Tales of Herding Gods

Chapter 255: Severe Devil Nature

Translator: Ninetales Editor: DarkGem

“Thanks for the trouble, Fozi.”

Qin Mu expressed his thanks. Since Fozi Fo Xin followed him, he didn’t ride the dragon qilin but had jumped off to walk with him. This was courtesy.

“The sky is already dark; we should have let cult master remain here for another night.”

The two people walked down the mountain without hurry. Even though their footsteps weren’t fast, they were still ten times faster than ordinary people.

Fo Xin said, “Even though Cult Master Qin only spent a little time in Great Thunderclap Monastery, you have created quite a mess. There are some monks that have lost their lives while others returned to their normal lives, but even so, Rulai still lets cult master leave the mountain.”

Qin Mu smiled. “Rulai has a wide breadth of mind which I admire very much, as expected of the number one awakened of buddhism. Rulai had abandoned sectarian bias and was willing to save Granny Si, for which I’m very grateful to him.”

Fo Xin smiled back at him. “Cult master, I would like to take another look at Great Educational Heavenly Devil Scripture, is that possible?”

Qin Mu took out Great Educational Heavenly Devil Scriptures and opened them up, revealing countless passages of text. Fozi Fo Xin browsed through them as he walked and shook his head. “Truly harmful skills. Every divine art and every technique teaches how to take the lives of others, and even the methods of cultivation are very evil.”

Qin Mu was astonished. “Fozi, why do you say that?”

“Look at this Heavenly Devil Creation Technique, which strips skins to make them into clothes. The souls, spirits, qi, and blood all have to be sealed in order to make clothes that can be constantly changing. Isn’t this an evil skill?”

Qin Mu smiled. “Heavenly Devil Creation Technique mainly cultivates the inner body, using this technique to seal your own soul, spirit, qi, and blood can prevent outside magic from invading you. It isn’t to strip skin and make clothes. If one wanted to transform, they could do it by matching Heavenly God Creation Technique with Spirit Creation Technique.”

Fo Xin shook his head. “Cult master, you are the one who has comprehended wrongly. Who hasn’t heard about the evils of Heavenly Devil Technique? You are still young, so how much could you have read? It’s thus normal that you have comprehended wrongly. Take a look at this Precelestial Creation Technique. This is clearly a devil technique that can only be cultivated by plucking the precelestial qi of a newborn child! Those who cultivate this technique will never age but how many newborn babies must be harmed for that!”

Qin Mu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as he corrected him the monk. “The so-called precelestial qi isn’t referring to infants, but to the state of infants. Before an infant is born, they are in precelestial state, the beginning of yin and yang, preserving their origin. A placenta connects precelestial to the mother, so there’s no need to breathe, thus their souls are pure and flawless. Fozi, you have understood wrongly, there’s no need to eat the placenta or the infant to cultivate this technique. Instead, you have to treat yourself like an infant.”

Fo Xin shook his head. “Cult master, you are still going to deny it? Isn’t this Earth Aeon Creation Technique a devil technique used for gathering devil flames from the sun and earth to refine all living things? The more people are refined to death, the more damned souls there will be, and the greater power the skill will have. In the end, the devil flames will turn into hell, all for the aeon of earth!”

Qin Mu smiled. “This technique has the word creation, so it’s used to cultivate spirit, to strengthen one’s primordial spirit.”

“Using other people’s souls to strengthen one’s primordial spirit, how’s that not a devil technique?” Fo Xin asked.

Qin Mu shook his head and said, “This technique can be combined with Precelestial Creation Technique, preserving the origin of one’s heart and spirit, turning oneself into an infant state and connecting oneself to the earth. By plucking the qi of mother earth, one can strengthen their primordial spirit as well as create all living things. Fozi, I have been cultivating Great Educational Heavenly Devil Scriptures these few days and my spirit embryo is abnormally strong, the effects of these two techniques are not small. You can also cultivate them.”

Fo Xin smiled. “I won’t cultivate, I just want to criticize.”

Qin Mu took a deep look at him. Fo Xin looked magnanimous and didn’t seem to be lying, so Qin Mu smiled at him.

“In that case, Fozi may continue.”

Fo Xin continued to browse as they walked away from Great Thunderclap Monastery. “Your Heavenly Devil Cult is worthy of the devil word; the devil nature in its teachings is too heavy. These techniques, skills, and divine arts are both shocking and frightful. This technique that’s called Sending Funeral Technique. If one wants to cultivate it, are they going to exterminate an entire family?”

Qin Mu shook his head. “This technique is actually the technique of our Heavenly Saint Cult’s Funeral Hall, and what they cultivate are paper humans and paper horses. They help people arrange funerals, drive away ghost, and bring good fortune to their descendants. Fozi, if you’re going to look at the scriptures with prejudice, there’s no need for you to browse anymore. I’m afraid your buddha’s heart will be spoiled.”

Fo Xin laughed. “Cult Master Qin, my Great Thunderclap Monastery has already shown you Rulai’s Mahayana Sutra and you don’t want me to read Great Educational Heavenly Devil Scriptures?”

Qin Mu smiled slightly. “Alright then, as you wish.”

The two of them continued down the mountain, and the more Fo Xin read, the more he shook his head. When they reached the bottom of the mountain, it was already the dead of the night. Bu this time, he had managed to read more than half of Great Educational Heavenly Devil Scriptures.

Qin Mu looked around. In front of him was Eternal Peace Empire. If he had gone down the other side of the mountain, they would have faced Great Ruins, but since it was shrouded by darkness at this time, it couldn’t be stepped into.

The New Years was already over, and it was the second month of the year. In the sky, the stars were sparse, but the moon was shining brightly. It was a crescent that gave off a serene light that was brighter than usual.

This was near Great Thunderclap Monastery, so the dark clouds above had been long removed by the eminent monks. Because of that, the sky was especially clear.

There were some villages nearby that believed in buddhism and worshiped buddha. However, the land around here belonged to Great Thunderclap Monastery, so all the people around were farmers. They didn’t have to pay rent to the imperial court, but send offerings to Great Thunderclap Monastery for using the land to produce crops.

Qin Mu wanted to return to Eternal Peace. The first reason for that was to continue cultivating, while the second was to manage Heavenly Saint Cult. Li Tianxing had also run in the direction of Eternal Peace Empire when he had broken free from Thousand Buddhas Pagoda.

Fo Xin was still reading Great Educational Heavenly Devil Scriptures when the two of them came to the mountain gate. The monk guarding the gate was sitting with a lantern while an elaphure strange beast was sleeping next to him.

There were also some retainers nearby, who got up the moment they saw them. Fozi Fo Xin went up to inquire about their origin, and one of them answered, “We are the retainers of the crown prince. Since we’re all ordinary people, we can’t enter the monastery and have to stay outside to wait.”

“I’m sending the devil cult master down the mountain so I don’t have the time to entertain everyone. I beg your pardon.”

Fo Xin called the elaphure over and led this strange beast over. “Cult Master Qin, I’ll need another hour to finish reading. If Cult Master doesn’t mind, I would like to continue to send you off. The elaphure of my Great Thunderclap Monastery listens to dharma all year round and has a profound cultivation, so it can definitely match up to your dragon qilin.”

Qin Mu revealed a smile. “It’s best this way.”

The elaphure and the dragon qilin moved at the same pace while buddha rays appeared behind Fo Xin’s head to shine onto Great Educational Heavenly Devil Scriptures for him to continue studying it.

“Devil cult master?” The eyes of the retainers of the crown prince lighted up, and they asked, “Which devil cult master?”

The monk who was guarding the mountain gate said, “Which one could it be? That is Cult Master Qin of Heavenly Devil Cult. He came with a tumultuous momentum and bewitched many of the monks in the monastery to return to normal lives. During these couple of days, there were monks continuously leaving the mountain to return to normal lives, some of them being my senior uncles.”

The retainers looked at one another and smiled. “We can find our merit here! Heavenly Devil Cult killed Sun Nantuo and eradicated Nantuo Monastery, and we actually managed to meet him here of all places! Go, let’s go and get our merit!”

“Good men, don’t do evil and kill people, don’t harm Fozi!” the gate monk said in a panic.

The retainers of the crown prince smiled. “Don’t worry!”

Qin Mu sat on the back of the dragon qilin and kept looking up at the moon in the sky, bobbing up and down as the dragon qilin moved. Now was the eighth day of the second month, and the crescent was very curved.

Soon, Fo Xin let out a breath of relief and returned Great Educational Heavenly Devil Scriptures to Qin Mu. “Little monk has finally finished reading, those scriptures are truly a devil classic. Why does Cult Master Qin keeps looking at the moon in the sky?”

“There’s no moon in Great Ruins.” Qin Mu retracted his gaze and gently touched Great Educational Heavenly Devil Scriptures. They turned into a ball of thread, and he smiled. “Thus, every time I see the moon, I find it very beautiful and captivating. Furthermore, I want to see the boundary of Great Thunderclap Monastery.”

Fo Xin was slightly stunned and asked curiously, “The boundary of Great Thunderclap Monastery?”

Qin Mu nodded. When he saw the moon being blocked by the dark clouds in the sky, he leaped off the back of the dragon qilin. Half of the place where he had landed was lit up by the moon while the other half was in the darkness left by the dark clouds.

“The boundary of Great Thunderclap Monastery should be around here. Please take a look, Fozi. The eminent monks of Great Thunderclap Monastery removed all the dark clouds in their territory, so the dark clouds here belong to Eternal Peace Empire and have nothing to do with Great Thunderclap Monastery.”

Fo Xin also jumped down from the elaphure and raised his head to look at the sky before looking at the ground. He said in astonishment, “I never knew Great Thunderclap Monastery had a boundary. In this case, there should be a boundary stone nearby.”

Qin Mu interest was spiked and he smiled. “Why don’t we find it?”

Fo Xin seemed to also have the temperament of a youth, and the two young men started to search around. After some time, they found a broken cliff which was a mountain peak. Only half of the thirty yards tall mountain peak was left, and on it, a few words were written. They said ‘Great Thunderclap Monastery Boundary’.

Fo Xin clapped his hands together and laughed. “There’s really such a boundary stone! Even though I’m a monk of Great Thunderclap Monastery, I’ve never heard seniors mentioning this before. Cult Master Qin, I’ve heard that Heavenly Devil Cult doesn’t cultivate the heart and doesn’t have much requirements regarding the frame of mind. The techniques of your Heavenly Devil Cult are fast to cultivate but because you guys cultivate techniques and not the heart, you’re easily possessed by the devil.”

While standing under this boundary stone, Qin Mu raised his head to examine the handwriting. “There’s such a saying.”

Fo Xin’s gaze flickered, and he said, “Buddhism techniques cultivate the heart, so if we added the fast cultivation of Great Educational Heavenly Devil Scriptures, wouldn’t it be perfect?”

Qin Mu was still examining the words on the boundary stone, so he said absent-mindedly, “This I do not know.”

Fo Xin looked at his back at Qin Mu’s back, while he looked at the boundary stone in front. Neither of them spoke another word.

Suddenly, buddha rays shone brilliantly and a thick devil qi emanated. Under the boundary stone, the world was split by the buddha and devil, one righteous and one evil clashed with a bang!

Qin Mu turned around, and the buddha rays behind his head shone brightly. He was like a huge yellow-robed buddha whose every raise of the arms and every lift of the feet would result in thunder. What he executed was Rulai’s Mahayana Sutra. Meanwhile, Fo Xin emanated the sinister devil qi as devil flames blazed around his body. What he executed was Earth Aeon Creation Technique!

The two of them suddenly clashed under the boundary stone without saying a word. Qin Mu’s vital qi created clouds above his head. Within them, five heavens with ten thousand buddhas could be seen faintly. In the meantime, the devil qi around Fo Xin raged, and the devil flames burned more and more furiously.

The two of them leaped up like rabbits and soared down like falcons under the boundary stone of Great Thunderclap Monastery. But suddenly, a loud bang rang out as Fo Xin grunted and moved a step back. Qin Mu took a step forward and struck with palm after palm, his every hit as heavy as the boundary stone of Great Thunderclap Monastery!

Fo Xin moved back continuously, fresh blood flowing from his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose.

Boom!

Qin Mu smashed another palm down, and he was like a huge buddha striking with colorless karma fire. Fo Xin raised his hand to receive the blow, and the sound of bone cracking could be heard. He then moved back and felt his back leaning against the boundary stone, making his heart sink.

Boom!

Qin Mu struck again, and Fo Xin gave another grunt as he crumbled and sat down under the boundary stone. He raised his hand and said, “Enough, I admit defeat…”

Qin Mu raised his fist and smashed down with fist after fist. After a moment, he stood up, while Fo Xin was left a bloody mess.

“Your devil nature is severe. I’m going to leave you alive to see how you’ll ruin Great Thunderclap Monastery in the future.” Qin Mu pulled back his fists, his fingertips dripping with blood. Looking at Fo Xin who was beyond recognition, he said softly, “You misinterpret every technique you see in Great Educational Heavenly Devil Scriptures and you’re more like the devil than the devil. If I leave you alive, Great Thunderclap Monastery will definitely be destroyed in your hands.”

Fo Xin still had breath and wanted to say something, but a sword light struck him at that moment. It pierced through the heart of his brows, and the flying sword penetrated his skull, nailing him to the boundary stone.

As he died, he could hear a voice shouting in delight. “The devil cult master is finally dead! The devil nature of this wretch is so heavy!”

“Fozi is still too kindhearted and didn’t land the fatal blow.”

Someone else laughed. “In the end, we are still the ones who got to finish him! Sever his head and collect the reward from the crown prince!”