Tales of Herding Gods - Chapter 43

Chapter 43: The Demon Rushing Home

Translator: Ninetales Editor: Fish Creek

The next day, Qin Mu was awakened by the commotion made by the villagers and went to ask around. Only then did he knew that the night watchman had died last night, scaring the villagers.

They had already been frightened once by the huge snake that had come out from the tree Qin Mu had chopped. Never did they expect the night watchman to die such a gruesome death in the dead of night, causing them to panic.

The couple from yesterday brought a plate which had a red cloth laid on it. On the top of the red cloth were some gifts, “Midwife, little brother, we are a poor family and have nothing much to offer. You must accept this.”

Qin Mu was about to reject when Blind cut in, “Accept them, Mu’er. Don’t keep them feeling that they owe you.”

Qin Mu properly kept the few items and bid goodbye to the couple. The man smiled, “With such exceptional ability, little brother would definitely become a dragon or phoenix in the world!”

“What’s so great about dragon and phoenix?” Granny Si said. “Dragon’s liver and phoenix’s gall are merely delicacies on the table. Don’t become a dragon or phoenix. Become one who will devour a dragon or phoenix in this world.”

The couple looked at each other speechlessly. Granny Si waved towards them, “Go back. Mu’er, Blind, we’ll continue with the temple fair!”

Qin Mu quickly caught up to the Granny Si and asked curiously, “Granny, what was going on last night? Was the method of breeding from the night watchman? How did he die? Also, what was the silver pellet floating above my forehead last night? Didn’t you also say everyone was ordinary in our village? How come I feel the people in our village aren’t as ordinary as people from other villages?”

“Where did all the questions come from?” Granny Si’s head started to ache and pleadingly looked towards Blind. Blind chuckled as he walked forward, knocking into a tree with a bump and fainted.

Granny Si gave a few steps on Blind’s face yet he remained unconscious.

Qin Mu immediately carried Blind on his back and looked hopefully at Granny Si. Granny Si then took out a needle from her basket and stab it into Blind’s butt. Even with the blood spurting out, he still remained unconscious.

Left without a choice, Granny Si blinked her eyes and said, “The night watchman was indeed the expert from the devil path that had bred the snake. His ability wasn’t weak as well. He used the Phantom Illusion Technique, which is one of the very powerful divine arts of Heavenly Devil Cult. I used Shadow Assassination Skill to injure his shadow and used his shadow to injure his true body. However, being haunted by the devil in my heart, I had once promised someone to never harm a Heavenly Devil Cult’s disciple so I could only force him to retreat. The one who killed him wasn’t me and was Blind.”

Qin Mu blinked his eyes and asked again, “Then what was the silver pellet? Was it a sword pellet? Is granny skilled in sword technique?”

Granny Si also blinked her eyes back at Qin Mu. Both of them blinked and blinked at each other until their eyes were sore. Gritting her teeth, Granny Si stabbed another needle into Blind’s butt but he still remained unconscious.

“Silver pellet? Ehem, did you mean this?”

Granny Si flipped over her palm and there it was, a silver pellet. Qin Mu immediately nodded his head, “Teach me sword technique, granny!”

Granny Si gave a sigh, “It’s not that I don’t want to teach you. I can’t. My sword technique may be one of the greatest but it would never be considered the best in the world. If you learn my sword technique, the person would be unwilling to teach you, therefore I wouldn’t teach you even if it costs me my life.”

Qin Mu became disappointed but his spirit immediately lifted again, “The best sword technique in the world? Is he from our village?”

“Stop guessing blindly.”

Granny Si warned him, “If you go beg him, more so he won’t teach you. Only when he had come to terms with himself would he teach you! There are many ultimate arts that you had learned and you haven’t truly mastered any of them. When the day comes you can beat the elders in the village, you shall then think about training your sword technique! Even if he doesn’t teach you then, we’ll force him to teach!”

Blind gave a yawn and said calmly, “He’s the most knowledgeable and has the densest cultivation. He’s gotten more and more terrifying these few years and we might not even beat him together.”

“You’re finally willing to wake up?” Granny Si erupted in anger and stabbed another needle on his butt.

Blind climbed down from Qin Mu’s back and propped himself up with his bamboo cane, “Some things are better explained by you than me. I can explain how I killed the night watchman though. The Phantom Illusion Technique of the night watchman was very powerful, to be able to swap himself between his true body and his shadow. His shadow was his true body instead of his body. If one was to only attack his body in a fight, they would be killed by his shadow. When he wanted to kill me, I use my bamboo cane and jab his shadow twice on the ground to kill him.”

Qin Mu thought for a while then continued, “Then what about him rearing a snake to absorb infant’s precelestial pneuma and soul for cultivation?”

Blind replied, “Granny, you’ll explain since you’re better versed in the devil techniques.”

“This technique is called the Precelestial Freedom Technique.” Granny Si explained. “This technique is used by Heavenly Devil Cult to achieve precelestial from postcelestial. However, it’s not known where he had obtained an incomplete technique and to actually use unborn babies for cultivation. The true Precelestial Freedom Technique may be a devil technique but it’s upright and would never stoop so low to use this kind of despicable method for cultivation, instead, they would absorb the energy of heaven and earth, the essence of sun and moon to cultivate.”

A worried expression appeared on her face as she muttered to herself, “For a person of the Heavenly Devil Cult to be near, it seems there won’t be peace in the Great Ruins anymore. These fellows tend to appear in a hive…”

The three people returned back to Grandma Temple and continued with the temple fair. When late afternoon came, people from various villages started to leave to return back to their village and Qin Mu once again drove the cow cart back to Disabled Elderly Village.

“Mu’er, you can now go hunting on your own.” Old Ma suddenly declared as he sat on the cow cart, his body moving up and down with the irregular road. “You’ve grown up.”

Qin Mu felt warmth in his heart and smiled as he turned back. The cowherd boy of Disabled Elderly Village had a smile as radiant as the morning sun.

“However you are only to hunt strange beast and not challenge the territorial strange beast.” Granny Si warned. “And you are to herd the cows every evening and made them eat more grass.”

The cowherd boy’s face immediately turned black and the two sturdy cows which were pulling the cart silently mooed in anger. Tears welled up in their eyes, making them seem exceptionally wronged.

Seeing what happened, Qin Mu asked suspiciously, “Granny, are these two cows human as well?”

“Try guessing.” Granny Si chuckled.

Qin Mu didn’t want to guess.

Suddenly a gust of wind blew from behind and the youth who was enjoying the breeze suddenly took a step forward and leaped off from the cow cart to chase the wind. He wanted to catch up to the wind and to travel in the sky while stepping on the cusp of gust!

His speed was extremely fast as he leaped up the forest and sprinted to the top of the trees. His speed increased even faster and finally caught up to the tip of the wind. Leaping into the sky, even though he was in midair, there was a strange force beneath his feet pushing him upwards.

The youth cheered in excitement as his feet stepped continuously on the cusp of gust to travel in the sky.

The few people on the cow cart looked up and Blind calmly asked, “Will he drop down?”

Apothecary grabbed a handful of wind and took a sniff before laughing, “He will drop down. This is a demonic wind created by a demon rushing home. When the demon discovers him, it would definitely stop. Who will be the one to catch him?”

Qin Mu’s footstep grew faster along with the wind and ended up sprinting several miles without him noticing. Just as he was being excited, he suddenly saw a pure snow white fox sitting on a huge banana leaf with its front paws straighten out and its back paws in a sitting position.

As he stared blankly at the white fox, it also stared back blankly.

The human and fox screamed in unison and Qin Mu immediately felt the whistling wind came to a rest, causing him to wave his limbs helplessly as he fell from the sky. Meanwhile, the fox was still sitting on the banana leaf while pointing its front paw at him, screaming from being startled.

“Crap!”

Qin Mu’s feet immediately changed as he tried to execute Heaven Pilfering Leg Skill, “As long as I run fast enough, I can even run in the sky…”

However, only now did he realized that he wasn’t fast enough. He simply couldn’t step on the air and continued to fall towards the ground!

Qin Mu looked down and his scalp turned numb. Below was a mountainous region and there wasn’t even a tree in sight. There were only numerous scattered rocks and if he landed on any one of them, he would probably die horribly!

At this moment, the screaming white fox in the sky came back to its sense and flew down in an instant on its banana leaf. Qin Mu immediately felt wind growing beneath his feet and he could once again step on the cusp of the gust. His feet moved quickly to stop the momentum of his fall and just before he landed on the ground, he managed to leap up using the cusp of gust and travel on the wind!

Letting out a sigh of relief, the saw the fox catching up to him while sitting on the banana leaf. Looking at each other, the fox suddenly spoke with a sweet voice in human language. However, its body reeked of alcohol as it asked curiously in a drunk manner, “What are you doing? Why did you come into my wind?”

Qin Mu was astonished and replied, “I was trying to see if I could catch up to the cusp of gust in order to travel on the wind. I didn’t know this was your wind. You can fly? And also talk as well?”

“I used spells to harness the wind so I can manipulate the wind to travel.” The white fox explained. “I had just returned from a banquet and is rushing back home as the sky is almost dark. I’ll be heading off now and won’t be sending you off. If fate allows it, we’ll meet each other again!” Once it finished saying its words, it vanished with the gale.

Qin Mu felt the energy of the wind becoming weaker and immediately sprinted down from the sky. When he had landed, Disabled Elderly Village was just a distance in front of him. Lifting his head up, the fox had already vanished without a trace.

“Returning from a banquet?” Qin Mu was full of questions. “How interesting, this talking fox knows spells and also attends banquets. When I meet it next time, I definitely need to ask it clearly…”

Two days later, an old and a young monk covered in dust came by Zhang Manor. As they walked into the village, the elder asked, “Is there any kind person willing to provide us a bowl of water? We monks, are always outside and have a bad stomach so we would like a bowl of warm water.”

The villagers poured two bowls of water for the elder and youth, who thanked them for their kindness. With a pleasant looking face, the elder smiled, “We, master and disciple had been wandering everywhere and know some spells. I can feel a demonic aura in your village, is there a need for us to help you get rid of the demon?”

The villager smiled, “The demon has already been gotten rid of. It was a huge snake hidden in the trunk of a tree. It was killed by a youth from a neighboring village!”

The elder asked in astonishment, “Why do I still feel a demonic aura here? Did someone passed away in the village recently?”