Evil Buddha

When Chen Ye returned to the corpse pit, the sky had already grown bright.

Warm sunlight poured down. Though it dispelled some of the gloomy chill, it also made the bodies in the pit look even more horrifying.

Fortunately, Chen Ye was no longer a newcomer who had just transmigrated. Over the past few months, he had witnessed countless human tragedies and had steadied himself enough to just barely endure the sight before him.

He slowly paced around the corpse pit, then took a pile of deadwood from his storage pouch and began murmuring an incantation.

At the words "Fire, come!" the deadwood burst into roaring flames.

Using the burning wood as a brush, Chen Ye began tracing the trigrams around the corpse pit. At that moment, the spiritual sea in his dantian spun rapidly, continuously channeling spiritual energy into him.

The sensation made Chen Ye feel incredibly invigorated. It was like someone who had been poor most of his life suddenly getting rich overnight—the thrill of spending money like water was intoxicating.

After a busy spell, Chen Ye finally laid down a rudimentary formation.

Wood fed fire, and fire strengthened yang energy. Whatever dangers lurked in the corpse pit, overcoming them with fire shouldn't go too far wrong.

Once the formation slowly began to work, the temperature around him quietly rose. Only then did Chen Ye use the Transport Technique, preparing to haul the corpses out of the pit one by one.

The Spirit Eye, Transportation Technique, Invisibility, and Wall-Piercing were all basic spells on the path of cultivation, but they still consumed a great deal of energy.

Back when Chen Ye had been in the Qiling Realm, merely using the Spirit Eye Technique had been enough to drain all the spiritual energy in his body.

Now that he had a spiritual sea in his dantian, he finally had the bearing of a true cultivator.

He chanted for quite a while, then reached out with both hands as if to grab something in midair. An invisible force quietly took shape, firmly lifting a corpse and slowly carrying it out of the pit.

Chen Ye had only just begun practicing the Transportation Technique, and his handling was still clumsy. He could only move one corpse at a time, and he had to focus completely. The slightest distraction caused his spiritual energy to spill out wastefully.

At Chen Ye's current level, trying to use the Transportation Technique in a fight would be a death wish.

Against a sword cultivator like Su Chunyi, he'd probably be sliced into mincemeat by sword light before he could finish chanting.

But Chen Ye was like a child who had just received a beloved toy. Even with sweat streaming down his face, he wore a satisfied smile and kept using the Transportation Technique, thoroughly enjoying himself.

He carefully hauled out every corpse, from those that were relatively intact to those that had completely rotted away.

When Chen Ye had carried up the last corpse, something different finally appeared at the bottom of the pit.

Chen Ye bent forward to peer down, and the sight before him left him stunned.

"A Buddha statue?"

At the bottom of the deep pit stood a Buddha statue, blackened from soaking in corpse water.

Looking closely, he could see light shining through the statue's round belly, as though it contained some mysterious object.

It truly piqued Chen Ye's curiosity.

Although tales of immortals and Buddhas circulated from time to time in this world, they were nowhere near as comprehensive as the mythological system Chen Ye had known in his previous life. Only a handful of names were familiar to people.

The Buddhist tradition was especially sparse, and even terms like bodhisattva and arhat were unheard of. Whatever kind of Buddha you were, you were simply called a Buddha.

Even more unusual was that Buddhism wasn't considered a righteous sect.

The best-known Buddhist sect at present was called the Nirvana Sect, yet it was widely recognized as a demonic sect. As for the other scattered Buddhist sects, they were all classed as unorthodox and remained outside the righteous path.

The root of the problem lay in Buddhism's belief in severing worldly ties and karmic bonds.

Buddhism had precepts, but it also clung to one baffling rule.

No matter what heinous acts someone had committed before, the moment they took the tonsure and joined the faith, they could "put down the butcher's knife and become a Buddha on the spot."

Back then, many demonic cultivators had been hounded by the righteous sects until they had nowhere left to turn. They would then join the Nirvana Sect, whose monks accepted everyone and sheltered them all.

The righteous cultivators naturally found this impossible to accept.

How could shaving your head sever your karma and free you from responsibility?

But Buddhism had its own explanation: once you took the tonsure and left the world behind, you had already transcended the mundane. The righteous path had its rules—did Buddhism not have the right to its own?

The Nirvana Sect had clearly twisted the teachings into something perverse, behaving just like a demonic sect.

Since neither side could convince the other, the only solution was to let strength decide and settle things with their fists.

Later, war broke out between the righteous and demonic factions. The Nirvana Sect's leader died at the hands of the righteous, and the sect fell silent for a time.

During that period, rumors spread that a Nirvana Sect disciple had attained great enlightenment, resolutely left the sect, and founded Cixin Temple. Cixin Temple conducted itself honorably, accepted only respectable families' children, and strictly upheld its precepts.

But it had still originated from the Nirvana Sect. No matter how carefully it watched its words and actions, Cixin Temple was still considered an unorthodox sect and had yet to win recognition from the righteous sects.

Could the Nirvana Sect have recovered and sent its disciples out into the world again, preaching their twisted teachings?

Chen Ye knew little about the Nirvana Sect. All he knew were a few widely circulated stories.

Now, facing this strange Evil Buddha, he couldn't be sure whether it was connected to the Nirvana Sect's teachings, but he could tell that it was no ordinary thing.

Chen Ye was considering whether to test it with the Transportation Technique when the Evil Buddha suddenly opened its eyes.

In an instant, two beams of golden light shot out like lightning, spearing straight toward Chen Ye's face.

Chen Ye reacted quickly and dodged to the side. But the Evil Buddha had already locked onto him, and the golden light in its eyes swept back and forth over his body like nimble snakes.

Chen Ye immediately felt an invisible force bind him. His body grew stiff and sluggish, and every movement seemed half a beat too slow.

"There really was a trap."

Chen Ye sensed that things had gone badly. Without hesitation, he activated the formation he had set up earlier.

In an instant, a ring of roaring flames leapt into the air, forming a wall of fire that blocked the Evil Buddha's golden light.

Chen Ye felt his body loosen at once, his usual agility returning.

It was true what they said: preparation was the best safeguard. If he hadn't laid down the formation in advance, he would have fallen for the ambush by now.

But just as Chen Ye let out a breath of relief, a strange chanting reached his ears. It was faint and indistinct, but he made out the words, "Put down the butcher's knife and become a Buddha on the spot!"

The Buddha's words should have been solemn and dignified, but to Chen Ye they sounded like the shrill cries of evil spirits—a demonic melody that could snatch away the soul.

Chen Ye felt his mind spinning and his senses thrown into disarray. His legs went weak, and he could barely stay on his feet.

Meanwhile, the Evil Buddha at the bottom of the pit slowly rose and drifted toward Chen Ye, chanting the bloodcurdling curse all the while.

At this perilous moment, Chen Ye suddenly heard Mo Ci's voice in his mind: "Rupture your eardrums!"

Chen Ye regained some clarity for a brief moment. He abruptly raised his hands and struck both ears with all his might.

With a ringing sound, the agony of ruptured eardrums and a powerful wave of dizziness washed over him, nearly making him lose his balance.

But Chen Ye gritted his teeth and forced himself to stay upright. Ignoring the blood streaming from his ears, he pulled out the sword talisman Su Chunyi had given him.

Fueled by Chen Ye's spiritual energy, the palm-sized sword talisman instantly burst into dazzling sword light. It streaked like a meteor toward the Evil Buddha.

As if sensing a mortal threat, the Evil Buddha's eyes blazed with golden light, and it clashed fiercely against the sword light.

But the sword light was as fast as lightning and unstoppable. With a sharp hiss, it pierced through the golden light and shot straight to the Evil Buddha.

Half of the Evil Buddha's head was sliced off, revealing a gleaming golden interior, as if it had been cast from pure gold.

But the strike had also exhausted the sword talisman's power. The sword light vanished, and the talisman paper turned to ash in midair.

Chen Ye could only see that most of the Buddha statue's head was gone. With his eardrums ruptured, he couldn't hear anything and had no way of knowing whether the Evil Buddha's demonic music had been silenced. Yet the Evil Buddha still floated in midair, apparently not completely destroyed.

This was no time to be stingy. Chen Ye immediately fired a second sword talisman. Another streak of sword light flashed, and this time it cleaved the Buddha statue down the middle, splitting it in two.

The two halves of the golden Buddha fell from the air, and the things inside its belly spilled across the ground with a clatter.

Chen Ye gripped the third sword talisman tightly, staying on guard in case the Evil Buddha was only pretending to retreat.

After waiting a long while and confirming that the Buddha statue's spiritual energy had completely dissipated, with no chance of recovery, Chen Ye finally grimaced and dropped to the ground.

His eardrums had been ruptured in the battle. It had been truly brutal.

Still, cultivators had bodies unlike ordinary people. Though a ruptured eardrum was painful, it was only a minor injury. With medicine and rest, it would heal quickly.

Chen Ye had no time to worry about his injuries. After checking again and confirming there was no danger, he leapt down into the pit.

A ruptured eardrum was a small matter. What truly pained him was the sword talismans Su Chunyi had given him. Of the three, only one remained.

When the Buddha statue had been split open, all sorts of things had spilled out. After all this trouble, whether he had made a profit or taken a loss depended on what treasures were hidden inside.