Chapter 62 — Damaging Your Hidden Merit
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 3
Meanwhile Sang'e, in the form of the little girl Qixia'er, was dragged along stumbling, suddenly tripped and fell to the ground, pulled until its face was bruised and swollen, pitiful to behold. Shen Mu, stepping on the chains, immediately felt that the Great Buddha's power had decreased greatly and was no longer so dreadful. Seizing the moment, he slashed repeatedly with the Chubao sword; with a clang, he severed the last chain.
Sang'e was stunned for a moment, then raised its arm and saw that at the wrist there were still two golden rings, with broken chains hanging below them.
It was both astonished and delighted. At its ankles, too, were golden rings, with two broken chains trailing from them.
"Don't dally—go! " Shen Mu shouted, hurtling toward it.
Sang'e laughed loudly, its laughter shrill and awful. Suddenly its body swelled violently, the skin of Qixia'er bursting into flying shreds of human hide, revealing its true form covered in bony segments. Its hundred legs flailed and it cried, "Little brother, jump onto my back—I'll carry you out of here!
" Shen Mu landed on its back. This great demon, armored in bone, charged wildly forward, dragging golden rings and chains as it whistled toward the back of the oasis.
Its legs moved with incredible speed; then it leapt into the air, its hundred feet moving in unison beneath its long body, flying through the air toward the wall of the golden bell! "Sinful creature!
You are my merit—do you still think you can escape?
" The bronze Buddha turned, its great yellow-copper hand grasping at the air.
The golden rings and chains on Sang'e clattered and flew backward, while the chains on the Buddha's own body lifted as well, as if about to reconnect with the severed ends. Sang'e shuddered with dread; the chains on its body dragged it down from the air. The force transmitted through the chains on its ankle rings was so great that it was pulled backward again and again.
Sang'e used all its hundred legs to struggle forward, but still it was dragged sliding backward. Shen Mu was just about to drive his flying sword with qi to sever the golden rings on Sang'e's hands and feet, when suddenly an incredibly thin ray of light flashed, cutting through the golden bell and darting past between the bronze Buddha's eyes. The bronze Buddha roared in fury, its palm grabbing at its own eyes.
Sang'e felt its body suddenly light; it hurriedly ran for all it was worth, leaping within a few steps, bursting out of the golden bell's cover, and speeding away across the river's surface with a whoosh.
Behind them, the bronze Buddha's roar continued without end. Suddenly the golden bell collapsed and disintegrated; the mountain-like ice flood surged in, engulfing the oasis and the bronze Buddha. The ancient temple shattered in an instant, and the entire oasis was leveled!
"I have no quarrel with you. .
.
" the bronze Buddha said furiously, but before it could finish the sentence, it was pushed by the ice flood into the river along with the oasis, pressed beneath the water!