Tales of Herding Gods

Chapter 66: Worshipping The River Gods

Translator: Ninetales Editor: Fish Creek

Qin Mu was puzzled. Why would touching a sweat towel bring bad luck for three years?

The quality of this ‘sweat towel’ was soft and had a smooth texture. It naturally had a fragrance as well, which was indeed good for wiping sweat. It must have been made from a unique kind of silk that was quite expensive. It was rare to see such textile in Great Ruins.

Qin Mu kept the sweat towel on his chest and played around with Junior Protector Sword and the sheath. He was pretty happy with it.

The top half of the sword sheath of Junior Protector Sword was golden in color and was adorned with gems and pearls. At the mouth of the sheath, there was a carving of a fish dragon swallowing. Where the mouth of the fish dragon was, was the place where the treasure sword comes out from the sheath.

The bottom half of the sword sheath was silver gray in color without any decorations or carvings. The tail of the sheath was sculpted with a dragon fish’s tail which was golden in color as well.

Ding.

Qin Mu returned the sword to the sheath. His vital qi surged into the sword sheath and Junior Protector Sword was once again unsheathed. When unsheathing, a huge dragon fish appeared from the sword sheath and leaped above his head, spitting out the sword.

Qin Mu raised his hand and pulled out the sword from the fish mouth, feeling a sense of satisfaction.

“The sword sheath is truly a good item. It still has the apparition of a fish dragon!”

He returned his sword back into the sheath and the fish dragon swallowed the Junior Protector Sword before disappearing into the sword sheath.

Qin Mu was over the moon and poured his vital qi into the sword sheath again. The fish dragon appeared again and spat out Junior Protector Sword. He pulled out the sword before putting it back in again, making the fish dragon fused back into the sword sheath.

He played with the sword over and over again until Blind couldn’t help but speak out, “Mu’er, stop playing. Your granny had brought back another few livestock, you’ll need to herd the cows. These few cows will be brought to Border Dragon City to be sold tomorrow.”

Qin Mu gave a sound of acknowledgment and immediately returned to the village. He then brought the six cows out to herd with questions in his heart, “Granny had just sold the livestock in the village a few days ago, how come there are six more cows? Where did these cows come from?”

As he walked out of the village, he saw Village Chief, Apothecary and Blind gathered around, discussing something. Cripple was sitting on the side, dismantling the black banner. He threw the banner flag to Old Ma to put it up as a curtain for his carpenter shop. The pole was thrown to Granny Si to oust the chicken.

The next day, Qin Mu prepared the cow cart and Granny Si smiled, “Mu’er, this time you can follow us into the city.”

Qin Mu was astonished and delighted. He immediately carried his Junior Protector Sword, Pig Slaughtering Knife, bamboo cane, iron hammer and jumped onto the cow cart. Blind walked calmly from behind and sat beside Granny Si on the cow cart.

The cart was filled with ironware made by Mute. There were beast skins and furs that Old Ma, Cripple and Qin Mu had obtained from hunting. Among the goods were also two goats with their hooves tied up.

The three big yellow cows harnessed in front of the cow cart were very strong. There were three more still tied at the back.

The youth cracked his whip and the big yellow cows blinked their eyes innocently as they walked out of the village.

This was the first time he entered the city. Therefore he couldn’t help being excited. He was so excited that he felt like flying. He totally didn’t notice the innocent looks from the big yellow cow and mountain goats.

Border Dragon City was quite a distance from Disabled Elderly Village, as far as three hundred miles away. Therefore, entering the city was a major event. However, with Great Ruins being desolated, the roads weren’t easy to travel on. They must first cross the water path before crossing several miles on land to reach Border Dragon City.

Qin Mu drove the cart to the side of the river only to see Cripple binding up a big bamboo raft. He carefully drove the cows onto the bamboo raft and Cripple released the mooring rope. The bamboo raft floated down along with the river as its speed grew faster.

However, even with this speed, it would take them four to five days to reach Border Dragon Village.

Floating a dozen miles downstream, Blind used his bamboo staff to tap on the water surface and the bamboo raft floated to the shore instantly.

Qin Mu didn’t understand the reason for doing so and raised his head to look at the shore. However, he realized that was the direction of Grandma Temple and they were many people from various villages already gathered there. Most of them were driving horse carts and cow carts as they waited by the riverside.

Surging River was dangerous with rapid currents. There were many river monsters and ferocious big fish in the river. For this reason, all the villagers from various villages would normally choose to head to Border Dragon City on the same day. The more people there were, the easier it was for them to look out for one another.

Many bamboo rafts were moored at the riverside. There were even more bamboo rafts that were sailing over. Not long later, there were a total of hundreds of bamboo rafts gathered together.

Blind took out a few incenses and lit them against the wind before sticking them on the riverside. The other villagers also came forward to stick their incenses in the ground. The smoke of incense filled the air and floated on the river along with the gentle breeze.

Suddenly, someone shouted out a chant loud and clear. More and more people started to sing loudly by the riverside. It was a river song, a song to worship the river gods.

“With you, I wandered down the Nine Rivers, a whirlwind rose and the waters barred us with their waves;

“We rode in a water-chariot with awning of lotus-leaf, drawn by two dragons to pull at the sides;

“I climb Kunlun and look in all directions, my heart rises as I am agitated and distraught;

“Dusk is coming but I am too sad to think of returning, of the far shore are my thoughts as I lie awake and yearn;

…”

The ancient intonation revolved around the nasal and throat of numerous villagers as everyone joined in to sing. With their melodious and heroic voices, the spectacle made Qin Mu felt indescribably moved.

Suddenly, the water surface in front parted, as huge beasts revealed their heads from the water.

Numerous huge beasts appeared from the bottom of the river. They had green colored back and four huge webs that were like fins. They also had a head similar to fish but had a long nose which was like a spear.

As the heads of the huge beasts in the water rose, they began to look like tiny hills. Their noses came close to the shore and they took deep breaths in front of the incenses. All the incenses on the shore burned rapidly as the smoke entered the nostrils of these huge beasts.

These huge beasts closed their eyes and puffed up a huge ring of smoke after a while, as though they were enjoying this very much.

The villagers at the shore took the chance to drive their cow carts onto the green back of the huge beasts. Seeing the current situation, Qin Mu also immediately drove the cart up one of the backs of the huge beasts. Granny Si took up a big piece of meat she had prepared earlier and threw it into the water. The huge beast ate the piece of meat and let out a loud cry before flapping its four webs and carrying the cow cart along with the three people on it downstream.

Behind them, the huge green back beasts let out long cries that fluctuated up and down as they accompanied the tune of the villagers singing while carrying the villagers forward.

“These are strange beasts that are only found in Surging River, they are called River Carriers.”

Granny Si continued, “River Carriers are the river gods that reside in the heart of the villagers. They like the smell of incense and beef. What they love the most is to listen to songs that praise them. People living on the side of the river can attract them over just by lighting a few incenses. By offering beef to them, we can make the River Carriers bring us down the river. If the River Carrier is hungry on the way there, we will have to feed it more beef or else it will go on a strike and throw us into the water.”

Qin Mu clicked his tongue in wonder.

The swimming speed of the River Carriers was very fast. In addition, they were swimming downstream as they braced the waves with the wind blowing in their face. It was even faster than steeds galloping on land.

Qin Mu did some calculations and with the speed the River Carriers were going at, they could reach Border Dragon City before nightfall!

In Surging River, the cries of the huge River Carriers fluctuated up and down along with the mountains on both shores. The sun shone on their faces and the surface of the river shimmered with golden ripples.

Qin Mu looked into the distance and suddenly felt his body and mind becoming endlessly vast, as if every single one of the golden river, green mountains, blue sky, and ravines were all concealed in his chest.

This was a magical land with magical people and river beasts. Despite it being barren lands and wild rivers that had shrews and wicked people to the people outside of Great Ruins, as far as Qin Mu was concerned, this was his homeland!

In the evening, as the sun sets west, Qin Mu saw various small docks on the side of the river. The River Carriers gradually slowed down their speed and swam to the docks.

Granny Si rose and smiled, “We’re almost at Border Dragon City. Mu’er, drive the cart down and let us quickly head into the city.”

Qin Mu stopped the bamboo raft and drove the cart ashore. Looking back, he saw the other River Carriers reaching the shore and the people of the other villagers also quickly driving their horse carts and cow carts down, heading in the same direction.

The cow cart traveled a mile forward and climbed over a small hillside. There was a slope ahead so Qin Mu jumped off a cow cart as he planned to guide the big yellow cow steadily so the cart wouldn’t slide off the slope. However, his heart suddenly jolted as he stared blankly at the sight in front.

Under this hillside, there was a huge path leading towards a simple but majestic city. The four corners of the city wall had stone pillars that were a hundred yards thick and five hundred yards long. Every stone pillar had a golden divine dragon coiling around it which was sculpted and inlaid with golden leaves. Therefore they had a brilliant gold shimmer!

The city gate tower of this city was also constructed in the shape of a dragon’s head. The city gate was the dragon’s mouth while the cornices of the city gate towers were like two dragon’s horns, making it both malevolent and domineering!

Border Dragon City.

One of the rare flourishing lands of Great Ruins.

Great Ruins lacked resources. Seasonings were all precious commodities that have to be bought from the outside world and not anyone could go to the outside world. Only flourishing land like Border Dragon City would have merchants comings from the outside world to bring their goods in to trade. At the same time, they would bring the precious goods from Great Ruins and sell them to the outside world.

“The divine dragon pillars here are way bigger than the stone statues in our village.”

With heartfelt admiration, Qin Mu exclaimed, “If we could steal it away and place it at our village entrance, it would definitely be impressive!”

Granny Si rolled her eyes at him, “If we could steal it, granny would have done it a long time ago. Unless you can make all the old fellows in the village to take action, it would be impossible to steal it away! Move quickly, the sky is almost dark, we’ll have to quickly enter the city!”

The wheels on the cart rattled as Qin Mu drove the cow cart into the city. Looking around curiously, everything in Border Dragon City intrigued him.

In the city, there was an endless stream of horses and carriages. There were people everywhere as well. It was the first time he had seen so many people ever since he was born.

Furthermore, there were also numerous well-dressed girls as they stood on top of the buildings, waving their arms enthusiastically at him, calling him to go up to play with them.

“The people in the city sure are cordial.”

Qin Mu was very excited as he waved back at the girls and shouted, “After I finish selling my goods I will come back to play with big sisters!”

Blind didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, “Mu’er, these girls upstairs are girls who took a wrong step. They aren’t really trying to play with you. If you go up, you will be stripped of your skin and you will even have your bone marrow sucked out!”

Qin Mu jumped in shock, “Wrong step? Grandpa Blind, they’re all standing steadily and doesn’t look like they took any wrong step. Could they be demons like Woman Wu? Woman Wu had said that it wanted to play some shameful stuff with me but I didn’t agree with it.”