Tales of Herding Gods - Chapter 479
Chapter 479: Life and Death Book
Translator: Ninetales Editor: DarkGem
The expression of Little Rulai and the rest of the demon monks changed drastically. They stretched out their hands to grab the book.
It was an item that a monk on the mountain had found by chance. Because they didn’t know what kind of treasure it was and how to use it, they had given it to the sect. Little Rulai and the rest also didn’t know how to use it, just that it possessed extremely great power. Countless souls lingered around the book, so they had suppressed the book in the pagoda.
Never did they expect that it was Shaman God Kui’s item and had a name of Life and Death Book.
When a monk’s hand touched the Life and Death Book, it immediately started to rot. In an instant, it turned into white bones. While that monk hurriedly pulled back his hand, they other monks realized the situation. Each of them executed divine arts to intercept the book, but no one actually managed to hold it back. The book broke through the layers of divine arts on its way to the golden alms bowl.
Little Rulai lifted up the golden alms bowl while clutching a mudra in his other hand. With it, his five fingers were instantly like mountains formed by bolts of lightning which covered the golden alms bowl. Little Rulai planned to first kill Shaman God Kui.
Yet at that moment, Life and Death Book flew over and Little Rulai’s palm began to age rapidly.
Astonished, he threw the golden alms bowl away, and the Life and Death Book chased after it.
“Brother Xu!”
Qin Mu took a step and caught up to the golden alms bowl at an extremely fast speed. In midair, he tapped with his fingers and runes instantly flew out. They were formed by the vital qi and shone brightly in the air while flickering indefinitely.
At the same time, Xu Shenghua also rushed over, and his speed was no slower than that of Qin Mu. His hands moved quickly, and there was vital qi bursting and transforming into runes from his fingers as well. However, his were god writings.
Even though they were the same word, their method of writing was different.
Qin Mu took another step and pointed forward with the other hand. He tapped every four steps, and after the fourth tap, the teleportation runes strung together to form a teleportation divine art, sealing the golden alms bowl within them.
The Life and Death Book whizzed near the golden alms bowls and was swept up by the teleportation divine art which sent it twenty miles away.
On the other side, Xu Shenghua’s flipped his palm up, and hundreds of god writings covered the golden alms bowls. All the different writings spelled a single word: Seal.
That word was completely different from the words of the human race. It brought a strange power with it; after all, Xu Shenghua was the descendant of Jade Sovereign. That man was a god, so he naturally had marvelous techniques that the lower bound couldn’t get.
Xu Shenghua covered the golden alms bowl with nearly a hundred seals, cutting off the connection between Shaman God Kui and the Life and Death Book.
Qin Mu took out the brush from his taotie sack and pulled out a scroll, one side of which he threw to Xu Shenghua. The young man caught it, but it was a piece of white paper.
Qin Mu raised his brush, and its tip moved rapidly. He quickly painted wind and lightning, then threw the golden alms bowl inside.
It then floated around in the wind and lightning.
Next, Qin Mu handed the brush and ink to Xu Shenghua, who raised it to write on the painting. He wrote the seal word in god writing around the wind and lightning.
Qin Mu then took out his own seal from taotie sack and stamped it at the corner of the painting.
Xu Shenghua took out his personal seal too and stamped at the side.
Qin Mu swept up the scroll, and the two of them let out a sigh of relief. In the distance, the devil ape had flown over and snatched the treasure book called Life and Death Book back.
On the golden peak, Little Rulai and the other monks looked at each other in dismay. Qin Mu and Xu Shenghua’s cultivation were not considered high, but their cooperation was flawless.
One of them teleported Life and Death Book away while the other sealed the golden alms bowl to cut off the connection. Qin Mu then raised his brush to paint while Xu Shenghua helped to spread out the scroll. The latter then sealed it, and both of them stamped their seals on it.
This kind of cooperation was as though they had practiced those actions thousands of times. It was as smooth as flowing water.
“The one with the surname Qin, do you dare to report your real name?” Shaman God Kui asked from the painting.
Qin Mu ignored him and spoke to Little Rulai. “Shaman God Kui’s abilities are unpredictable. As long as he knows the name, he can worship your soul away. Rulai didn’t know his power so you suffered a loss. I had planned to get rid of this old devil by going to Yin Mountain, and he even almost escaped from Rulai’s suppression. We should quickly get rid of him to prevent future troubles! Getting rid of him is also huge merit!”
Little Rulai hesitated. “Shaman God Kui is plagued with countless damned souls. If I could enlighten them, it would definitely be supreme merit. If I just kill him, I’m afraid…”
Qin Mu frowned at him. “Now I know that there is a difference between big and little.”
Little Rulai raised his eyebrows. “Cult Master Qin, please return me the golden alms bowl. Old monk shall lead all the monks on the mountain to enlighten him; I don’t believe he will remain that stubborn.”
Qin Mu handed the scroll over to him. Xu Shenghua coughed, but Qin Mu shook his head. They didn’t have the ability to barge out of Little Thunderclap Monastery with the scroll. Trying to leave by force would only bring contempt upon them.
Xu Shenghua could only drop it and say, “Senior Brother Zhan Kong, pass me that Life and Death Book and let me take a look.”
The devil ape gave him the book, and Xu Shenghua was slightly stunned. Life and Death Book wasn’t a book, but an incomparably thin piece of paper. It was strange and glossy like metal. It was extremely bright, reflecting light.
Yet, what was even weirder was that Life and Death Book didn’t have any words or even pictures.
Xu Shenghua’s gaze landed on that blankness, and he could actually see people in front through the mirror-like paper.
“What is this weird book…”
Xu Shenghua’s heart suddenly trembled. Behind Life and Death Book was Jing Yan, and above her figure there was actually a line of words. They said Jing Yan.
Xu Shenghua’s hair stood on ends, and he immediately turned toward Qin Mu. Jing Yan disappeared, replaced by Qin Mu’s figure, and the name that showed up wasn’t Qin Mu, but Qin Fengqing!
“Cult Master Qin!”
Xu Shenghua’s face became solemn. He passed the Life and Death Book to Qin Mu who soon also discovered its use. His heart trembled violently.
His name wasn’t the only one that Life and Death Book could reveal. As long as one of the demon monks on the mountain had a name, it would be shown on the paper!
‘Who can defend against such an item?’
Qin Mu’s blood ran cold. The treasure showed a person’s birth name, the true name!
Little Thunderclap Monastery’s monks were mostly demons, so they usually didn’t have any names before their intelligence was awakened. But once it happened, they became monks and had to have a name.
Their name in religion then resulted in their real name.
What Life and Death Book showed then was their name in religion!
For example, when Qin Mu was young, his good friend the devil ape had no name and was only called the devil ape. Qin Mu and Hu Ling’er often called him big fella. After he joined Little Thunderclap Monastery, only then did he gain his name in religion, Zhan Kong.
In the Life and Death Book, the devil ape’s name was Zhan Kong.
Qin Mu pointed the book at Little Rulai, and he also had his name in religion. It was Yuan Ding.
“With this treasure, won’t Shaman God Kui be able to kill whoever he wants to kill? Not to say Shaman God Kui, even that scoundrel Pangong Tso would become invincible!”
Qin Mu’s heart shivered, and he shone the Life and Death Book on the dragon qilin. On the paper, two words above him—Long Pi.
‘Fatty Dragon actually has a name?’
Qin Mu was astonished. The dragon qilin had been picked up by Patriarch in Great Ruins after having he had starved for many days. Because Patriarch gave him something to eat, he clung to Patriarch. Yet the dragon qilin actually had a name as well. Qin Mu didn’t know if it was Patriarch or his mother who had given it to him.
‘This item has to be destroyed!’
Qin Mu tried to tear it apart without a word, but he couldn’t do it. Xu Shenghua went up and the two of them tugged onto the Life and Death Book, but they still couldn’t tear it apart.
“What are you two doing?” a yellow eyebrowed monk immediately shouted out.
Qin Mu took out his sword pellet and pulled Carefree Sword out. Yet even Carefree Sword couldn’t harm the treasure book. A string of concentrated runes appeared above the book and blocked the blade.
Those runes were extremely strange, and Qin Mu barely took a short glance before they disappeared.
‘They looked like Youdu’s writing! Could this treasure be from Youdu?”
His scalp crawled. Carefree Sword was the treasure of his father, Qin Hanzhen. How powerful was he? Even Saturn Sovereign was severely injured by him, but his sword actually couldn’t harm Life and Death Book!
This meant that it was at the least a treasure of gods and devils that was on the same level as Carefree Sword. It might even be higher!
In that case, it also said that the cultivation of Shaman God Kui was on par with that’s of Qin Hanzhen or even surpassed it!
His abilities were above even Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor, this new god!
The yellow-eyebrowed monk went forward and stretched his hand to grab the Life and Death Book. “Cult Master Qin, this treasure is the treasure of our Little Thunderclap Monastery, so please return it to us.”
Qin Mu swept up the Life and Death Book and stuffed it into his taotie sack, secretly throwing it into the true dragon’s nest. He smiled and said, “Little Rulai, when you try to enlighten Shaman God Kui, aren’t you afraid that he will call for this Life and Death Book again? It’s best if you leave it with me for now.”
Little Rulai took a deep look at him and called the yellow- eyebrowed monk back. “Let Cult Master Qin keep it for a few days. Once we enlighten this devil god, we will achieve supreme merit and transcend this realm. There won’t be any birth, growing old, or dying; we will become buddhas. An important matter is at hand, so fellow junior brothers, follow me to enlighten senior brother!”
“Excellent!” all of the monks said in unison.
Little Rulai and the monks fetched all kinds of magic artifacts and hung them up. They first fixed Qin Mu’s painting in place before laying down layers of formations to block Shaman God Kui’s senses. They then started to chant to enlighten him.
Xu Shenghua’s gaze flickered, and he said in a low voice, “Cult Master Qin, should we leave?”
Qin Mu shook his head. “I can’t leave. If Shaman God Kui is not enlightened, I won’t be at ease.”
The devil ape nodded, “Dead, ease.”
Qin Mu smiled. “Big fella is right! However, Little Rulai is insistent on enlightening him, but from what I see, it’s going to be very difficult.”
Xu Shenghua rose and said to Jing Yan, “Cult Master worries for the world, but we are floating clouds. There’s no need for us to remain here.”
Jing Yan nodded, and the two of them walked down the mountain.
“I cultivated the eighteenth sword form while you merged Six Directions and Seven Stars Divine Treasure into one. Don’t you want to learn my sword move? I want to learn how you merged Seven Stars and Six Directions into one,” Qin Mu said leisurely.
Xu Shenghua stopped and turned his head back with a smile. “I thought Cult Master won’t mention this since you are arrogant and conceited, not caring about fame and fortune. If you want to learn, I’ll teach you!”
Qin Mu smiled at him. “Don’t you want to learn my eighteenth sword form?”
“I don’t!” Xu Shenghua said bluntly. “My sword skills aren’t that high level, and my main offense isn’t based on them.”
Qin Mu’s face instantly turned black.