Chapter 62: Bad Karma

"Ruin my cultivation, ruin my merits?" Qin Mu sneered. He slashed at the other chains. "You're nothing but a bronze Buddha statue. Where do you get merits from? Your 'merits' consist of suppressing Wu Nv here, and you stand by idly while she devours people right before your eyes. If you ever had any merits, they would have been long corrupted!"

The great Buddha statue's body trembled, and the blood-red patterns on its bronze surface burst forth with light. Illuminated by the gold foil on its exterior, it transformed into a glittering, golden Buddha. It spoke in a muffled, booming voice, "Do you know how many people it will eat, how many living beings it will destroy, if you release it?"

"All I know is that it hides countless bones behind you, using you to commit evil, and I haven't seen you do anything," Qin Mu said, severing the second chain. He sneered, "Outside, there's the ice tide, which erupts several times a year. What have you done about that? That's what true merit is, not just sitting in a temple suppressing a monster, especially when you condone it eating people. If you were to shatter the ice tide and save the common people downstream, then you would have great merit!"

The Buddha statue shone with brilliant golden light, and its hands moved, as if it were coming to life. Wu Nv was terrified and quickly cried out, "This old bald donkey is an evil Buddha! It's trying to refine me to death! Hurry!"

Qin Mu moved with swift steps, darting out of the temple. He activated the Shaobao Sword and aimed it at the chains outside the temple.

"The wickedness of all beings needs to be washed away by a great flood for them to shed their evil. This is the consequence of their own actions."

*Boom!* A violent tremor shook the ground. The bronze Buddha stood up, its head crashing through the ancient temple's roof. Its voice was deafening. "You evil deviant, daring to defy the Dharma! Your wicked stubbornness is beyond salvation!"

The chains that bound the Buddha statue's bronze body and Wu Nv suddenly seemed to come alive, whistling through the air as they coiled towards Qin Mu.

"Your Buddhist teachings are about saving yourselves by saving others, not about saving others for the sake of saving them. It's hypocritical," Qin Mu said. He leapt, dodging a coiling chain, and urged the Shaobao Sword towards the last chain binding Wu Nv. "When you suppressed Wu Nv back then, if you had killed it, that might have been considered your merit. But you chose to suppress it, allowing it to harm people. Its cannibalism is its sin, and the deeper its sin, the greater your merit in refining it? Bah! All the people Wu Nv devoured should be counted against you!"

*Clang!* The Shaobao Sword collided with a chain, and an immense force from the chain sent the precious sword flying. Qin Mu grunted, stepping back to avoid two more chains that snaked like black pythons. He sneered, "You sit in your temple, while outside, floods rage. Not only do you not save people, but you also stop me from saving them, yet you still fantasize about merit? Let me tell you, the elders in my village go out every year to fight the ice tide, saving countless lives among the common people, birds, and beasts downstream! If becoming a Buddha depended on merit, every one of them would already be a golden Buddha, not a mere bronze or clay statue!"

"Absurd!" The colossal bronze Buddha lifted its foot, bringing it down with a thunderous *boom* as it stepped out of the ruined temple. Its hands clasped together, and a sound of metal striking metal echoed. Immediately, brilliant Buddhist light erupted, sending Qin Mu flying!

Qin Mu's entire body was violently shaken. While he was still in mid-air, the chains coiled towards him.

Qin Mu continuously tapped his feet on the chains, sprinting along them. With his vital qi, he swiftly manipulated the Shaobao Sword, directing it towards the last chain binding Wu Nv.

Chains, like enormous pythons, intertwined and crisscrossed in mid-air, relentlessly attacking Qin Mu in a dazzling display. It was incredible how agile this bronze Buddha, forged from brass, could be.

Previously, the bronze Buddha couldn't distinguish between Qin Mu and Wu Nv; as long as Qin Mu spoke a demonic incantation, the Buddha would automatically respond by reciting Buddhist mantras to refine Wu Nv. Now, however, with Qin Mu trying to release Wu Nv, the bronze Buddha had completely changed, actively attacking him.

The thick chains continuously crisscrossed. Qin Mu stepped on one chain, avoiding the attacks of the others. Meanwhile, the power transmitted through the chains from the bronze Buddha gradually intensified. The vibrations caused by the chains rubbing against each other made him unstable, and his legs felt numb from the tremors. His control over the Shaobao Sword also became far less precise than before.

The bronze Buddha's power grew stronger and stronger, as if boundless energy within it was gradually awakening. Granny Si and the Cripple had both mentioned this bronze Buddha, noting its strangeness. Granny Si had even said she once tried to eliminate Wu Nv but was thwarted by the Buddha, failing to succeed.

Granny Si was naturally extremely powerful, yet she couldn't get rid of Wu Nv, indicating that the Buddha's fully awakened power would be terrifying. And now, the bronze Buddha's power was slowly stirring! Even a slight awakening was more than Qin Mu could withstand.

Just then, a deafening roar like a mountain collapsing echoed. The ice tide, surging from upstream, had finally reached this spot. Towering icebergs, tens of meters high, were swept along by the raging currents on the river, appearing before the oasis, right behind Qin Mu!

Qin Mu was immediately enveloped by a shadow. He hastily glanced back to see countless ice chunks being squeezed and tumbling, pushed to the top of an ice mountain, then crashing down from the peak, ground to the riverbed. New ice chunks were then forced up to the summit, only to slide down again. The ice tide crushed everything in its path. Bodies on the ice had already been pulverized beyond recognition, leaving only forward-surging, rolling ice mountains, determined to crush everything in their way!

"Hmph!" The bronze Buddha seemed to sense the approaching danger. Ignoring Qin Mu, it spread its arms and pushed against the surging ice tide. *Clang!* A colossal golden bell, formed of light, suddenly materialized around the oasis, enveloping it! Countless ice chunks, preceding the main ice tide, slammed into the golden bell with *clang*ing sounds, shattering into pieces. With each impact, rippling golden light spread outwards. From Qin Mu's perspective, it was a truly magnificent and beautiful sight.

Then, the ice tide surged forth. The roaring sound was like countless thunderbolts exploding, a continuous *rumble, rumble*, interwoven with the resounding peals of the golden bell! The force of heaven and earth collided with the bronze Buddha's Buddhist divine ability, shaking the very ground. Even the oasis trembled violently, as if it could sink into the water at any moment. The ice tide outside, blocked by the oasis and the golden bell in the middle of the river, grew higher and higher. The ice on either side had already flowed downstream past the oasis, but where the oasis stood, more and more ice accumulated, gradually threatening to overflow it.

*Clatter!* The chains rattled and coiled towards Qin Mu. The bronze Buddha still had spare energy; chains moved like agile serpents, relentlessly pursuing him. At the same time, the bronze Buddha's body shifted, emitting clangorous metallic sounds as its palms continuously struck the four walls of the golden bell, reinforcing it. The chains, wrapped around its body, flew and attacked Qin Mu with every movement, while Wu Nv, transformed into the little girl Xian Qing'er, was dragged along, stumbling. She suddenly tripped and fell to the ground, getting pulled with a bruised and swollen face, looking pitiable.

Qin Mu stepped on a chain and immediately felt the great Buddha's power diminish significantly, no longer so terrifying. He seized the opportunity, striking repeatedly with the Shaobao Sword. With a *clank*, he severed the last chain. Wu Nv froze for a moment, then raised her arms. She saw two golden rings still on her wrists, with broken chains hanging from them, feeling both surprised and overjoyed.

There were also golden rings on her ankles, trailing two broken chains. "Don't just stand there, hurry!" Qin Mu shouted, leaping towards her.

Wu Nv burst into laughter, a shrill, piercing sound. Suddenly, her body rapidly expanded, her Xian Qing'er skin tearing and flying off as her true form, covered in bone joints and with a hundred legs, appeared. "Little brother, jump onto me! I'll take you out of here!" she cried.

Qin Mu landed on her. The great demon, clad in bone armor, charged wildly, dragging the golden rings and chains, hurtling towards the rear of the oasis. Its numerous legs moved incredibly fast, then it leaped into the air. With all hundred legs moving in unison beneath its long body, it soared through the air, heading straight for the golden bell's wall!

"Wicked creature, you are my merit! Do you still intend to escape?" The bronze Buddha turned, and its colossal brass hand made a grasping motion in the air. The golden rings and chains on Wu Nv rattled, floating backward, while the chains on the bronze Buddha also rose, as if to reconnect with the broken ones.

Wu Nv was horrified. She was pulled down by the chains on her body. The immense force transmitted through the chains on her ankle rings dragged her relentlessly backward.

Wu Nv used all hundred of her legs to scramble forward, but she was still continuously dragged backward.

Qin Mu was just about to use his vital qi to control the sword and sever the golden rings on Wu Nv's limbs when, suddenly, an incredibly thin beam of light flashed, cutting through the golden bell and sweeping past the bronze Buddha's eyes.

The bronze Buddha roared, grabbing at its own eyes. Wu Nv suddenly felt light and free. She immediately scrambled, then leaped into the air within a few steps, breaking out of the golden bell's embrace, and sped across the river's surface.

Behind them, the bronze Buddha's roars continued. Suddenly, the golden bell shattered and disintegrated. The mountain-like ice tide surged forward, engulfing the oasis and the bronze Buddha. The ancient temple was instantly pulverized, and the entire oasis was flattened!

"I do not interfere with you, and you do not interfere with me..." The bronze Buddha was enraged, but before it could finish its sentence, it was pushed into the river along with the oasis by the ice tide, pressed down beneath the water!