Tales of Herding Gods

Chapter 80: Sun Guardian

Translator: Ninetales Editor: Fish Creek

In the heart of Sun Ship, a clear and loud voice sounded out. The jade pendant in front of Qin Mu’s chest gently floated up and seemed to fly towards Sun Ship. Qin Mu’s heart slightly shuddered and he looked towards the source of the voice only to see a gigantic giant speaking. The giant was several times taller than the other giants and looked like a heavenly god.

Both of her legs sunk into the body of the ship. More than half her legs were stuck into the ship and she was sinking further up to her hips. Even so, she was still three hundred yards tall.

She had four arms and each of the four arms was grabbing onto the pillars. Each pillar had chains that coiled around them. These were the chains that were chaining onto the black sun in the sky!

Her body flared up with flames like a human on fire. The blazing fire energy makes Qin Mu feel like he was being burned while looking at her.

Strangely, when Qin Mu saw her facial features, it was not of an adult woman but of a little girl whose age was even younger than his.

However, with such a tall and huge body, how could it be a little girl?

She seemed very exhausted and was gasping for breaths.

”Senior recognize this jade pendant?”

Qin Mu’s heart trembled and immediately removed the jade pendant from his chest. He then saw all four hands of the female giant loosened and her body gradually shrunk. Not long after, she turned from a giant who was over three hundred yards tall into a little girl who was a head shorter than Qin Mu.

”Senior?”

Her voice was very melodious and she smiled very happily. She panted a few times before continuing, ”I’m not a senior…”

She expended a lot of effort to pull her legs out from the ship’s body. This Sun Ship was very weird. Her legs were actually fused together with the ship and the flames of the ship were like blood vessels penetrating her legs, requiring a great deal of effort to be able to pull them out.

When she pulled out her legs, the place she stood on regained its level. Where her legs and the ship had fused were two holes which were slowly regenerating.

This little girl tried to walk but her legs were trembling and she almost fell to the ground. She immediately used her four hands to break her fall and asked, embarrassed, ”Can you come onboard?”

Qin Mu looked at the other giants onboard Sun Ship and only the old giant nodded, ”Let him come onboard.”

A giant wearing simple clothes came to the bow of the ship and stretched out his arm. His arm served as a bridge between the dragon pillar and Sun Ship. Qin Mu hesitated for a moment and stepped onto his palm, crossing this sturdy arm to reach Sun Ship.

On the ship, he was slightly startled. It was much cooler here than he expected. He had originally thought that this place would be as horribly torrid as a furnace, but he had never expected here to be so cooling.

”Mu’er, you little rascal!”

In Border Dragon City, Village Chief and the rest also sensed the abnormality onboard of the Sun Ship. Turning back to take a look, they happened to see Qin Mu walking up the giant’s arm and boarding the Sun Ship. Apothecary couldn’t help but to smile from anger, ”He sure has huge guts, he even dares to board the ship of god!”

The Butcher took out his two Pig Slaughtering Knives with his murderous intent overflowing, ”They even dare to steal our child, let us slaughter our way over!”

Village Chief stared at him and said calmly, ”They have no ill intention, let Mu’er be. There doesn’t seem to be a god aboard that ship…”

Qin Mu walked to the side of the little girl and Sun Ship gradually tilted back horizontally. Because she hasn’t walked for a long period of time, the little girl’s legs were inconvenient to move and it was strenuous for her to stand up for a greeting. Therefore she could only bow to Qin Mu while sitting down.

Qin Mu returned her greeting and passed his jade pendant into her hands. The little girl carefully inspected it and pondered. Bizarre and cryptic language came from her mouth as she asked an old giant beside her.

The old giant revealed an astonished expression and inspected Qin Mu, replying in a similar language that was difficult to understand.

”God language!”

Qin Mu was astonished. The young and the old were conversing in god language. He had heard the language of god before but he didn’t understand the meaning within. Therefore he had no idea what they were saying.

Both of them said a few sentences and the girl returned the jade pendant back to Qin Mu, ”Grandpa Patriarch said that your jade pendant is not a god, not a devil and not a Buddha. He has seen this kind of things before and it should be from Carefree Village of Great Ruins.

”Carefree Village?”

Qin Mu’s mind shuddered, ”Where’s Carefree Village?”

The girl then asked the old giant again and the old giant hesitated for a moment before saying some cryptic language. The girl shook her head, ”Carefree Village is very mysterious and will only appear when the darkness shroud Great Ruins. He also doesn’t know where it is.”

Qin Mu was slightly disappointed and remembered the name Carefree Village. Carefree Village could be his birthplace where his parents are. No matter what he will have to find this place.

”I was impressive right?’ The girl chuckled.

Qin Mu was stumped for words with a weird expression, ”You are the one driving Sun Ship and scared the Eternal Peace Empire’s great army away?”

The girl was immensely proud of herself, ”You didn’t expect it right?”

Qin Mu indeed didn’t expect it. Not only was the Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor scared off by her, even Village Chief, Mute and the rest jumped in shock. They thought there was an extremely ancient heavenly god onboard Sun Ship which was why Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor speculated that his power was no match for her and retreated.

They would never have dreamt that it was this little girl who was controlling Sun Ship. Of course, the Sun Ship was simply too shocking and too powerful, therefore they made such a miscalculation.

”My name’s Yan Jingjing, what’s your name?” That little girl asked curiously.

”Qin Mu.”

Qin Mu hesitated and said, ”I also have no idea if my surname is Qin or I’m called Qin. It was because of this Qin word on my jade pendant that Village Chief chose my surname as Qin. The meaning of Mu is to herd cows. What’s the meaning of Yan Jingjing?”

”It means there’s a lot of suns and fire.”

Yan Jingjing tried her best to stand up but she must not have used her legs for a long time, therefore she walked unsteadily. Qin Mu saw that the muscles on both of her legs have dried up and became very thin. With only skin clinging to her bones, there was not an ounce of flesh.

She was so emaciated that people couldn’t help but to feel shocked.

”When I was born, I was like a sun. My mother was burned to death by the flames on my body, therefore, Grandpa Patriarch gave me the name Yan Jingjing.”

Yan Jingjing’s expression turned dull, ”When I grew up, Grandpa Patriarch said that I have the bloodline of the Sun Guardian on my body. The power of Sun Guardian is very strong and allow me to be acknowledged by the Sun Ship, controlling the Sun Ship to travel Great Ruins. There’s only me in my race that could control this ship, therefore, I’ve become the Sun Guardian of this generation.”

She then smiled happily again, ”You’re the boy who herds cows and I’m the girl who herds sun. When I fused together with the Sun Ship, my powers are very strong, just like a heavenly god. That’s why I could scare the bad guys away. Did I scare you just now?”

Qin Mu smiled, ”You did.”

Yan Jingjing lowered her head, ”I’m sorry. I was too exhausted just now, therefore, I’ve stopped here for a break and scared you…”

Qin Mu was stunned and smiled, ”It’s okay. Why are your legs so skinny?”

”Grandpa said that the sun of our Sun Herd Clan had extinguished. Therefore when I control the Sun Ship, Sun Ship absorbs my power, making me skinnier and skinnier.

Yan Jingjing continued, ”When my power runs out, I will become like the previous Sun Guardian, fusing together with this ship. That was how my father died… If the sun would be able to reignite, Sun Ship will absorb the power of the sun and even nourish the Sun Guardian, making me very strong!”

Qin Mu’s heart wavered. He looked at the black sun in the sky and muttered, ”Require to ignite the sun? Who would be able to do it? Maybe only true heavenly god could do it… Why must you guard here and be the Sun Guardian?”

”Because it is the duty of us Sun Herders. Sun Guardian is a clergy! Long long time ago, I have no idea how long. Anyways, very long ago, we Sun Herders were appointed as Sun Guardian, to guard the Sun Ship and protect Great Ruins. This duty was then passed down generation to generation. As for who appointed us as Sun Guardian, I’ve also no idea. Maybe Grandpa Patriarch might know.”

Yan Jingjing was very cheerful and seemed like she didn’t have any playmates. She sat down and chattered non stop with Qin Mu, talking about all the interesting stuff she had seen along with her journey.

Qin Mu looked around. The Sun Herd Clan were all giants and there were young boys and girls who could play together with Yan Jingjing. However, they all revered Yan Jingjing very much and didn’t dare to come forward.

Furthermore, these people were also very tall and sturdy. They were much taller and stronger than Yan Jingjing. Yan Jingjing looked more like she belonged to the human race and was different from them.

Qin Mu guessed that maybe Yan Jingjing had the bloodline of a human. However, it could be possible that it was because her power was being absorbed by the Sun Ship, therefore, her body had become smaller.

What was strange was when Yan Jingjing fused with the Sun Ship, she instead became abnormally tall and sturdy, just like an awe-inspiring heavenly goddess, which meant that his guess might not be accurate.

What he didn’t know was that the Sun Herd Clan wasn’t naturally huge. It was because they had to stay on Sun Ship where there was a divine energy flowing around in the air. When the Sun Herders of Sun Herd Clan consume food, they would unknowingly consume this divine energy, resulting in their bodies to become abnormally tall and sturdy.

It was because Yan Jingjing’s power was absorbed by Sun Ship, therefore the power she ingested wasn’t enough to cover the power that was absorbed. Therefore she didn’t become tall and sturdy like the rest of her clansmen.

When she fused with Sun Ship, the power of Sun Ship and hers would combine together, which was why she could become as imposing as a heavenly god.

”In the future, if I have the ability, I will help you ignite the sun and free you!” Qin Mu declared.

”Really?”

Yan Jingjing’s eyes sparkled brightly and excitedly said, ”I’ll wait for this day to come! Then I’ll be able to walk and be like everyone else!”

Qin Mu nodded his head heavily and smiled, ”I’ll definitely find a way to ignite this sun.”

At this moment, the giant patriarch came over and said, ”Sun Guardian, the army of Eternal Peace Empire has completely retreated.”

Yan Jingjing stood up with difficulty and waved at Qin Mu with a sweet smile, ”I have to go too. I’ll leave from Star Sea and come out from Sun Well, if you want to find me, you can just come to Sun Well!”

Qin Mu nodded his head and the girl walked unsteadily back to the pillars. As her hand touched the pillar, her body rapidly expanded and her legs sunk into Sun Ship, fusing together with it.

Her hands grabbed on to the other three pillars and her body started to ignite with blazing flames, making her unapproachable.

The giant patriarch came over and sent Qin Mu back to the bow of the ship. The old and gray-haired Sun Herder had a deep grief tone in his voice as he said softly, ”The Sun Guardian does not have many years to live…”

Qin Mu’s heart shuddered and raised his head to look at the elder. He then looked at the giantess in flames and Yan Jingjing was smiling at him.

”If you’re a guest from Carefree Village, you may have a way to reignite the sun. After all…”

The giant patriarch hesitated for a moment and didn’t continue his words. He instead sent Qin Mu down the ship and this unimaginable artifact created by gods started to slowly stand up and walk towards Star Sea.

As the sun set, the inclined sunlight shone onto the ancient ship that gradually moved far away. The blackness in the sun also gradually became smaller and soon, the Sun Ship couldn’t be seen anymore. The black sun also became a black dot that was so tiny it could no longer be seen.