Tales of Herding Gods

Qin Mu examined his surroundings in Little Thunderclap Monastery and discovered that most of the decorations were similar to those of Great Thunderclap Monastery. After all, Little Thunderclap Monastery had only developed for a few hundred years. Without a foundation, they could only imitate.

However, there was a great number of demon monks, and they were no inferior to monks from Great Thunderclap Monastery. Little Thunderclap Monastery could be said to be the only sacred ground in Great Ruins. Without any competitors and an extremely high number of strange beasts, it was abnormally flourishing.

There were numerous demon monks walking to and fro. They were all immaculately dressed and polite. Qin Mu even saw a flood dragon coiled in a temple, passing on scriptures and preaching to demon beasts that had not yet transformed. In other temples, there were eminent monks of the demon race also preaching to numerous demon monks, teaching them divine arts and even imparting methods of forging treasures.

“This place looks like a civilization of the demon race.”

Qin Mu admired the place. Not taking Little Rulai’s behavior into consideration, to be able to develop Little Thunderclap Monastery to such an extent all on his own was already something to respect.

Little Rulai and Old Rulai were junior and senior brothers. Their age was about the same, but Old Rulai’s lifespan had come to an end and he had died in battle on God Broken Mountain Range. However, Little Rulai was a great demon who had achieved Dao, so his lifespan was very long.

With him around, Little Thunderclap Monastery was becoming more and more flourishing.

Suddenly, two great demons leaped over as though they were flying and fought each other. They sometimes soared into the clouds and sometimes dove into the valley. Their attacks were extremely fast and their moves were fierce. Both of them were extremely powerful.

“The abilities of the two senior brothers aren’t weak,” Xu Shenghua said in astonishment when he raised his head and took a look.

“Big fella!” Qin Mu shouted out in delight.

One of the great demons was a muscular demon monk with only some black hair on his face and hands. He wielded a monk staff in his fight. When he heard Qin Mu, he immediately knocked his opponent away and leaped over. Landing on the ground with a crash, he said in astonishment, “Young’un! Bald, where?”

The words were directed at Little Rulai who couldn’t help becoming furious and giving him a slap on the head. “Who calls their own master bald donkey? I’m not a donkey that achieved Dao!”

Devil Ape Zhan Kong immediately covered his head and muttered, “Little, where?”

Little Rulai didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “I met him at the bottom of the mountain so I invited him to come over

.”

The devil ape grinned and wanted to hug Qin Mu, but he realized that the youth was too short. Qin Mu had grown quite a bit and was at the same height as Butcher, only slightly shorter than Apothecary, but the devil ape’s body was extremely majestic. In the past, when he was still underage, he had already almost towered over the trees.

Now that he had grown, if he revealed his true body, he wouldn’t be much smaller than the dragon qilin.

Even when he transformed into a human his height was close to twenty feet.

The great demon with which he’d been fighting pounced over, wanting to continue fighting. He cried out, “Senior Brother Zhan Kong, let’s fight!”

The devil ape was furious and stretched his hand out to grab the neck of that demon monk. The man’s temper instantly cooled, and his four limbs hung down. The tail behind his butt also dropped and wagged as though he was currying favor.

The devil ape placed him down and put him in front of Qin Mu while saying loudly, “Meat, guest!”

Qin Mu looked at the bald demon monk who was shivering on the ground. He hurriedly shook his head. “Since he’s your junior brother, I can’t eat him even if you offer him to me.”

The devil ape scratched his head and looked at Little Rulai who was beside him. The fats on Little Rulai’s face twitched as he held back his anger. “Disciple, are you going to use even your master as dinner now that your good friend is here?”

The devil ape hurriedly shook his head.

Qin Mu smiled and said, “We have not met in a long time, but you don’t need to think about treating me to meat. When you enter a village, follow the local customs; I’ll just be a vegetarian. I also can’t eat someone as strong as Rulai.”

The devil ape was very happy. “Vegetarian, strong!”

“Why does Senior Brother Zhan Kong simplify his words when he talks?” Jing Yan asked curiously.

“Zhan Kong has great Buddha nature and cherishes his words like gold. Each one holds deep meaning. When I saw this quality in him, I took him in as my disciple,” Little Rulai said.

Jing Yan was puzzled. She had seen him cherish his words like gold, but she couldn’t see any Buddha nature.

What kind of Buddha nature required one to grab their junior brother as meat to treat guests?

The devil ape followed them up the mountain. When they came to the peak, Qin Mu looked down and saw that the place was similar to the golden peak of Great Thunderclap Monastery. However, there were a lot more stone statues, which were probably placed to defend the area from the darkness.

There were numerous Buddha pagodas on the peak, and many monks cultivating. Most of them had beast heads, and they were all draped in a yellow kasaya. Their expressions were all solemn and respectful.

Those monks were most likely the great demons that had achieved Dao in Great Ruins. Since they were able to cultivate that far, their positions had to be extraordinary.

The corners of Qin Mu’s eyes twitched. The cultivations of the great demons were all extremely strong, and the demon air around their bodies was also incomparably dense. It frightened him somewhat as some people were probably strong practitioners of the cult master level!

There was even blood light coming out from the demon air, which meant that those people had killed a lot in the past!

“I can’t endure it anymore! Abstaining from eating meat and praying to Buddha every day, what’s the f*cking point? When will this end?”

Suddenly, a bird-headed monk jumped up and tore apart his yellow kasaya. When he swayed his head, golden feathers grew from his neck at a crazy speed. His body expanded, and more bird heads came popping out from the feathers, reaching a total of nine. When he spread his wings, they had an area of several hectares!

“I did whatever I liked in Great Ruins and ate countless humans and beasts before. I’ve been long plagued by sins so why the f*ck do I have to abstain from eating meat and pray to Buddha?” The nine-headed bird who looked like a peacock flapped his wings to rise. “Those sins can’t be washed off so let me eat to my heart’s content!”

The other monks rose into the sky right after, and Qin Mu saw that a few of them were actually human. They worked together to suppress the nine-headed peacock while saying, “Senior Brother Ming, you are being controlled by your heart devil again, quickly wake up!”

“Don’t let your cultivation of a thousand years be destroyed by single false step!”

…

The monks worked together until they finally suppressed that nine-headed peacock. However, it was still arrogant and obstinate, crying out about wanting to cause a massacre.

Little Rulai walked forward and suddenly pulled open his monk robes. He took out a knife and sliced a piece of meat from the pit of his stomach and threw it to the nine-headed peacock. “You want to eat meat? Eat then!”

The nine-headed peacock emanated a fierce aura and opened its mouth to catch Little Rulai’s flesh, swallowing it down. The other eight heads then started shouting, “Rulai, you need to satisfy the desire of all of us, how can one piece of meat be enough? The other eight mouths still haven’t gotten to eat and are hungry!”

Little Rulai then sliced off another eight pieces of flesh and threw them over. Each of the eight heads grabbed a piece and swallowed them down.

The devil ape revealed a look of delight and said in a low voice, “Little, meat, guest.”

Little Rulai gave him a stare, and the devil ape scratched his head.

Even though the nine-headed peacock had eaten the nine pieces of meat, it couldn’t digest them and started coughing. After a moment, it opened its mouth to cough up a small peacock. Then, it coughed up another one.

The nine-headed peacock coughed nine times in a row, and nine peacocks left his stomach. They started running everywhere and stumbling around. Suddenly, they started merging with one another, transforming into a nine-headed peacock. When it sat down, the feathers on its butt spread open like a colorful fan.

The nine-headed peacock looked at the small peacock on the ground, and its heart couldn’t help trembling violently. Its devil nature instantly faded away, and it transformed back into a bird-headed monk. When he sat down in a lotus position, buddha rays shone from his face as he smiled. “Only today did I learn that all lives are like me. Senior Brother Rulai, thank you.”

“Excellent.” Little Rulai closed his monk robe and said, “Senior Brother Ming, sitting on the mountain has no benefits to cultivation, so bring your son down the mountain and enter the world to cultivate.”

The nine-headed peacock stood up and brought the little peacock down the mountain.

Qin Mu saw this pair of father and son leave and shook his head with a puzzled expression.

Little Rulai had sliced his flesh to feed the nine-headed peacock, so why would it cough up a small nine-headed peacock? Why was it its son?

Was it the technique of creation?

Or was it some other spell divine art?

Xu Shenghua and Jing Yan were also at a loss. Xu Shenghua then asked in a low voice, “The technique of Little Thunderclap Monastery is different from Great Thunderclap Monastery; they have most likely absorbed some strange techniques in Great Ruins.”

Qin Mu nodded. There were no such strange spells in Great Thunderclap Monastery. On top of that, the monks of Little Thunderclap Monastery were mostly strange beasts who’d gained intelligence so they naturally had extraordinary abilities.

Some of the strong strange beasts even had fortuitous encounters and cultivated some strange techniques of Great Ruins. After they joined Little Thunderclap Monastery with their strange techniques, they made Little Thunderclap Monastery’s techniques strange and gave it even more variation than there was in Great Thunderclap Monastery.

“The three of you please take a seat and look at us enlightening the devil god and achieving Buddhahood through our efforts and insight.”

On the golden peak, Little Rulai invited the three of them to take a seat. The yellow-robed monks sat down in their seats while Little Rulai took out a golden alms bowl. He swayed it gently, and the golden alms bowl grew larger. In the center of it was a sacrificial altar with the trapped primordial spirit of a devil god. It was currently struggling and shouting, rattling the chains of buddha rays.

The devil god on the altar was blood red as though he was a sea of blood with countless damned souls lingering around him.

The yellow-robed monks began to chant the scriptures loudly, and buddha voice reverberated as they prepared to enlighten the devil god.

“Even you blood-drinking beasts dare to think of purifying me?” That devil god was none other than Shaman God Kui, and he was not injured by the buddha voice at all. He continued struggling to break free of the chains while smiling. “When I slaughter my way out, all of you will become my food!”

Qin Mu’s expression changed slightly, and rose to warn the monks in a hurry. “Rulai, this devil god is from the ghost race, so his soul is incomparably strong. He’s the strongest evil god so you guys have no way of enlightening him! He’s borrowing your hands to purify the soul bugs in his body to break free of the seal left behind by Golden Palace’s Grandmaster!”

The monks were all at a loss and looked at Little Rulai who had also stopped chanting.

On the sacrificial altar, Shaman God Kui turned his head around to look at Qin Mu fiercely. “So it’s Cult Master Qin. My useless disciple tried to worship you a few times, but he couldn’t do it. You’re meddling again, but this time you are truly overestimating yourself!”

The expression of Little Rulai and the rest of the monks changed drastically, and they got up in a hurry. Shaman God Kui, who was inside that altar, opened his mouth and spat out squeaking soul bugs. When they met the buddha light, they dissolved into wisps of green smoke.

Once they were gone, Shaman God Kui’s fierce aura instantly overflowed. Terrifying awe spread out, and the vegetation on the mountain instantly withered. All living things lost their life, and numerous demon monks that had lower cultivation collapsed on their backs, dying unnatural deaths!

Little Rulai immediately pulled back the golden alms bowl and covered the sacrificial altar, trying to trap Shaman God Kui.

“Junior Brother Po Ying, suppress this devil god under Heavenly Seal Pagoda!”

A yellow-robed monk came forward and was about to take away the golden alms bowl when Shaman God Kui’s laugh suddenly rang out. “Your name is Po Ying? Take my worship!”

The yellow-robed monk collapsed on his back, his soul scattered!

For a moment, no one dared to go forward.

“Hehehe, I can sense my Life and Death Book nearby. You guys must have found and hidden it, right? Heaven is truly assisting me!”

Shaman God Kui laughed loudly, and a buddha pagoda suddenly trembled and shattered. A book flew out from it, going straight for the golden alms bowl!