Tales of Herding Gods

Chapter 289: Lies in One’s Heart

Translator: Ninetales Editor: DarkGem

Five days after Fan Yunxiao left, numerous people in strange outfits started to appear on the small island. They were male, female, young, and old. One person had come over first and planted a flag on the island. Then, numerous lights flashed and more flags appeared.

Once the flags were put away, several hundred people appeared and sat down around this island. The positions of everyone sitting were different, and they were all scattered about like stars in the sky, not moving at all.

However, every four hours, these people would stand up and change their positions. This regular pattern never changed.

Under the shade of the tree, Long Jiaonan shuddered and walked to the center of the island.

Si Yunxiang was very happy on the other hand, making meals for everyone in case they were hungry.

Ling Yuxiu had a grave expression as she examined her surroundings. She could see that this was a huge formation which trapped all of them on the island, not giving them the chance to leave. If one was to barge out of this formation, the formation would activate and transform into a killing formation, turning this island into a scene of carnage!

When this huge formation was activated, it would definitely be incomparably terrifying!

Furthermore, Ling Yuxiu even saw some of the weird people wearing clothes of the imperial court. Some were high officials of the current imperial court, some were peddlers in the market, some executioners in charge of beheadings, and even directorates of Imperial College. They were all fantastic oddities of every description!

The most intriguing thing was that these people were changing their positions every four hours to change the formation. This should be to prevent Dao Master from solving the changes of the formation.

“Heavenly Devil Cult is no doubt the number one sect of the devil path, your timings are very precise.”

Old Dao Master was examining this killing formation, and he couldn’t help exclaiming to himself endlessly, ‘I can calculate the changes in the formation in precisely four hours, and they change the formation at precisely this moment. Formation Hall Master is really crafty.’

Formation Hall Master was the directorate of Imperial College’s Hall of Array Element and was bestowed the role of an imperial secretary by Emperor Yanfeng. He was a favorite of the emperor and was frequently summoned to the palace to be consulted with matters of the empire. Even though the emperor didn’t give him any actual power due to the fact he was from Heavenly Devil Cult, most of the formations in the army were designed by him.

It seemed like Formation Hall Master had knowledge about Old Dao Master, so as long as Qin Mu was in trouble, he would definitely not allow him to leave alive. If he was to leave, he had to be dead.

The fourteenth day came in no time, and Qin Mu shut his eyes. After a moment, he opened them and came from the stone tablet. He saluted Dao Master. “Senior Brother, much thanks for letting me comprehend Dao Sword.”

Dao Master got up to return the salute. “I dare not. Human Emperor of course has the right to comprehend Dao Sword. I have shown Dao Sword to you and Rulai will also show Rulai’s Mahayana Sutra to you. Human Emperor is worthy of us doing so.”

Qin Mu said, “I’ve already seen Rulai’s Mahayana Sutra.”

Dao Master was stunned. After some time, he shook his head and smiled. “This old fellow is still clever and sly, always one step ahead of me. Disciple, hand Great Educational Heavenly Devil Scriptures back to Human Emperor.”

Daozi Lin Xuan came back to his senses from his comprehension and immediately pulled Great Educational Heavenly Devil Scriptures back into a ball of thread, passing it back to Qin Mu with both hands.

Qin Mu smiled. “Your age and mine are similar, so there’s no need for so many formalities.”

Daozi Lin Xuan shook his head and said, “There’s nothing wrong with formalities. I am not yet Dao Master and will always be your junior.”

Helpless, Qin Mu said, “Even though Dao Master had never seen Great Educational Heavenly Devil Scriptures before, his phrase that it contains evil and good achieved the samadhi of Great Educational Heavenly Devil Scriptures. How much good and how much evil did you see when you were comprehending Great Educational Heavenly Devil Scriptures?”

Daozi Lin Xuan hesitated for a moment, and Dao Master smiled. He said, “Cult Master Qin is an expert in this field, so just speak your mind.”

Daozi Lin Xuan said, “It might be because first impressions are strongest that when I first read Great Educational Heavenly Devil Scriptures, I found almost every sentence to be harmful. Only when I read until the writings in the middle did I feel a different flavor to them. At that time, there was no longer righteous or evil in my heart. When I reached the writings at the end, I felt that I might have misinterpreted the writings in front so I read over them again, and this time I had different thoughts and feelings.”

Qin Mu smiled and asked, “How many percent of them are evil?”

“There’s still twenty percent,” Daozi Lin Xuan replied honestly.

Qin Mu said, “Your Dao heart is still twenty percent devilish. However, you are already much better than Fozi. When Fozi Fo Xin read Great Educational Heavenly Devil Scriptures, every part of it was evil to him. He may have had the appearance of a buddha, but he was an unsalvageable devil in his heart.”

Daozi Lin Xuan was stunned and came to an enlightenment. “So that’s why!” He found it somewhat hard to accept this result in his heart, so he asked Qin Mu with his gaze flickering, “When Human Emperor read Great Educational Heavenly Devil Scriptures, how many percent of it was devil?”

“All of the writings in Great Educational Heavenly Devil Scriptures are righteous writings, but they are also devilish writings. It all depends on how I use them.”

Daozi Lin Xuan was stunned. “This…”

Qin Mu said with a deep meaning, “The path of the saint is none other than the everyday use of common people, which is the first sentence of Great Educational Heavenly Devil Scriptures, already makes things clear. You and I are also part of the common people, so when the hearts of you and I are righteous, Great Educational Heavenly Devil Scriptures are righteous. When the hearts of you and I are evil, Great Educational Heavenly Devil Scriptures will be evil. I can use them as a righteous technique, but I can also use them as an evil technique. The wonders of usage lie in one’s heart.”

“The wonders of usage lie in one’s heart?” Daozi Lin Xuan was stunned again and felt that what Qin Mu said was very logical.

Old Dao Master immediately shouted, “Tut! Don’t listen to his teachings, it’s their askew reasoning of being free from nature! You are the next Dao Master, be careful of being bewitched by his clever words and entering his devil cult!”

Daozi Lin Xuan came back to his senses, sweating profusely. His entire body was drenched as he thought to himself, ‘He used the chance to guide me to talk about the teachings of the devil cult, attempting to bewitch me! His teachings of being free from nature are different from my Dao Sect’s teachings of Dao following the nature!”

Old Dao Master said righteously, “Cult Master Qin’s nature is indeed higher than yours, so you will have to be careful if he comes against you with the identity of the devil cult master in the future. You can’t only think of him as the human emperor and forget that he is also the Heavenly Devil Cult Master!”

Qin Mu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Old Dao Master was actually treating him like severe floods and fierce beasts, paying extra attention to guiding his disciple to prevent him from being pulled into Heavenly Devil Cult.

Old Dao Master said, “How does Human Emperor see Dao Sword?”

Qin Mu said solemnly, “I struggled with the mathematical reasonings; they were extraordinary intricate. The last few moves also seemed to transcend from mathematical reasonings and close in on Dao.”

Old Dao Master smiled as he said words with a deep meaning to them. “The Dao Sword of my Dao Sect can also be seen as how to accurately measure a circle. The digits of pi are close to endless, and the circular ratio of pi can’t conclude with just Xu Kong and Qing Jing, since at the back there are still digits that couldn’t be counted. Dao has no end, and pi also has no end, so why is there a need to change Dao? Why is there a need to transform Dao?”

Qin Mu was stunned. This Old Dao Master was propagating righteousness and justice of Dao Sect to him!

“Dao Master, take care not to overdo it,” Qin Mu said with a smile.

Old Dao Master laughed and had Daozi Lin Xuan take back the stone wall, “Human Emperor, your identity is special and there will be quite a number of terrifying enemies, so it’s still best for you to return to Great Ruins as soon as possible. The daughter of the dragon king was sent by me, could you let Old Dao bring her back?”

Qin Mu looked at the Solomon’s seals under their feet, noticing that a few leaves had already grown out from most the herbs; however, there were also some that had already died.

“You don’t have to worry, she will listen to my words and never come back here again.” Old Dao master smiled. “You didn’t lose anything, while she was the one who lost much.”

Qin Mu nodded and called Long Jiaonan forward. The woman endured her pain and stumbled over.

Qin Mu asked, “Are you still going to be my enemy?”

“My Dragon Rider Sect was eradicated because of you, I have no choice but to be enemies with you.”

“Without me, your Dragon Rider Sect would still have been eradicated. This was simply the reality of your situation. Even if I hadn’t been in Heaven Wave City, you guys would still have met the same end,” Qin Mu told her. “I was there only by coincidence. It’s natural for you to hate me, but the next time you come, I will kill you, I won’t hold back.”

Long Jiaonan gritted her teeth. “I won’t hold back as well!”

Qin Mu shook his head. “You already have no chance. Don’t shed your skin anymore. The more you shed, the older you’ll get. Follow Dao Master and leave.”

Long Jiaonan stood beside Dao Master in a daze. Every time she met Qin Mu, she would discover that he was stronger than he was previously. The next time she saw him, would she still be his match?

Did she still have a chance?

However, her wisdom was soon drowned out by her hatred, throwing this momentary daze to the back of her mind.

Old Dao Master cupped his fists and said, “Farewell.”

Qin Mu returned his salute and rose. “Send Dao Master off.”

Whoosh. All of the hall masters, guardians, and heavenly kings of Heavenly Devil Cult stood up and opened up a path.

Old Dao Master brought Long Jiaonan and Daozi Lin Xuan out of the island. A cloud then appeared under their feet to bring the three of them away.

Qin Mu looked at the Heavenly Devil Cult Followers around and waved his hand with a smile. “Disperse, disperse.”

Everyone saluted him and their huge flags swept around them, making them vanish without a trace. However, Heavenly King Yu and Heavenly King Wang remained. It was evident that they were worried about Qin Mu’s safety.

Qin Mu smiled. “No need to be so worried about me, you guys can leave as well.”

The two heavenly kings looked each other in the eyes. Using their clothes to cover themselves, they vanished on the spot.

“I don’t think they will go far,” Si Yunxiang said.

Qin Mu nodded, but Ling Yuxiu was anxious. “Great Cult Master, you only care about putting on airs in front of your subordinates and let them leave, so how are we leaving?”

Qin Mu hesitated for a moment. He was indeed putting on airs. The elders of the village had taught him to never lose airs even if he lost to others, so he didn’t let the followers of Heavenly Devil Cult bring him off this island on the east sea so that he didn’t lose face in front of them.

“Do you think Fan Yunxiao will come back for us?” he probed.

The two girls laughed grimly and said in unison, “He cried so miserably when he left, of course he won’t be coming back!”

Qin Mu muttered, “Why don’t we returned back by the sea…”

“We have no choice then.”

Si Yunxiang looked back at the spirit spring, a little unwilling to leave. “Say, do you think the Solomon’s seals will still remember us when they wake up?”

“I don’t know.”

Qin Mu turned back and saw the overflowing greenery beside the spirit spring and shook his head. “They died once, so if they had souls, they should have already landed into the dark Youdu. Yet their bodies will come back to life. As for whether their souls will still be the original ones and their memories their original memories or whether a new soul will be born in their bodies with their memories like a sheet of blank paper, I do not know.”

Si Yunxiang was slightly depressed. But she saw Qin Mu and Ling Yuxiu already on the sea surface, so she immediately chased after them. A wave grew under Qin Mu’s feet and continued to surge forth like a dragon head, carrying them toward the west.

Meanwhile, at another place, Grand Shaman received news from Pangong Tso and immediately left Rolan’s Golden Palace to head to the west.

He walked for a long time around the vast Great Ruins, traveling through the snow mountains and into the flaming desert. He came to West Earth and climbed the highest peak there.

The golden peak of this divine mountain was empty, with only a sacrificial altar remaining. Grand Shaman took out three incenses and lighted them. The smoke rose in spirals and reached High Heavens.

Where the smoke vanished, a green-colored face appeared in the sky, almost blending with the blue sky.

“The new human emperor has appeared,” Grand Shaman said while burning incense to pay his respect.