Gentlemen, it's time to enter the Banner of Ten Thousand Souls.

Chapter 18 Evil Buddha
When Chen Ye returned to the mass grave, it was already broad daylight.

The warm sunlight poured down, which dispelled some of the eerie chill, but also made the corpses in the pit appear even more gruesome.

Fortunately, Chen Ye was no longer a newcomer to this world. Over the past few months, he had witnessed many tragedies and had developed some composure, allowing him to barely adapt to the scene before him.

He slowly walked around the mass grave, then took out a pile of dead wood from his storage bag, muttering incantations.

With a shout of "Fire!", the pile of dry wood instantly burst into flames.

Using burning wood as a brush, Chen Ye began to inscribe trigrams around the corpse pit. At this moment, his dantian (energy center) spun rapidly, continuously supplying him with spiritual energy.

This feeling made Chen Ye extremely happy, just like someone who had been poor for most of his life suddenly becoming rich overnight, and the feeling of spending money like water was particularly exciting.

After a flurry of activity, Chen Ye finally set up a rudimentary magic array.

Wood generates fire, and the yang energy is abundant. No matter what dangers lurk in this corpse pit, fire can overcome them, so there shouldn't be too much of a problem.

As the formation slowly began to operate and the surrounding temperature quietly rose, Chen Ye then used his "transportation" technique to retrieve the corpses from the pit one by one.

Spiritual vision, teleportation, invisibility, and wall-penetrating are all basic spells on the path to immortality, but they also consume a lot of energy.

Back then, Chen Ye, who was at the Qi Ling realm, could squander all the spiritual energy in his body simply by using the Spirit Eye Technique.

Now that he possesses a dantian and a sea of ​​qi, he truly has the bearing of a cultivator.

He chanted an incantation for a while, then his hands reached out and grasped at the air. An invisible force quietly arose, and he steadily lifted a corpse and slowly carried it out of the pit.

Chen Ye was just beginning to learn the art of transporting objects, and his skills were still quite rudimentary. He could only transport objects one by one, and he needed to concentrate fully. If he was even slightly distracted, the spiritual energy would dissipate and be wasted.

Given Chen Ye's current skill level, if he were to use teleportation techniques in combat, it would be a death sentence.

If you encounter a sword cultivator like Su Chunyi, you'd probably be sliced ​​into mincemeat by the sword light before you even finish chanting your incantation.

But Chen Ye was like a child who had just received his favorite toy. Even though he was sweating profusely, his face was full of a satisfied smile as he tirelessly performed his moving skills.

From relatively intact corpses to completely decomposed ones, Chen Ye carefully retrieved them all.

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

Chen Ye looked down and was astonished by what he saw.

"Buddha statue?"

At the bottom of the large pit, a Buddha statue, blackened by the corpse water, stood silently.

Upon closer inspection, one can see light shining through the Buddha statue's round belly, as if it contains some mysterious object.

This really piqued Chen Ye's curiosity.

Although legends of gods and Buddhas circulate in this world, they are far from the complete mythological system that Chen Ye was familiar with in his previous life, with only a few names known to the public.

Especially in Buddhism, the lineage is scarce, and even titles like Bodhisattva or Arhat are unheard of. Regardless of what kind of Buddha you are, you are all called Buddha.

What's even more peculiar is that Buddhism is not considered a righteous sect.

The most well-known Buddhist sect today is the Nirvana School, but it is universally recognized as a heretical sect. As for other scattered Buddhist sects, they are all classified as unorthodox and heretical, and are far removed from the orthodox path.

The root cause lies in the Buddhist concept of severing karmic ties in the mortal world.

Although Buddhism has precepts, it adheres to a rule that is difficult to understand.

No matter what heinous crimes one has committed in the past, once one becomes a monk, it is like "laying down the butcher's knife and becoming a Buddha on the spot."

Back then, many demons were driven to desperation by the righteous path and turned to join the Nirvana Sect. The monks there welcomed all of them and sheltered them all.

Those who follow the right path naturally find this difficult to accept.

Why should shaving one's head sever karmic ties and absolve one of guilt?
The Buddhist community has its own explanation: once one is ordained as a monk, one has already transcended the mundane world. You righteous paths have your own rules, so why don't we Buddhists have our own rules?
The Nirvana School is a typical example of misinterpreting scriptures and exhibiting blatant heretical practices.

Since no one can convince anyone else, in the end, only strength matters and fists determine who is superior.

Later, the war between the righteous and the demonic forces broke out, and the sect leader of the Nirvana Sect died at the hands of the righteous path, after which he remained silent for a period of time.

During this period, it was rumored that a disciple of the Nirvana Sect had achieved enlightenment and resolutely left the sect to found the Cixin Temple. The Cixin Temple was upright in its conduct, accepting only disciples from respectable families and strictly adhering to its rules and regulations. However, being from the Nirvana Sect, despite its careful words and actions, the Cixin Temple was still regarded as one of the unorthodox sects and had not yet gained the recognition of the orthodox factions.

Could it be that the Nirvana School has recovered and some disciples are now traveling the world reciting their distorted scriptures?
Chen Ye knew very little about the Nirvana School, and all he knew were some widely circulated rumors.

Now, facing this strange and evil Buddha, although he could not be sure whether it was related to the Nirvana Sect's lineage, he could be certain that this evil Buddha was no ordinary object.

Chen Ye was pondering whether to test the waters with his teleportation technique when he saw the evil Buddha suddenly open its eyes.

In an instant, two golden beams shot out like lightning, heading straight for Chen Ye's face.

Chen Ye reacted quickly, dodging to the side. However, the evil Buddha had already locked onto him, the golden light in his eyes like agile snakes, sweeping back and forth across his body.

Chen Ye suddenly felt as if his body was bound by an invisible force, becoming stiff and sluggish, and every move he made was half a beat slower.

"There was indeed a trap."

Chen Ye felt a sense of foreboding and immediately activated the formation he had previously set up.

In an instant, a ring of raging flames rose into the air, the blazing wall of fire blocking out the golden light of the evil Buddha.

Chen Ye immediately felt his body relax and regain his usual agility.

It is true that being prepared is the key to avoiding trouble. If we hadn't prepared this formation in advance, we would probably have been ambushed right now.

Just as Chen Ye breathed a sigh of relief, he heard a strange chanting sound in his ears. Faintly, he heard the phrase: "Put down the butcher's knife and become a Buddha on the spot!"

The Buddha's mantra, which should have been solemn and dignified, sounded to Chen Ye like the mournful howls of a demon, a soul-stealing cacophony.

Chen Ye felt dizzy and disoriented, his senses were confused, his legs went weak, and he couldn't even stand up straight.

Meanwhile, the evil Buddha at the bottom of the pit slowly rose and floated towards Chen Ye, chanting this chilling incantation.

At this extremely critical moment, Chen Ye suddenly heard Mo Ci transmit his voice: "Cut off both of your ears!"

Chen Ye regained consciousness for a moment and suddenly raised his hand to slap his ears hard.

With a "buzz," the excruciating pain of a ruptured eardrum and a strong sense of dizziness struck, almost causing him to lose his balance.

But Chen Ye gritted his teeth and forced himself to stand up, ignoring the blood streaming from his ears, and took out the sword talisman given to him by Su Chunyi from his bosom.

Driven by Chen Ye's spiritual energy, the palm-sized sword talisman instantly emitted a dazzling sword light, shooting towards the evil Buddha like a shooting star.

As if sensing a deadly crisis, the evil Buddha's eyes flashed with golden light, clashing fiercely with the sword light.

However, the sword light was as fast as lightning and unstoppable. With a "whoosh," it pierced through the golden light and flew to the evil Buddha.

Half of the evil Buddha's head was cut off, revealing its golden interior, which looked like it was cast in pure gold.

However, this attack also exhausted the power of the sword talisman. The sword light dissipated, and the talisman turned to ashes in mid-air.

Chen Ye only saw that most of the Buddha statue's head was missing. Because his eardrums had ruptured, he couldn't hear anything and wasn't sure if the evil Buddha's demonic voice had been dispelled. However, the evil Buddha was still suspended in mid-air, seemingly not completely destroyed.

Now was not the time to be stingy, so Chen Ye unleashed a second sword talisman without hesitation. Another sword light flashed, this time cleaving the Buddha statue in two.

Two golden Buddha statues fell from mid-air, and the contents inside them scattered all over the ground with a "clatter".

Chen Ye carefully held the third sword talisman tightly in his hand, remaining vigilant at all times, fearing that the evil Buddha was feigning defeat.

After waiting for a long time and confirming that the Buddha statue's spiritual energy had completely dissipated and there was no possibility of it being restored, Chen Ye finally grimaced and collapsed to the ground.

The battle was so fierce that even eardrums ruptured.

However, cultivators have a different physique than ordinary people. Although a ruptured eardrum is painful, it is only a minor injury. With medication and recuperation, they can recover quickly.

Chen Ye had no time to worry about his injuries at that moment. After confirming that there was no danger, he jumped into the pit.

The ruptured eardrum was a minor matter; what truly pained him was the sword talisman given to him by Su Chunyi. Now, only the last of the three sword talismans remained.

When the Buddha statue was split open, many things were scattered. Whether this whole ordeal was a gain or a loss depends on what treasures were hidden inside.

(End of this chapter)