacrificial spirit survive if all 18 bronze men attacked together?
While I was still panic-stricken, the evil sacrificial spirit seemed to wake up like a sleeping lion. His body swelled, and a wisp of Yin energy seeped out from under his skin. In just a blink of an eye, it had covered his entire body.
Inside the black energy, his shriveled body swelled up again. Even the remaining half of his head seemed to grow back. In just a blink of an eye, it became whole again. Moreover, an arm grew out from each of his shoulders!
Looking at the evil sacrificial spirit from a distance, I guessed that his current appearance was Chiyou's original appearance. However, in the legends, Chiyou had three heads and six arms. At this moment, he only had four arms. I guessed it was because his soul hadn't fully recovered yet.
The evil sacrificial spirit, who was shrouded in black mist, swung his four arms. At first glance, he looked like a Demon God hovering between heaven and earth. His four arms grabbed the golden dragon shadow that was coiling around his body. Then, he roared and smashed the dragon shadow.
After regaining his freedom, the evil sacrificial spirit didn't attack the eighteen bronze Arhat Men again. He continued his previous action. His body turned, and the black mist shrouded him as he fled. In just a blink of an eye, he was in front of me.
Before I could ask, the evil sacrificial spirit grabbed my shoulder and hissed, "Hurry! Go!"
As soon as he said that, my body seemed to fly. In just a blink of an eye, we were out of the passage and heading toward the cave we had come from.
I hastily turned my head around to take a look. The eighteen bronze Arhat statues were aggressively chasing after us. It seemed they wouldn't stop until they killed us.
As I recalled the battle between the two sides, I was panic-stricken. However, my panic didn't last long. Soon, I noticed that the bronze men had slowed down. A few seconds later, they stopped and looked at us from a distance.
The evil sacrificial spirit seemed to know that we were coming. He stopped at this moment.
When he turned around, the eighteen bronze Arhat Men stood in a row. They put their palms together and saluted us. Then, they turned around and returned to the golden light curtain in the passage, disappearing.
At this moment, I got a hold of myself. Those bronze Arhat Men were in the last layer of the Ten Terminal Formation, so they couldn't go too far. As long as we left the passage, they wouldn't be able to chase after us.
However, they had just fought to the death, and now they were saluting us. It was strange.
The evil sacrificial spirit suddenly coughed and vomited black blood. The black mist shrouding him returned to his body, and the two extra arms disappeared. His body withered and returned to its original shape.
I was worried that he was hurt. "Are you okay?" The evil sacrificial spirit shook his head as if he didn't care. "Tell me about those bronze men."
"I'm okay," I didn't ask further. I thought for a while then told him about the eighteen Arhat Men.
Buddhism was introduced to China during the Han Dynasty. At that time, the evil sacrificial spirit had been asleep for more than one thousand years. Of course, he didn't know these things.
As for me, although I had been studying Metaphysics for a long time, I didn't know much about Buddhism. I didn't have much contact with them. The only contact I had was with Miao Jue, the monk who had helped me in the underground cellar in Shenzhen.
Miao Jue had invited me to the Reclining Buddha Temple to discuss Buddhism. However, I had been busy with other things and had forgotten about it.
I briefly told the evil sacrificial spirit what I knew about Buddhism. However, before the evil sacrificial spirit could answer, the golden light curtain in the distance started to change.
At this moment, the eighteen bronze Arhat Men had just entered. The light curtain, which used to be as calm as an ancient well, suddenly rippled, and a series of patterns emerged.
I glanced at them and vaguely recognized the patterns. They were Sanskrit.
Sanskrit was an ancient Indian language, which was also the language of Buddhism. It was normal for the eighteen bronze Arhat Men to have Sanskrit on them.
However, although I knew a lot about geomancy and metaphysics, I was a complete layman in Buddhism. Of course, I didn't know these complicated Sanskrit characters.
The evil sacrificial spirit didn't even know the eighteen Arhats, let alone Sanskrit characters.
While explaining to the evil sacrificial spirit, I continued to study the Sanskrit characters on the light curtain. It was strange. The Sanskrit characters looked like scribbles, but as I stared at them, my mind began to understand their meaning.
The Sanskrit roughly explained the cause of this seal. It was said that a monk named Fa Yuan had discovered this place when he was traveling around the world. He observed the monstrous demonic aura within the seal, and after some investigation, he still could not figure out what was inside. He was also afraid that the demonic creature would come out and bring disaster to the human world, so he stayed here until he passed away. He even combined his cultivation with a temple treasure in his hand to leave this seal.
At the end of the Sanskrit characters, it was written that only monks with a predestined relationship with Buddhism could read these characters. Of course, the monks who could read these characters had to inherit his will and continue to explore this place until the demon inside was completely destroyed.
If they didn't have enough strength, they could go to the light curtain and chant the name of Buddha to take the Buddhist treasure to help them.
After reading the characters, I was speechless.
According to Fa Yuan, only monks with a predestined relationship with Buddhism could read these Sanskrit characters. However, I wasn't a monk, nor was I an eminent monk. How could I read these characters?
Did I have the predestined relationship with Buddhism that he had mentioned?
After pondering for a long time, I couldn't find an answer. After explaining to the evil sacrificial spirit, he kept silent for a while. Then, he said, "The power of the magical treasures in this place isn't ordinary. I should follow the Sanskrit characters to take the Buddhist treasure."
I had the same idea. I carefully walked into the passage and arrived in front of the golden light curtain.
Different from the evil sacrificial spirit, the bronze Arhat statues didn't appear on the light curtain after I entered.
According to the Sanskrit characters, I stood in front of the light curtain and chanted the name of Buddha. As soon as I chanted, the light curtain in front of me collapsed and fell into my hand, turning into a string of Buddhist beads.
I carefully held the beads in front of my eyes to observe them. The beads on the string were ochre in color. They weren't perfectly round, but each bead had the shape of a reclining Buddha. The beads' bellies were engraved with many Sanskrit characters.
Although I understood the Sanskrit characters on the light curtain, I couldn't understand a single word of the Sanskrit characters on the string of beads.