Tales of Herding Gods

Chapter 414: Stone Statues

Translator: Ninetales Editor: DarkGem

Qin Mu was astonished. Since Butcher had come back, Village Chief and the rest should know that Xing An had attacked and got severely injured. With the danger of Xing An solved, it was a surprise that Old Ma didn’t remain in Great Thunderclap Monastery, but instead came with Village Chief and the rest.

“Village Chief, Xing An…”

Village Chief shook his head. “Xing An’s matter is insignificant. I’ve called you back because there’s something important. Are you able to contact Heavenly Devil Patriarch?”

Qin Mu’s heart stirred as he said, “Did something big happen? Patriarch and Elder of Discipline left to roam the world and said that Elder of Discipline would bring his ashes back after he died. Village Chief, what exactly is going on? Saintess Xiang and I discovered something weird when roaming just now—a mountain split apart and a stone statue rose up. Are you here because of that?”

Si Yunxiang nodded repeatedly as she added, “That stone statue was very terrifying and seemed to be growing out from the mountain, rising upward quickly!”

“There’s not only one stone statue.” Old Ma gave others a feeling that his wisdom was smooth and round like a pearl. “Stone statues have appeared all around the world, and there is about a hundred of them. There are numerous strange treasures as well. These objects have all appeared suddenly and are things that are not from our world. Some stone statues had burst from under Mount Meru, hitting it, but they didn’t split it. Instead, they were suppressed.”

Qin Mu had a weird expression.

Mute’s expression was grim as his fingers jumped rapidly to make weird gestures.

“This kind of stone statue is a sign that the gods and devils are descending.” Deaf looked at his hands and said, “The gods and devils from the other world can’t cross the world barrier easily, so they chose to petrify themselves into stone statues that have no energy to send themselves over. With this, their primordial spirit and magic power would remain in their respective worlds.

“If they wanted to regain their body of flesh and blood, they would need blood sacrifices to summon their primordial spirit from another world. We saw a few of the treasures on the way, and they are meteorological weapons used to draw great calamities for massacring the populace… Don’t look at me, that’s what Mute is saying.”

Everyone looked at Mute and Village Chief couldn’t resist asking, “How do you know so much? You understand all of it even better than I do.”

Mute grinned, signaling with his hands. Deaf then said, “This guy is acting mute and deaf again, I didn’t understand what he signaled.”

“This matter is too terrifying. From what I see, there’s no need to find Patriarch or anyone else. Let’s return to Great Ruins immediately!” Granny Si said. “So many stone statues had appeared in Eternal Peace, and once they revive, who can defend against them? Old Ma, don’t be a Rulai anymore, let whoever wants to take over. I also don’t want this manor anymore, so let’s just all return to Great Ruins immediately!”

Butcher shook his head and said, “Granny, it isn’t good to just leave like this, right? Aren’t we going to be cowards if we hide in Great Ruins? A man should have an indomitable spirit and fight a vigorous battle!”

Granny Si gave him a look and said coldly, “If you aren’t leaving, do you want to die? Do you want to return to before, living miserably with your upper body alone?”

Butcher’s face flushed red from anger. “I won’t stoop myself to your level!”

Village Chief coughed and said, “Granny, Human Emperor needs to take on the responsibility…”

“Take on the responsibility?” Granny Si smiled with extreme anger. “Can you take on the responsibility? You couldn’t yet you still pushed Mu’er into the pit! If you have the capability, take on the responsibility yourself! Look at you now, hiding in Great Ruins like a rod and acting dead, yet you still have the face to talk about responsibility!”

Village Chief was too angry to even form words. “You-you!”

“You, what you?” Granny Si asked ruthlessly. “There are over a hundred stone statues. If you have the ability, go cut down all of them. Otherwise, you shall also go back obediently to Great Ruins and act dead like me!”

Deaf coughed and said, “Granny, you’re going overboard…”

“How is it related to you? I brought Qin Mu up, cleaning his pee and poop. All you did every day was hit his palm with a black face. If it was not because you could write well and taught Mu’er to read, I would have beaten you to death long ago!”

Deaf stuttered from his fury. “One can learn without a beating… You-you unreasonable woman! Only a lowly person would quar—”

Granny Si put a cowskin over his head, and Deaf instantly became a mooing bull.

“Granny, I think—” Apothecary started to say, but was cut off as well.

“Scram!” Granny Si said coldly. “Go back and serve those women of yours!”

“Alright,” Apothecary replied frankly and turned to leave.

Mute knocked on his tobacco pipe and signaled. “Ah, ah…”

“Shut up, you bad egg, always full of mischievous ideas!”

Mute lowered his head, feeling extremely wronged. He stopped talking. Cripple opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but Granny Si turned around to stare at him. Cripple then shuddered and laughed dryly. “Why are you so fierce? We can discuss this peacefully, haha. Everything is good… Old Ma, Old Ma, say something! I listen to your words the most, so if you say to return to the village, I will return. Old Ma says go and I will go!”

Granny Si glanced at Old Ma. “If you don’t return to Great Ruins, I will go to your Great Thunderclap Monastery, and you can see how many monks will be left in your monastery!”

Old Ma didn’t say a word.

“Blind, say something.” Village Chief looked at Blind.

“If Mu’er wants to stay, then we shall stay. If Mu’er wants to return to Great Ruins, we shall also return.” Granny Si looked at him coldly, and Blind closed his eyes. “Granny, if you want to take Mu’er away, they can’t stop you, but I can. I brought Mu’er away once, so I know his resolve. We are all old, and if Village Chief won’t manage to patch his divine bridge, he probably won’t make it past next spring, so why do we have to strain our relationships? Just listen to what Mu’er has to say.”

Granny Si’s heart softened, and she looked at Qin Mu. In a gentle voice, she said, “Mu’er, you are already a grown up. The baddies of the village taught you to be like that, but you shouldn’t learn bad from them. Follow granny back. You shall marry any girl you like, and granny will wait to carry her grandson…”

Qin Mu looked around in a daze before lowering his head.

Si Yunxiang looked around her surroundings, also slightly at a loss. She didn’t know what was happening. ‘Aunt is pretty awe-inspiring, scolding all these god-like existence into obedience. When can I become this impressive as well…”

After a moment, Qin Mu raised his head. “These stone statues are like the stone statues of Great Ruins, gods and devils who had petrified themselves, but they had suddenly appeared because Yuxiu and I founded Primordial Spirit Guide. Those stone statues have came to wipe out Eternal Peace, right? In that case, the trouble is caused by me, isn’t it? They are here to kill me?”

“It might not have been caused by you, but Emperor Yanfeng killing Jade Sovereign of High Heavens with the cannon. Based on the timing, High Heavens should have reported that event to their masters. Besides, Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor and Emperor Yanfeng’s reform would have brought this sooner or later, just probably several years later,” Village Chief explained.

“This change doesn’t rest solely on your shoulders, but also the reform. First, Emperor Yanfeng’s cannon raised the attention of the masters of High Heavens. Then, Princess Xiu and you founded Primordial Spirit Guide which brought about some changes to the great Dao.”

“In that case, part of the reason is still me.” Qin Mu pondered it for a moment, then said to Granny Si, “Granny, I’m not going back. I still have many friends here, like Wei Yong, Chen Wanyun, Mu Qingdai, and Yue Qinghong. I don’t want to hear news of their deaths a few years later. Didn’t you guys say it before? I should clean up after myself.”

Granny Si was slightly stunned. “Butcher taught you to be loyal, so you are really going to be loyal? What’s loyalty going to do? Can it save your life?”

Qin Mu shook his head. “It won’t, but it will put my heart at ease.”

Granny Si was first stunned, then she sighed. “At ease? I don’t know if you’ll still be able to feel at ease when Eternal Peace Empire is wiped out by the fire of war. But you have grown up and have your own ideas. Fine then, I won’t force you. Invite Patriarch back.”

Qin Mu blinked and asked with curiosity, “Why do I have to invite Patriarch?”

“We old bones discussed and felt that High Heavens would come to activate the treasures which broke out from the earth and release various natural disasters, using the resulting deaths as sacrifices to bring over the gods whose stone statues have risen in Eternal Peace. To stop that, we discussed a plan to attack the High Heavens to prevent their actions.”

“Since those statues are the bodies of gods and devils, why don’t we just smash them?” Qin Mu asked in bewilderment.

“Once the gods and devils petrify themselves, they become incomparably tough, too hard to shatter,” Blind said. “Have you ever seen shattered stone statues in Great Ruins?”

Qin Mu pondered over it, realizing that it was indeed the case. He had roamed around in Great Ruins numerous times, but rarely seen shattered stone statues. However, he had seen numerous dragon king’s statues whose heads had been severed in the east sea.

That time, it should have been the heavenly king of Heavenly King Temple. He’d ridden the dragon qilin to quell the rebellion in the east sea, using Green Dragon Crescent Blade to sever the heads of dragon kings’ stone statues.

“Can we move the stone statues to Great Ruins?” Qin Mu asked. “If we move them to Great Ruins and place them near the stone statues there, we wouldn’t have to worry about them reviving and created a ruckus.”

Cripple smiled and said, “Carrying a stone statue is like carrying a god. Who can carry a god and walk tens of thousands of miles to Great Ruins? Besides, it’s not just one or two, but over a hundred!”

Qin Mu frowned. The god statues were indeed terrifyingly heavy. An existence like Old Ma would have to rest after walking just one thousand yards. On top of that, Old Ma was a person who had a strong corporeal body!

“Saintess Xiang, what method does the sacred cult have to contact Patriarch or Elder of Discipline?” Qin Mu turned his head to ask the girl.

“My Si Family has two Heart Inspection Mirrors which act as a pair. By mumbling the other person’s name and imagining their voice and appearance, one is able to contact another person, seeing them and hearing their voice. Patriarch and Elder of Discipline have one such inspection mirror, so it’s simple to contact them. I shall go inform elder lady and get her to contact Patriarch!”

“There’s still a toy like Heart Inspection Mirror in the sacred cult?” Qin Mu said in astonishment.

Si Yunxiang rolled her eyes at him. “You became the sacred cult master two years ago and how many times have you gone to Saint Arrival Mountain? The sacred cult’s Si Family, Yu Family, Shi Family, have you visited them? If you weren’t a decent cult master, I would have long rebelled against you!”

Qin Mu smiled. “You won’t, you don’t have the ability.”

Si Yunxiang was driven mad, but could only contact the great-grandmother of Si Family. She wanted to be as awe-inspiring as Granny Si, but the brat didn’t give her face, giving her no chance to become impressive.

“Grandpa Butcher, the sun, moon, and stars in the sky, the Milky Way, and the constellations are all fake.” Qin Mu came to Butcher’s side and said, “Grandpa Butcher should know numerous secrets, right?

Butcher pulled out his Pig Slaughtering Knives and grinded the blades against each other. “When talking about this, I can’t not talk about the martial art I founded, Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining. Back then, I was a great master of the battle techniques, and all I wanted to do was to create an ultimate art that had no comparison. Back then, I was overflowing with confidence and felt that I was invincible in this world, that any divine art could be destroyed with one knife strike. However, I had never fought with heaven before, so I wanted to split the sky and jump out to fight with heaven…”