Chapter 392: Reignite the Sun
Translator: Ninetales Editor: DarkGem
On Sun Ship, the qi of pure yang was even denser. Yet the place wasn't hot at all, but instead had the warmth of spring.
Sun Ship was very large, and its land was very vast. However, to the Sun Herders, the resting place wasn't big at all. That was because they were all giants over thirty yards high!
When Ling Yuxiu and Si Yunxiang looked at them, they couldn't hold back their exclamations of surprise. Even the children of Sun Herders were about ten yards in height. Their bodies were covered in muscles, every little movement showing it off.
'That Sun Guardian should also be a giant,' Ling Yuxiu thought to herself before letting out a sigh. 'The one that herds cows is really here to help reignite the sun and not to flirt around. A giant wouldn't like a small thing like him. Besides, that Yan Jingjing is a god. Even if she's a female god, she must still be muscular and strong. Even a slight smile might reveal muscles on her face. Even though the beauty standard of the one that herds cows is weird, it shouldn't be weird to that extent!'
Qin Mu looked around. The reason Sun Herders were known as such was because they were a people who herded the sun.
It was similar to Moon Herders. Their name came from the fact that they herded the moon.
Since they were herders, it of course couldn't be just one sun or moon, but a bunch of them. There had been a point in time when Sun Herders drove numerous suns through the land in darkness. They would move from the east to the west to drive away the darkness.
When night time came, Moon Herders would bring out moons to travel Great Ruins, looping forward and backward.
Sun Ship looked even more dilapidated than before. The previous time Qin Mu had seen it, the deck had been still looked quite good. Even though there had been numerous traces of battle, the Sun Herders had cleaned them up pretty nicely, so the place retained its sacredness.
However, now there were crumbling fences and dilapidated walls. There were also numerous injured people of the Sun Herder Tribe. When they saw the chief leading Qin Mu and the rest, they immediately held their breaths. Only when Qin Mu and the rest had walked farther away did they let out soft groans. They had gritted their teeth to lower their voices as much as possible.
They were trying to preserve their dignity.
"Chief, you have the most heroic warriors in this world!" Qin Mu said with deep respect.
"There are no cowards among the Sun Herders!" the old chief said with a resonating voice.
Qin Mu saw wisps of black smoke floating out from the wounds of Sun Herders. They were the burns left behind by the strong heavenly devil gods. The qi of pure yang of Sun Well was helping them to refine it.
Not long later, they passed by a run-down shrine where a half-broken halberd was stabbed in the center of the huge hall. Black gas surged around it, and screeches came from within it.
"Cult Master, it's a devil god weapon!" Si Yunxiang said in a low voice.
Qin Mu nodded, but didn't say anything. As Heavenly Devil Cult Master, the head of the number one sect of the devil path in Eternal Peace Empire, he was naturally not a stranger to the devil path.
Qin Mu pursued knowledge to the end and applied what he knew. The marvel of use lay in his heart. In front of him was learning, discovering, and achieving. while behind was freedom from nature, the so-called Dao.
That was why he didn't care about differentiating between gods and devils.
Great Educational Heavenly Devil Scriptures was a good example. If one's heart was of devil nature, they would see techniques of the devil path. If one's heart was of god nature, they'd find techniques of the god path. If one's heart was of the buddha, they'd see buddha techniques.
It was clear from the wounds of Sun Herders and the devil god weapon that the strong practitioners who had attacked Sun Well had extremely high attainments in the devil path. Their knowledge far exceeded what he, the Heavenly Devil Cult Master, possessed.
'When Moon Guardian was facing the attacks of the devils from the foreign territory, he had chosen to escape and abandon his tribesmen. Sun Guardian, on the other hand, chose to accompany her tribesmen and die protecting them.'
Qin Mu recalled the incomparably frail girl whose legs were gnawed at by Sun Ship. He then thought to himself, 'Sun Guardian's moral integrity is much higher than that of Moon Guardian.'
When they passed by a ruin, they saw a huge golden bell. It was over thirty yards high, and banging sounds would ring out from time to time. At the bottom of the bell, black smoke leaked out, so there had to be something powerful suppressed inside. Some Sun Herders stood nearby, executing sun true fire to purify the strong practitioners inside the bell.
Other than that, there were also some Sun Herders that were piling the corpses of strangely-shaped monsters together. They executed true fire to incinerate them, which resulted in a nauseous smell.
Si Yunxiang and Ling Yuxiu were frowning. They didn't know from which race was the enemy and why they had to attack Sun Well.
"Sun Herders are the protectors of Great Ruins, even if many people don't know that the Sun that they've been saved from many dangers. When Imperial Preceptor invaded Great Ruins, he was also forced back by the Sun Herders. When the gods and devils of the other races come to invade Great Ruins, they also had to first pass through the Sun Herders. Moon Herders are all dead so only Sun Herders are left," Qin Mu explained
Ling Yuxiu's face became slightly red.
When Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor invaded Great Ruins, she was among his troops, in charge of scouting. It was also during that time that she had come in contact with Qin Mu. If Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor had really invaded Great Ruins, what awaited Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor would have probably been an incomparably painful lesson!
They came to the center of Sun Ship and finally met Sun Guardian.
Yan Jingjing was only left with her head and hands still outside. Her body had already sunk into Sun Ship, though her four hands were still holding onto the thick pillars, giving off a terrifying god's prestige.
The old chief came to her side and said in a low voice, "Jingjing, that youth Qin Mu from Border Dragon City has come to see you."
"The cowherd boy came to see me?" Yan Jingjing let go of her grip on the pillars as she wanted to break free of Sun Ship, but her body had already fused with it so she couldn't move. She panted heavily while saying, "I can't come out, I can't see you. Come over here."
Qin Mu walked forward and came in front of her. Yan Jingjing's face still had a childlike look to it. She raised her eyes at Qin Mu and smiled. "You really came? It's truly wonderful to be able to meet a childhood friend again."
Qin Mu stood in front of her and looked at her eyes in detail. He said in a gentle voice, "I'm here. I've grown slightly."
The girl's eyes were filled with blazing flames that were like two small suns. They could no longer see anything, completely filled by the sun true fire. The structure of her eyes was gone.
She loosened her grip on the pillars again and her body shrunk rapidly, but the ground of the Sun Ship shrunk as well, keeping her trapped no matter what.
Sun Guardian was like this, and Moon Guardian had also been like that.
As long as they took on the responsibility of Sun Guardian and Moon Guardian, they would slowly merge with Sun Ship and Moon Ship, entrusting their life to the ship. It would absorb their life force until they became one.
Qin Mu's face held a complicated expression. He had become the moon guardian when he was searching for the people of the village. However, he had only used the ship for a short period of time so it didn't exhaust him much.
Yan Jingjing, on the other hand, had already fused with Sun Ship. She wasn't long for the world anymore.
The more Sun Ship's energy was used, the more it would fuse with the guardian, and the more it would exhaust their life. Yan Jingjing's flesh and blood had fused completely with Sun Ship. Even if Qin Mu reignited the sun, he wasn't sure if he could still save her.
When the girl wasn't holding onto the pillars, she looked frail, pitifully so. Her neck was so thin that she couldn't even lift her own head, that her neck would break at any moment.
She had said Qin Mu was her childhood friend, but he had only met her once. Yet it was still true, since she didn't have any playmates.
She was the sun guardian, and the tribesmen only held respect for her. The youth in the tribe were all respectful of her and wouldn't play with her. Ever since she was young, she had carried the heavy burden of protecting her tribe and protecting Great Ruins.
Near Border Dragon City, Qin Mu, a youth from a foreign race, had come onto her ship and chatted with her. Just because of it, she treated him as her playmate and close friend.
To a certain extent, Qin Mu was similar to her.
When he was young, he also didn't have any playmates. He had to learn all kinds of things from the elders in the village and train diligently. There was no one of the same age to play with him.
However, Qin Mu had nine elders who treated him with utmost care, while Yan Jingjing had elders that held respect for her.
Si Yunxiang, Hu Ling'er, and Ling Yuxiu came to Yan Jingjing's side with their hearts filled with sorrow. The girl before them was about the same age as them yet the burden she bore was countless times heavier than theirs.
Si Yunxaing couldn't resist asking, "The sun is extinguished, but there are still many suns in Sun Well. Why don't you guys change the sun? These chains that are chaining the black sun, why can't you use them to capture a new sun?"
"These chains were made by the heavenly workers god race, who are already extinct," the old chief said. "The chains that we, the Sun Herders, forge with true fire cannot withstand the true fire of the sun, so we can't fish a new sun out. We had already tried countless times."
Qin Mu's heart stirred slightly and he remembered Dragon Rearing Sovereign's words to Mute. "There are still heavenly workers in this world who could forge such a chain."
The old chief took a look at him and shook his head, "The remaining heavenly workers are all in Carefree Village now. If you ever return to Carefree Village, you might be able to bring a heavenly worker to save our Sun Herd Tribe. But you're yet to find it, right?"
Qin Mu shook his head and said, "I have indeed not found Carefree Village, but I've come to help you guys reignite the sun. And even if I can't reignite it, I still have other abilities. I had learned smithing from a heavenly worker before, so I might just be able to forge new chains for you guys to bring up a new sun." He smiled radiantly and said to the frail little girl, "I've come to fulfill my promise. I promised you, and I don't go back on my word."
He stood up and raised his head to look at the black sun in the sky. He asked with a calm expression, "You had once told me that if I ignite this sun, you will be able to break free. If I ignite this sun now, can you still break free from Sun Ship?"
"I don't know." The flames in Yan Jingjing's eyes suddenly blazed even more vigorously as though hope was renewed in her heart.
The old chief of the Sun Herders had a dim expression as he said, "Little Friend Qin, even though you're a visitor from Carefree Village, you have yet to go there, and you don't have the ability to reignite the sun. But even if you do so, Sun Guardian won't be able to live for long; her lifespan has been mostly exhausted. Death is like an extinguished lamp, the oil of her life is almost finished…"
He roused his spirit and said, "Don't waste your efforts! We are currently choosing the next sun guardian and as the visitor from Carefree Village, come and witness the birth of a new sun guardian! Tonight, the devils will come again and attack, so we have to choose the next sun person to be prepared for any accidents!"
Qin Mu shook his head. "No matter if I can ignite the sun or not, I have to try!"
The old chief shook his head and brought the tribesmen to leave as they got ready to choose the next sun guardian.
Qin Mu took out Sun Jade Eye and placed it on the ground. Raising his head to look at the black sun, he pondered over it for a moment before raising the jade eye up high, near the black sun on the chain. "Wait here for me, I will come back after reigniting the sun!"
Ling Yuxiu immediately shouted loudly, "When the sun reignites, it will burn you to death!"
"It won't!" The sound of a flute could be heard, and the fire flood dragons soared into the sky to follow behind Qin Mu. He then shouted back from far away, "With these flood dragons, I can escape alive!"
"Sun Guardian, is your sun a real sun or a fake sun?" Ling Yuxiu asked in a hurry.
"It's a god artifact. It is said that this sun was a treasure forged by Heavenly God Zi Qing," Yan Jingjing said.
"This is bad!"
Ling Yuxiu's scalp crawled. The one who herds cows hadn't asked for details before running away to finish his task. When the treasure of the heavenly god went ablaze, the might of the heavenly god would spread out and probably turn the one who herds cows and his flood dragons to ashes!
"Wouldn't that mean I can succeed as the cult master?" Si Yunxiang's eyes instantly lit up.
Ling Yuxiu gave her a cold look, and Si Yunxiang hurriedly laughed. "I'm just joking, I don't want to be a young widow. I was thinking, since they are Sun Herders, they should be able to withstand the divine fire of the sun. Maybe we can ask that old chief to protect the cult master."