Tales of Herding Gods

Chapter 44: Heavenly Devil Patriarch

Translator: Ninetales Editor: Fish Creek

The villagers of Zhang Manor crowded around and one of them immediately said, “The night watchman had just died!”

The elder pondered for a minute and asked, “Was the night watchman’s body buried? He is most likely a demon and his body may turn into a zombie.”

The villagers in Zhang Manor jumped in shock and immediately brought the two people to the grave of the night watchman, “We just buried him yesterday, two venerables…”

The elder pointed his finger forward and the dirt on the grave separated to two sides. A thin coffin rose up from the pit and floated in front of everyone.

Pop pop pop—

The coffin nails automatically popped out one by one and the cover of the coffin was lifted up. As the coffin fell back into the pit, the body of the night watchman continued floating in midair, his face getting covered by a white banner.

Retrieving the white banner for inspection, the old and the young monk took a look at each other and nodded their heads silently. The elder chanted an incantation and pointed his finger at the body once again, resulting in the night watchman body to instantly burst into flames, turning into ashes before long.

The villagers immediately gave their thanks, offering gold and silver as a reward. The youth immediately shook his hand but the elder said, “We don’t deserve the reward for doing nothing, but if we did a meritorious deed we’ll have to receive the reward. Accept it.”

The youth then kept the reward. The elder then asked, “Where does the youth that killed the huge snake stay? Who were the ones around him?”

“They’re from Disabled Elderly Village. With him are Blind and Granny Si. Following the river upstream, you can find the village about fourteen miles from here.”

The elder said his thanks and they left Zhang Manor to travel upstream.

After walking a few miles, the elder gave a sigh, “Death is like an extinguished lamp. Hall Master Mo’s lamp has been extinguished. That night watchman was our Hall Master Mo. He had gone down the wrong path while cultivating Freedom Precelestial Technique and used infants for cultivation. Even though he deserved death, he was still a hall master of our sacred cult. The one who killed him seemed to be Spear God, who had nailed his soul and body to death. On the white banner are sword marks, which meant before Hall Master Mo met Spear God, he had met her as well, the Cult Mistress.”

The youth listened silently.

The elder continued, Cult Mistress was always mysterious and elusive. After hiding away in the Great Ruins, experts from our sacred cult had been tracking her down to no avail. Never would I expect Hall Master Mo to meet her here. Patriarch, we have not wasted our time here.”

The youth opened his mouth and an extremely old but powerful voice sounded out, “After Cult Mistress had killed Cult Master and stolen Great Educational Heavenly Devil Scriptures, the holy bible of our cult, she disappeared for forty years. Pity us that we have to search around for her for the past forty years, we have finally found her.”

The next morning in Disabled Elderly Village, Apothecary brought Village Chief to the village’s entrance after breakfast and brewed up a pot of tea before he heard the clucks of the hen dragon in the village.

“The hen has laid its egg, Mu’er, go grab the egg from the coop.”

Granny Si hurried Mu’er to go grab the egg and just as Qin Mu entered the coop, he got chased out by the hen dragon after getting his face pecked bloody.

The hen dragon was extremely fierce and could spit out a fire snake that was several yards long. Its feathers were as sharp as blades and its claws could knead metal like mud. Sparring a few rounds with the hen, Qin Mu realized he wasn’t its opponent and ran away.

“Mu’er, you don’t even have the strength to subdue a hen?” Butcher saw Qin Mu getting chased around the entire village by the hen dragon and roared with laughter.

Granny Si took the chance to snatch the egg and when the hen dragon couldn’t catch up to Qin Mu, it went back into its coop arrogantly only to find out its egg was gone. Flying into a rage, it went after the youth again to beat him up.

After the commotion, Qin Mu raised his spirit and swept away all depression gain from being defeated by the Hen Dragon. Strapping the Pig Slaughtering Knife on his back, he then put on a sword sheath, a huge iron hammer, his khakkhara staff and stuffed a few Vitality Reinforcement Pill in his pockets before leaving the village enthusiastically.

This was his first time going out to hunt alone and Qin Mu had been waiting forever for this day. However, he was a little depressed after being beaten by the Hen Dragon.

Walking out of the village, he saw a youth and an elder walking towards the village like two wandering devotees.

The youth and the elder came to the village’s gate, paying their respects to Village Chief and Apothecary who were drinking tea there, asking, “May we request for a cup of tea?”

Village Chief raised his eyebrows and replied, “How can we neglect our visitors from afar?”

Apothecary poured two cups of tea for the youth and the elder as they both sat down. The youth sat in front of Village Chief while the elder sat at the side.

“This was the youth that had slaughtered the snake?” The elder looked pleasantly at Qin Mu and smiled.

Qin Mu was about to say something when Village Chief cut in, “Mu’er, it’s none of your business being here. Go do your own stuff.”

Qin Mu nodded and walked towards the forest.

When Qin Mu had gone far away, the youth in front of Village Chief opened his mouth and spoke with an extremely old voice, “We have met before, am I right?”

Village Chief nodded his head, “Yes we have.”

The youth revealed a smile, “There aren’t many people left from our generation. I’m very glad to be able to meet you.”

“I could say the same.” Village Chief said insipidly.

The youth smiled, “I’m here to see Granny Si. Our cult hasn’t had a cult master for the past forty years. Granny Si will have to give us an answer.”

Village Chief shook his head, “Once in the village, we have no ties with the outside world.”

The youth’s gaze wavered, “I shall not go in then. Could you ask her out for me? I have questions to ask her.”

Village Chief shook his head again, “She had gone out.”

The elder couldn’t restrain himself and was about to say something when the youth raised his hand to stop him, “We have already waited forty years, there’s no rush now. Elder of Discipline, since Cult Mistress isn’t here, call the strong workers over to build a village. We’re going to stay here for the night.”

The elder bowed in agreement and a devilish qi shot up into the sky to form a giant “decree” word.

The youth slowly enjoyed his tea and after two hours, the villagers in Disabled Elderly VIllage put down the work on hand and walked out of the village, raising their heads to have a look.

From the forest, huge giants with bulging muscles walked through the forest, pushing down all the tree in their paths. Every four giants carried a stone statue with them and there was a total of four statues. Walking over as they gasped for breath, the rocks and mountains were flattened like mud under their feet!

The sixteen giant’s faces were flushed as the stone statues were obviously incomparably heavy. Even strong workers like they weren’t able to handle them.

The sixteen giants carefully placed down the four statues on the north, south, east, and west corners right beside the Disabled Elderly Village.

Not long later, another ship with several decks sailed by and stopped beside the river. Over a hundred carpenters came down from the ship and started cutting down the trees beside Disabled Elderly Village and built the houses. An hour later, wooden houses were soon built, with all the pieces of furniture that were needed. The carpenters then went back to the ship and brought down all the gold, silver, household utensils, and cutleries. They then boarded the ship again and sailed away.

Following that, another ship sailed in and some painters came down to paint the houses and the pieces of furniture, leaving after they were finished.

Another ship of stonemasons arrived and started to extract stones from the mountain to carve into stone statues and stone slabs to make pavements in the village, leaving after they were finished as well.

After some time, a burly man with a curly mustache hurried over while covered in dust and bowed, “Patriarch! Senior Brother of Discipline.”

The elder replied, “Left Guardian, the village is ready. Find yourself a room.”

The burly man with curly mustache entered the newly built village beside Disabled Elderly Village and settled down in one of the rooms, not making a sound.

Sometime later, an old woman in shabby clothes came by and paid her respects to the youth and the elder before settling down in one of the rooms. Moments later, another fisherman came sailing down on a skiff made from a piece of leaf. Anchoring his skiff at the side of the river, he settled down in the village with his fishing basket and rod.

Not long later, more and more strange people started to enter the village. Some of them were moneybags and some of them were merchants, others looked like scholars, teachers, and even prostitutes. There were various people from all kinds of professions.

Old Ma’s expression turned grave and lowered his voice, “There are three hundred and sixty professions in Heavenly Devil Cult which formed three hundred and sixty halls and hall masters. They were all extremely mysterious and were hidden throughout the whole world. Who would have thought all three hundred and sixty hall masters had entered the Great Ruins for the past forty years to look for the Cult Mistress. I’m afraid they would all come stay here beside us!”

The smile on Cripple’s face became even more radiant as he laughed, “Where’s Granny Si? These people are all looking for her!”

Deaf replied, “I saw granny turning into a roe deer and left the village before Qin Mu did. I think she worried about Mu’er hunting alone, therefore, she’s escorting him secretly. I’m afraid she still has no idea that the Devil Cult had found their way here. The Devil Cult almost moved their entire cult over to our side!”

…

Qin Mu walked deep into the forest and mountains and after a while, a roe deer ran by while looking around, unable to find any trace of Qin Mu. Just as the roe deer was bewildered, Qin Mu jumped down from the tree and smiled, “Granny, since I supposed to be hunting alone, do you mind going back? I’m able to take care of myself.”

The roe deer got angry and scolded, “Rascal, be careful not to die outside!” She then wagged her little tail and ran off.

Qin Mu continued to move forward and saw a woolly mammoth drinking water beside a pond not long after. “Granny, I’m really able to take care of myself. There’s no need for you to follow me.”

The woolly mammoth flew into a rage and started trampling toward him. Qin Mu circulated his vital qi and drew his Pig Slaughter Knife out with a murderous intent, “Since you aren’t granny, then die!”

The woolly mammoth immediately turned around and ran away while scolding him in human language, “You are going to even kill granny. Get ready for a beating when you go back!”

Qin Mu shooked his head and walked another two miles forward before helplessly raising his head at a huge bird in the sky, “Granny, there’s really no need to follow me.”

The huge bird glanced at him and remained unmoved while continuously circling on top of him.

Qin Mu gazed wavered and picked up a bunch of stones, flicking them into the sky. The stones in the sky were of different height, allowing Qin Mu to use their as stairs to leap upwards until he was beside the bird.

The huge bird suddenly spoke, “Alright, alright, I shan’t follow you anymore!” When she finished saying, she flapped her wings and flew away.

Qin Mu landed back on the ground with a thud as both his legs sunk deep into the mud. Lifting up his head, the bird in the sky had vanished without a trace.

“Granny would probably still follow me.”

Qin Mu took notice of his surroundings and didn’t discover anything abnormal so he continued a few miles forward. In front of him was a waterfall with a good landscape. At the side of the waterfall was a straw hut and outside the hut was a slanted stone statue that was half buried in the ground.

Smoke could be seen rising from the straw hut which showed that someone was living here.

“How are there still people living here in such wilderness? Could it be an elderly expert hiding in seclusion here?”

Just as he thought about this, he saw a white fox walking out from the straw hut to grab a bamboo tube before returning back to the hut.