Tales of Herding Gods

Chapter 235: Qin Mu Borrowing Ship

Translator: Ninetales Editor: DarkGem

Thud, thud.

The corpses of Daoist Chi Yun and Daoist Shao Yuan collapsed onto the ground. Qin Mu put away his sword and raised his head to have a look. Long Jiaonan had already gone far away, the speed of the red snake really fast. It wouldn’t be easy to catch up to her.

”Tonight, the messenger of death will have wandering souls to take away, it’s just a pity that we didn’t manage to send Long Jiaonan on her way as well. This woman is indeed very intelligent. She had also managed to escape in the battle in Heaven Wave City.”

Qin Mu let out a sigh of relief. Now that Long Jiaonan was left by herself, it would be difficult for her to achieve anything. If she dared to come after him again, she would certainly die.

The main reason why this battle had gone so smoothly was mainly due to everyone’s coordination. After all, Daoist Chi Yun’s cultivation and strength weren’t low, and he wasn’t any weaker than Long Jiaonan.

Since Daoist Chi Yun carried a sword case, it meant that he was most proficient in sword battles. With Dutian Devil King blocking his swords with his eight arms, Qin Mu could rush to Daoist Chi Yun’s side without any worry.

The devil ape’s power lay in his incredible strength. With the Khakkhara staff and Rulai’s Mahayana Sutra, the devil ape’s strength was enough to stun Daoist Chi Yun, so Qin Mu could take his life in a single attack.

Long Jiaonan’s battle prowess lay mainly in the huge red snake which was almost a flood dragon from all the refinement. The dragon qilin, however, was a perfect match for the red snake. Once he pressed down the red snake with his strength, Long Jiaonan was no longer able to save Daoist Chi Yun.

Because of this, the old man was doomed.

However, now that Long Jiaonan had escaped, Qin Mu wasn’t able to chase her because he would definitely die if he went after her. His companions—Dutian Devil King, the dragon qilin, and the devil ape—sadly were not fast enough to catch up to her, so they could only let her escape.

”Big fella, did Little Rulai of Little Thunderclap Monastery give you trouble?” Qin Mu asked.

The devil ape shook his head and pointed at himself. ”My, name, Kong.”

Qin Mu waited for a moment. The devil ape was probably talking about his name in religion, but what religious name was only one word? Was it really Kong? And if not, then what was Kong?

The devil ape thought that he had already understood and didn’t say a word more. This devil ape treated his words like gold and would never say an extra one.

”It’s good for you to follow Little Rulai to cultivate. Little Rulai knows Rulai’s Mahayana Sutra and is a strange beast that achieved the Dao, so he’s the most qualified to guide you on your cultivation.”

Qin Mu waved his hand and said, ”My elders are lost so I have to go find them and can’t stay here any longer. Come home when you’re free, Ling’er misses you too!”

The two of them bade farewell.

Qin Mu followed the direction pointed out by the messenger of death, and this time he no longer felt Long Jiaonan’s gaze on him. The girl must have believed that she couldn’t kill him and thus retreated.

”I wonder how the battle between Little Rulai and Daoist Ling Jing went...”

Even though Qin Mu kept thinking of that fight, finding Village Chief and the rest was more important. He sat down on the forehead of the dragon qilin who began running forward, while Dutian Devil King chose to stand on the back, his four faces looking in four directions to take note of any movement in the surroundings.

The deeper they went into Great Ruins, the stronger the strange beasts became. The abilities of some of them were no inferior to those of the dragon qilin or the huge red snake. Luckily, most of these strange beasts had their own territories.

Having lived in Great Ruins since he was young, Qin Mu was quite the expert in differentiating between the territories of strange beasts, so they could easily avoid them on their journey and stayed relatively safe.

”If we continue on, we’ll reach Eastern Heavenly Gates.”

Qin Mu recalled the geographical map of Great Ruins and the place in it called Eastern Heavenly Gates. Besides it, there were three more places that had the name Heavenly Gates, and they were obviously Northern, Western, and Southern Heavenly Gates.

At that moment, the dragon qilin suddenly stopped and sniffed the air. ”There’s a scent of blood.”

”This fellow is a huge dog and not a dragon qilin!” Dutian Devil King thought to himself.

Qin Mu’s heart stirred slightly. ”Blood scent? Go and take a look.”

The dragon qilin followed the blood scent, and after a moment, Qin Mu saw an old Daoist in the distance leaning against a tree while panting heavily.

”Daoist Ling Jing!”

Astonished, Qin Mu immediately called the dragon qilin to a stop. ”He has placed a restriction around him, so don’t step into it.”

Daoist Ling Jing raised his head weakly and took a glance at him. As he took a breath, he suddenly coughed violently and vomited out a mouthful of blood. ”The eyes of Sword God’s disciple are extraordinary. I’m injured so I placed a restriction around myself to avoid getting engaged by the strange beasts.”

Qin Mu said, ”Daoist, I’m proficient in the art of healing. Do you need my help?”

Daoist Ling Jing raised his hand and lifted the restriction. He wanted to get up but was unable to move, so he said while gasping for breath, ”Come over.”

Qin Mu had the dragon qilin walk to the tree. He then jumped down from the head to examine Daoist Ling Jing’s injuries. This elder was heavily injured, and these wounds were probably caused by Little Rulai.

The crucial point was that Daoist Ling Jing was pretty old and his body was not like what it used to be. This resulted in the injuries becoming even more severe, making it difficult for him to heal naturally.

Qin Mu mumbled to himself as he took out the dragon’s saliva to treat external injuries. He then took out a few Spirit Buddha Pills to repair the damage to Daoist Ling Jing’s spirit. After that, he rummaged through his taotie sack and took out some herbs he had bought in Imperial College for emergency usage. Even though there weren’t many herbs, they were enough to create spirit pills for Daoist Ling Jing’s injuries.

Qin Mu made the spirit pills on the spot, with his hand techniques fast and perfect. Soon, a furnace of spirit pills was finished, and he let Daoist Ling Jing consume them.

The complexion of Daoist Ling Jing turned for the better, and he said in astonishment, ”The disciple of Sword God actually has such high attainments in the art of healing. Little Dao friend, won’t you be my disciple? I have a lot of enemies and with you by my side, you could assure my safety. Don’t worry, even though the Old Sword God is powerful, what I can teach you won’t be any worse than him.”

Qin Mu shook his head. ”I’m the cult master sacred teacher of Heavenly Devil Cult so I can’t become your disciple.”

”So it’s the devil cult master.” Daoist Ling Jing struggled to get up, then bowed in greeting with a respectful face. ”I thought I was above you in seniority, never expecting us to be senior brothers of the same seniority, Ling Jing pays respects to devil cult master.”

Qin Mu immediately returned his greeting. ”Senior Brother Ling Jing is too polite. Your injuries are not a problem now, but if you want to get rid of them from their roots, you will have to nurse yourself to health.”

Daoist Ling Jing smiled. ”Seems like it was the right choice to give you those two Fengdu coins. The Old Sword God still owes me two Fengdu coins, but I reckon that guy won’t return them to me. He’s pretty stingy, having even chopped off one of my fingers back then.” He opened up his right hand and said, ”See.”

The ring finger on his right hand was gone, and it was clearly a sword wound.

”If it was not for this broken finger, how would Little Rulai of Little Thunderclap Monastery have been able to injure me this heavily? However, his injuries are pretty severe as well. Hehe, without a divine physician at his side, I reckon he will have to roll back to Little Thunderclap Monastery and suffer for two to three years before fully recovering.”

Daoist Ling Jing let out a pent-up breath. ”That fellow is younger than me and has a good foundation. He was the disciple of the previous Rulai and is the junior brother of the current Rulai. When the previous Rulai passed on the position to his senior brother, the Little Rulai was indignant and felt that the reason why the previous Rulai had not passed on the position to him was because he was from the demon race, so he had slaughtered his way out of Great Thunderclap Monastery and founded Little Thunderclap Monastery. That’s right, why are you wandering in the depths of Great Ruins alone?”

Qin Mu mixed a few herbs together and brewed a medicinal decoction. ”The elders of my village have lost their way, so I’ve come out to look for them.”

”Elders of your village?” Daoist Ling Jing was bewildered.

”It’s none other than Old Sword God and the other elders. Among them are Jade Face Poison King, Thief God, Ma Wangshen, and also my Heavenly Devil Cult Patriarch. Has senior brother met them?”

Daoist Ling Jing was startled. Suddenly, he began laughing until tears almost rolled down his cheeks. The injuries that had just fused split open once more and made this elder suck in a cold breath from the pain. ”Old Sword God and Heavenly Devil Cult Patriarch have lost their way? These two old goofballs, they actually lost their way!”

He laughed until he couldn’t breathe, and Qin Mu immediately said, ”Stop laughing, your wounds have opened up again. Has senior brother seen them?”

”I haven’t.” Daoist Ling Jing shook his head.

Qin Mu then took out the portraits of Old Ma, Granny Si, and the rest to ask, ”In that case, what about them?”

Daoist Ling Jing took a look at the paintings and pondered. ”I saw this blacksmith carrying a chest. His speed was very fast and his ability was no weaker than mine. When I met him, we even competed with our leg power. He didn’t say a word and had a weird temper. It’s rare to meet this kind of strong practitioner, but I had never heard of such an expert before.”

Qin Mu’s spirit was aroused. ”That’s Grandpa Mute from my village! Does senior brother know where he went?”

Daoist Ling Jing replied, ”He went into a restricted area. It’s very treacherous there, so it’s one of the most dangerous grounds in Great Ruins. I chased him all the way to that dangerous land but did not go in. He’s a mute? No wonder he gave me the cold shoulder when I was talking to him.”

”Grandpa Mute went to a restricted area in Great Ruins?” Qin Mu became nervous again, and he thought for a moment before asking, ”Has senior brother heard of Carefree Village before?”

”Carefree Village?” Daoist Ling Jing shook his head. ”I’ve not heard of it before.”

Qin Mu muttered to himself irresolutely for a moment. Daoist Ling Jing frequently wandered around Great Ruins and knew numerous secrets that no one else knew. If even he didn’t know where Carefree Village was, Qin Mu had little hope to find Carefree Village by himself.

He pondered over it before suddenly asking, ”Senior brother, can I ask you for a favor? I would like to go to the living realm of the dead once more.”

Daoist Ling Jing smiled. ”This is simple. When the night comes, I’ll bring you there.”

Qin Mu calmed himself down and healed the other’s injuries, so when the night arrived, Daoist Ling Jing had pretty much recovered. He immediately brought them into the darkness of Great Ruins and said, ”Living realm of the dead is the territory of the King of Hell. This world is very mysterious and the two worlds only overlap at night. If you want to enter the living realm of the dead, you need to have Fengdu coins. I’ve signed a contract with the King of Hell to not go to Youdu after I die but straight to Fengdu.”

Looking around, he took out a token and shone it towards the darkness. ”The origin of Fengdu is very weird. It doesn’t have a fixed location but floats here and there in Great Ruins, creating a very mysterious world by itself. I have a token of Fengdu, so as long as I activate it, an envoy of Fengdu will come and fetch me.”

Just as he was saying that, a light came shining over from the middle of two large mountains. Daoist Ling Jing immediately brought Qin Mu over there. That light was sometimes bright and sometimes dim, guiding them on their way.

Without noticing it, they passed by a couple large mountains and got closer to that light only to see it was but a ball of a will-o’-the-wisp which suddenly vanished.

The jade pendant on Qin Mu’s chest gave off a ghostly light then and slowly floated upwards to lead the way.

Daoist Ling Jing brought Qin Mu and the rest forward until they passed through what felt like a formless barrier. The sight in front of them suddenly changed and the vastly mysterious living realm of the dead appeared in front of them. There, they could only see a small boat sailing unhurriedly through the sea of fog among the countless white bone mountains.

Daoist Ling Jing brought Qin Mu and the rest to the boat, and the skeleton inside brought them into the dense fog. After some time, they reached the docks.

The stone tablet of the living realm of the dead was right in front of them.

Daoist Ling Jing asked curiously, ”Devil cult master, what are you coming here for? Your cultivation is too weak, so even if you sell your soul, Fengdu won’t want it.”

Qin Mu walked forward, passing by an empty village. After crossing the huge mountain in front of them, he saw the incomparably large Moon Ship that lay in front of Fengdu. It was like a three-legged toad that was carrying an enormous ship.

Once he said it, he said solemnly, ”I’m here to borrow a ship!”

”Borrow a ship?”

Daoist Ling Jing was stunned for a moment, while Qin Mu sprinted over rapidly. He broke through in no time and landed on the Moon Ship in a few steps.

On his chest, the jade pendant which he wore since he was young floated up even higher, and the light coming from it became even brighter.

Dutian Devil King looked around, incredibly shaken as he muttered, ”Is this a god artifact?”

”Visitor from Carefree Village…”

On the Moon Ship which was in a mess, the ruined star in the sky turned into fireballs which descended non-stop, making the situation quite dangerous. A strange, trembling voice rang out. ”You’re from Carefree Village! What are you here for? I’m not a betrayer, I only escaped! Their deaths are not my fault, hehe, they’re not my fault. I’m just a coward…”

Qin Mu looked toward the source of the voice and came to the center of the Moon Ship. In the middle of several huge pillars, a face of several acres that was stuck to the ground looked at the jade pendant floating in front of his chest in terror.

”Not my fault, I didn’t betray my tribesmen—” that face shrieked.

Qin Mu hesitated for a moment, then let out a shaky breath and stretched out his palm to touch one of the pillars. Daoist Ling Jing frowned. ”I’ve been here before and there was nothing here except for this lunatic. I’ve checked these pillars before as well, but there were no abnormalities.”

”Don’t touch!” that face shouted in despair.

When Qin Mu’s palm touched the huge pillar, an incomparably terrifying energy suddenly came pouring into his body. Cracking sounds rang out all around him as his body grew taller and bigger. The divine energy that came pouring in caused his body to undergo a dramatic transformation!

He felt his tailbone growing frantically, turning into a third leg that grew out from his back and landed steadily on the ground. Bones and flesh also rapidly grew under his armpits, turning into arms.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Qin Mu stretched out his arms and grasped the other pillars. Everything in his surroundings seemed to shrink rapidly, but that was just a misconception. He was actually the one becoming larger.

Due to the divine energy of Moon Ship reconstructing his body, deafening explosions came from his body. This noise originated from all the divine treasures opening within him. In the blink of an eye, Six Directions, Seven Stars, Celestial Being, and Life and Death Divine Treasures had all opened up. The Divine Bridge Divine Treasure had even opened up and reached straight to the opposite shore!

Qin Mu couldn’t resist howling, and as he did so, the incomparably enormous Moon Ship gradually stood up. Then, the broken moon floated into the distance.