Chapter 18: The Bad Kid
Qin Mu’s vision suddenly plunged into darkness. When his consciousness awoke, he was horrified to discover that his awareness was actually inside the stone statue!
“What happened?”
He opened his eyes and tried to move his eyeballs, suddenly realizing that “his” eyeballs could indeed move. Then he tilted his head and found that his consciousness now had a head. He looked down and saw that his awareness had merged with the “stone statue”—the statue’s hands and feet had become his own!
Consciousness had no form, yet now his awareness had taken shape. This was too bizarre!
He sensed that this “stone statue” was a kind of spirit—neither pure energy nor pure soul, strange and difficult to explain.
“Spirit Embryo Divine Treasury, Spirit Embryo Divine Treasury… Could it be that the stone statue is my spirit embryo, and my consciousness entering it is what awakens the spirit embryo? Is that what the Spirit Embryo Divine Treasury refers to?”
Qin Mu’s spirit embryo blinked its eyes, and in an instant, many things became clear.
The human body contained seven divine treasuries, with the Spirit Embryo Divine Treasury being the first. However, this treasury was sealed; ordinary people could not open it, and thus could not awaken their spirit embryo. But the divine treasury of a spirit body was naturally open, so only the corresponding spirit blood was needed to guide consciousness into the spirit embryo and awaken it.
The spirit embryo—this was the vessel that housed consciousness.
As for the divine treasury, could it be that the gods did not bestow the spirit embryo upon humans, but rather deliberately sealed it away?
Just as he reached this thought, primal energy suddenly surged in from outside, flowing into the sea of light. Those strands of primal energy were drawn into the small spirit embryo’s body, and wisps of it swirled in and out of its nostrils, feeling very comfortable.
And with each breath the spirit embryo took, his primal energy became much purer!
Not only that, but Qin Mu also noticed that the spirit embryo was absorbing the golden light from the sea of light. The golden light entered and exited his body along with the primal energy, dotting the primal energy with specks of gold. He had no idea what effect this had.
He tried to make the spirit embryo stand up, but found that this tiny infant could neither stand nor move its body.
“How does the spirit embryo move? Hmm, I’ll ask the village chief and Granny when I get back.”
Just as Qin Mu was thinking this, his consciousness suddenly returned to his body, and he opened his eyes.
From within the temple came violent coughing sounds. The monster was not dead; it was lying in front of the Buddha statue, coughing up blood, spitting it out in large mouthfuls. Qin Mu thought for a moment, then stepped into the temple gate.
When the monster saw him actually enter the ancient temple, it felt a mix of shock and joy and quickly struggled to its feet.
As Qin Mu walked toward it, he chanted: “Kikedo Samaya, Prajna Prajna Samaya, Kikedo Prajna Samaya!”
“How dare you act recklessly, you fiend!”
The monster’s hair stood on end. Behind it, the golden Buddha shook again, blazing with golden light. The chains clattered loudly, pulling the monster back down to its knees!
“Om, Ma, Ni, Pad, Me, Hum!”
The Buddha’s voice thundered, and the monster was refined by the sound, spitting blood and becoming listless.
Qin Mu stopped chanting the demonic sound, and the golden Buddha’s voice ceased after just one phrase. The monster under the Buddha statue panted heavily and was about to stand up when Qin Mu’s mouth once again emitted the demonic sound. The monster shrieked and quickly hid behind the Buddha statue, but Qin Mu only uttered one or two syllables before stopping.
“You are a demon…”
The monster cautiously poked its head out, staring at Qin Mu in terror as he walked into the main hall of the temple. Its voice was hoarse: “You are the demon! You are the great evil, the wicked demon lord!”
Qin Mu did not reply. He walked straight to the Buddha statue, hesitated for a moment, and finally decided to follow the advice of the old hand, Blind. He said respectfully: “This humble student has been weak since childhood, with premature kidney deficiency and early leakage of primal yang…”
When the monster heard this, its eyes bulged wide. Coughing up blood, it chuckled hoarsely: “Young lad, you’re telling the Buddha you have kidney deficiency? The Buddha won’t be stealing your essence!”
Qin Mu glared at it: “Kikedo Samaya…”
The Buddha statue shook: “Fiend!”
The monster was terrified out of its wits and quickly begged for mercy, shouting: “Don’t chant! Spare me!”
Qin Mu stopped chanting, but the golden Buddha still uttered one true word, refining the monster until it spat blood.
Qin Mu looked around the temple but found nothing valuable. However, the pile of bones stacked behind the Buddha statue startled him—clearly, countless people had died in this ruined temple, killed by this monster.
The young man shook his head and said: “Hiding bones behind the Buddha statue makes the Buddha your accomplice, helping you cover up your sins so more people fall for your trap. If I used the Buddha’s hand to refine you to death, it would become the Buddha’s merit. I won’t do that. Demon, what treasures do you have in this temple?”
The monster trembled with fear and said: “What treasures could I have? I was suppressed here by that bald monk, and he took all my treasures.”
“Kikedo…”
“Don’t chant!”
The monster forced a smile: “Over the years I’ve managed this place, besides occasionally satisfying my appetite, I did find a few good things. I’ll give them to you.” It struggled to its feet, crawled to the top of the hall, and gently poked at a spot. A hidden compartment in the ceiling opened.
Items from the compartment clattered down—mostly weapons and armor, along with a few pieces of clothing, mostly women’s undergarments, but judging by the material, they must have belonged to wealthy families.
“That’s all,” the monster said with a forced smile.
Qin Mu frowned, disappointed: “Just these? No miraculous pills or elixirs?”
“If I had any, I would have eaten them.”
The monster stretched its centipede-like body, joints cracking, and chuckled darkly: “I’ve been trapped here too long. I’d eat anything. Miraculous pills taste even better than these people—why would I leave them? Don’t underestimate these weapons. They’re good stuff. These are spirit weapons, born from the Six Harmonies Divine Treasury, nurtured by one’s own primal energy, with astonishing power!”
Qin Mu was skeptical. He picked up a goose-wing blade; it was surprisingly heavy, much heavier than the butcher knife on his back. Strangely, the butcher knife was much larger than this seemingly ordinary blade, yet it weighed less than the goose-wing blade.
The goose-wing blade was long and narrow, while the butcher knife was wide and thick.
Qin Mu took off the butcher knife and lightly clashed it against the goose-wing blade. With a clang, the goose-wing blade snapped in half, the blade head falling to the ground.
The monster stared wide-eyed, dumbfounded, at the butcher knife in Qin Mu’s hand, unable to speak.
Qin Mu was deeply disappointed and tossed the goose-wing blade aside.
“That chopping board of a knife—who forged it?”
The monster shrieked, stammering: “A spirit weapon nurtured by a Six Harmonies realm expert, broken in one clash! That chopping board knife of yours could not have been forged by an ordinary person!”
Qin Mu stroked the butcher knife. The blade was very cold, a chill penetrating straight to his heart and lungs. The butcher knife had been forged for him by the village blacksmith, Mute, a well-known smith in the area. His work was in high demand, and people from other villages often came to him for kitchen knives, hoes, and iron plows.
“It’s not made of ordinary iron!”
The monster foamed at the mouth, wanting to come closer for a better look but too afraid, lest Qin Mu chant those strange demonic words again. It shouted: “Feel it—does it have a chill? If it does, it’s cold iron crystal!”
Qin Mu was surprised and nodded: “It does have a chill.”
The monster exclaimed: “Using cold iron crystal to forge a chopping board? And with such excellent craftsmanship, to make a knife shaped like a chopping board? What a waste of materials, what a waste of skill!”
Qin Mu glared at it, put the butcher knife back on his back, then picked up the weapons and other treasures from the ground, carrying them out of the temple one by one and placing them at the temple gate.
The monster was furious and shouted: “You already have such a fine weapon, why take my things?”
“Granny said, anything you take by your own skill, you must take it all.”
Qin Mu turned back and gave a simple, honest smile: “I took all these things by my own skill, so I have to take them all.”
The monster was half-dead with rage but dared not start a fight. It could only watch helplessly as Qin Mu emptied its hard-earned collection.
“Do you have any bags or something?” Qin Mu suddenly poked his head back in and asked.
“No!”
“Oh.” Qin Mu withdrew.
The monster cautiously crept out of the main hall and saw Qin Mu outside cutting bamboo on the island. Soon, he had made a bamboo raft, loaded the treasures onto it, and was poling upstream with a long bamboo pole.
“Who taught such a bad kid? Even daring to rob me?”
The monster jumped up and down in fury, finally daring to curse aloud: “Is there no law anymore? And he even asked me for a bag to wrap the loot! Infuriating!”