Tales of Herding Gods

Chapter 227: Lonely Mountain Ridge Root Demon

Translator: Ninetales Editor: DarkGem

"Other people beat the young and comes the old, mine's better, beats the old and comes the young."

Qin Mu sighed ruefully in his heart. It was really good to be Heavenly Devil Cult Master.

Since Long Jiaonan and the woman from Three Wonders Castle had come here, it meant that the other young experts were around too. If Qin Mu was caught by these people, it would be troublesome.

Hu Ling'er controlled the demon wind and swept away the insects that were flying over, sending them far away. "Young master, aren't these people going home for New Years?"

"They probably treat killing me as New Years celebration." Qin Mu shook his head and said, "Other than killing me, they still want to kill the emperor. They definitely can't kill me, but I wonder if they can kill the emperor. After all, the emperor is a much bigger target than me."

Hu Ling'er had handled the situation very well by blowing the insects away. Long Jiaonan and the rest wouldn't be able to find this place and locate Lonely Mountain Ridge Canyon.

This place wasn't far from where they were, and Qin Mu started walking towards it. The terrain here was not precipitous like in the other areas; however, there was something different around here. The surroundings were bleak, with no greenery at all.

The entire mountain was littered with withered trees, which were black like the ground. This made people associate it with being bad.

"What if they kill the emperor?" Hu Ling'er asked.

Qin Mu took the first step into Lonely Mountain Ridge, and Hu Ling'er immediately followed up by jumping onto the dragon qilin's back. She then skipped onto its head to look around.

"If they killed the emperor and had the crown prince ascend, Imperial Preceptor's reform will be overturned,"Qin Mu answered. "Imperial Preceptor will then get rid of the crown prince and change to an obedient emperor. But even if Imperial Preceptor doesn't do that, I will do it. I will also invite Imperial Preceptor to become the fourth cult heavenly king since I have reserved this seat for him for quite a long time. However, they will not be able to kill the emperor and Imperial Preceptor will not be willing to be the fourth heavenly king."

Withered trees littered the ground, and there were no branches or leaves. The little white fox was pretty nervous as she felt these withered stems were like razor sharp claws and the warped trunks were like scary faces. All of them terrified her.

"There's blood of a god and a devil here, which tainted this place." Dutian Devil King swatted a few insects flying to him before grabbing a clump of soil and rubbing it. "Strange, this blood is very strange. I can't tell if it belonged to a god or a devil. There are parts of both of them in it. A blood which contained both the blood of a god and the blood of a devil, interesting…"

Qin Mu asked with curiosity, "Lord Devil King, could the blood of a god and a devil have been scattered here at the same time?"

He had seen the blood of a devil god, which was very powerful. He had entered the darkness of Great Ruins with Village Chief back then, and Village Chief had managed to injure a devil god in the darkness. One drop of blood from that devil god dripped onto the soil, and the greenery in a radius of three hundred yards had all withered, becoming much like the situation in Lonely Mountain Ridge.

That was just one drop of devil blood.

Here, however, the entire Lonely Mountain Ridge Canyon had been tainted, which showed that there was definitely quite a large amount of god and devil's blood spilled here.

"It's not that." Dutian Devil King shook his head and said, "It's the same type of blood. It's just that this kind of blood contains both god and devil attributes at the same time. Your knowledge is still shallow and can't see the difference between the two options. The blood of a god indicates life, while the blood of a devil indicates death. The blood that was spilled on Lonely Mountain Ridge had both the attributes at the same time, with the god attribute hidden under the soil while the devil attribute was above, killing everything that comes out from the ground. These trees are dead, but their roots are not. On the contrary, they are abnormally healthy and strong. Some might even become spirits by relying on the lifeforce of the god's blood.

Hu Ling'er immediately asked, "Will roots become demons?"

"They will," said Dutian Devil King. "They should become a strange organism which grows many tentacles."

Even though Lonely Mountain Ridge Canyon had the name of a canyon, its terrain was quite high. Yet when compared to the mountain ranges beside it, it was much lower.

This black canyon was winding upwards, and the mountain road wasn't easy to walk on. Heavenly Devil Cult must have gone through a lot of trouble to smuggle goods through here.

Once in a while, there would be a black stone tablet on the road which was about a dozen yards high. They contained rune markings, and Qin Mu took a while to identify them. "It's Demon Suppression Runes from our sacred cult. Ling'er, don't touch them, you will be sucked in if you activate them."

Hu Ling'er jumped in shock.

"There are quite a lot of Demon Suppression Stones in Lonely Mountain Ridge, so it seems like Heavenly Saint Cult had spent quite a lot of effort in paving this passage. This also means that there are many demons here which are very terrifying."

Qin Mu counted the number of Demon Suppression Black Stone Tablets he had met on the way, and there were as many as forty-six of them. This was not even half of the journey, so if the stone tablets could only suppress one demon each, that would make forty-six demons this far

However, Demon Suppression Black Stone Tablets were a dozen yards high, so it was impossible that they were only suppressing one demon each. Based on their size, the number of demons suppressed here should be pretty impressive.

They came to the center of the valley and saw a lake there. Snow was everywhere in the mountains, along with cold weather yet there was actually a lake here, which would make people click their tongues in wonder.

There was also an old dried-up tree beside the lake which covered a very wide area. Densely packed stone tablets, which numbered to several hundred pieces, surrounded the tree and the lake entirely!

Qin Mu and the rest jumped in shock. For so many Demon Suppression Black Stone Tablets to be here, could there be a few hundred demons being suppressed here?

Even though Qing Mu was the devil cult master of Heavenly Devil Cult, he didn't know much about this passage in Lonely Mountain Ridge. He didn't know what Heavenly Devil Cult had met here back then.

"Could it be a demon country?" Qin Mu muttered. "However, why are there so many stone tablets around this ancient tree? It doesn't seem like many demons are being suppressed, but instead this tree and the lake.

Just as he said this, he suddenly heard a call for help from the lake. The dragon qilin was tall so his gaze went past the black stone tablet when he raised his head. Taking a glance, he said slowly, "There's a woman bathing there."

'Help, help!" she cried out again.

Hu Ling'er immediately jumped onto the dragon qiling's head and looked towards the lake before saying angrily, "Fatty Dragon, is that bathing? She's obviously drowning!"

"It's bathing," the dragon qilin said slowly. "She's not wearing clothes, so she's naturally bathing. Have you seen anyone drown while being naked?"

"Naked?"

Dutian Devil King was surprised and delighted and hurriedly climbed to the head of the dragon qilin to look towards the lake. There was indeed a naked woman drowning in the lake, and he could see her seductive figure struggling in the water. With all the curves, Dutian Devil King got an eyeful and exclaimed in admiration, "This demoness is beautiful! Rascal, come have a look!"

Qin Mu smiled. "There are still pursuers behind, let's go." After he said it, he took a sneaky glance through the gap between the black stone tablets.

"Young master is an upright gentleman!" Hu Ling'er was full of confidence and praise.

"The officials outside, help me!" the woman in the lake cried out miserably. "Quickly push down the stone tablets and save me, I'll then devote my life to you!"

Qin Mu and the rest took a detour around the lake, and Hu Ling'er said loudly, "Demoness, my young master will not be tricked by you. You should know that my young master is the sacred cult master of Heavenly Saint Cult!"

Suddenly, the woman became silent, and a sinister voice sounded out, "Sacred cult master of Heavenly Saint Cult?"

Whoosh!

The water in the lake that was surrounded by the black stone tablets overflowed into the sky as countless pitch black roots came rushing up like tentacles. At the end of each one was a naked woman in her prime of youth. They all looked at Qin Mu, and countless ear-piercing shrieks rang out in the air.

"Heavenly Saint Cult! Heavenly Saint Cult is the one who suppressed me here! They used these black stone tablets to suppress my body, to suppress my legs and my hands—"

Boom, boom!

In Lonely Mountain Ridge Canyon, the black stone tablets trembled as a huge body struggled under them, trying to break the seals!

Qin Mu jumped in shock. He had seen so many black stone tablets there were in Lonely Mountain Ridge Canyon and thought they were suppressing countless demons, maybe even a whole country. Never did he think that all these stone tablets were suppressing a single huge demon!

The black tablets trembled continuously, and the soil beside them loosened as if they were going to be uprooted. The runes suddenly lighted up, and the stone tablets suddenly became like huge mountains that were incomparably heavy. They pressed down on the demon of Lonely Mountain Ridge, making it unable to move.

"I want revenge!" In the sky above the lake, the faces of the countless women warped and cried out mournfully, "I want to kill every single person in your Heavenly Saint Cult!"

The black stone tablets around the lake lighted up, and the light from the runes shone on the ancient tree. The tentacles above the lake seemed to be dragged down by a weird force, and the women shrieked miserably. They tried to grab around, but they couldn't get hold onto anything and were gradually dragged into the lake.

"This lake should be the damaged land that received the blood of a god and a devil. That blood was then absorbed by this ancient tree." Dutian Devil King asked in bewilderment, "Why does your homeland have so much strange stuff?"

Qin Mu smiled. "My homeland has much stranger things than this. Let us hurry and walk out of Lonely Mountain Ridge before nightfall so we can find a safe place."

"What a pity." Dutian Devil King smacked his lips and said, "That little demoness was quite pretty, much prettier than the women in my Dutian."

At this moment, Long Jiaonan and Qiu Yue met up with Scholar Lan Yu, Monk Ban Chi, and Yuan Shan while looking for traces of Qin Mu. Suddenly, they felt a tremble coming from Lonely Mountain Ridge, and they all looked towards there.

Scholar Lan Yu cried out, "Heavenly Devil Cult Master went to God Broken Mountain Range? Isn't he afraid of getting shot by the Mysterious Pearl Crossbows?"

Qiu Yue waved her hand, and countless insects flew in the direction of Lonely Mountain Ridge. "Heavenly Devil Cult Master is cunning, so if he went through God Broken Mountain Range, there probably is a way to survive there! My insects will find a path, and we shall follow behind!"

Everyone hurried towards Lonely Mountain Ridge while the swarm of insects poured forward. While flapping their wings, they came to the lakeside where they could see demon clouds permeating the air and hear neverending cries of "Heavenly Devil Cult Master, I will kill you, I will definitely kill you and eliminate Heavenly Saint Cult!"

Everyone looked at each other, and Monk Ban Chi coughed, then said loudly, "Demoness, what grudge do you have with Heavenly Devil Cult Master?"

A woman in the prime of her youth revealed her naked body on the surface of the lake while crying pitifully, "Heavenly Saint Cult has been suppressing me here for a few hundred years. The grudge between him and me is as deep as the ocean, and we cannot live under the same sky. If you can save me, I am willing to devote my life to you…"

Monk Ban Chi smiled. "I'm a monk so I don't need you to devote your life to me. You just have to convert to Buddhism and assist me in killing Heavenly Devil Cult Master, then this little monk will break the seal here and release you."

"I'm willing to convert to Buddhism!" the woman cried out in surprise and delight.

Scholar Lan Yu, Yuan Shan, Yu'e, and the rest frowned as they wanted to advise against it, but Monk Ban Chi had already pulled out a black stone tablet and thrown it on the ground. "Fellow Dao friends, this is a demon that Heavenly Devil Cult has suppressed, and since Heavenly Devil Cult belongs to the devil path, the demon they suppressed must be a good demon. Everyone, help me push down all these Demon Suppression Stones to save this friend!"

Everyone could only go forward and push down the stone tablets together.

Boom!

The mountains trembled, and the roots rose up once again. Below the tree, a huge black ball swelled up continuously, becoming bigger and bigger. The black roots squirmed like flood dragons and huge snakes, revealing countless white bones among themselves!

Monk Ban Chi saw these white bones buried under and felt a bone-chilling cold go down his spine.

He suddenly had a thought that this demon which Heavenly Devil Cult had suppressed might not be a friend of the same path. On the contrary, it could be an existence that was even more wicked than Heavenly Devil Cult!

"Quickly run!" Long Jiaonan screeched.

Everyone hurriedly sprinted away in the direction of Great Ruins.

"I'm free, I'm finally free!"

Countless mournful cries could be heard behind them as black stone tablets trembled before collapsing onto the ground. Thick tentacles tunneled out from the ground, waving non-stop. At the end of each root was a beautiful smiling woman. "Heavenly Saint Cult said I had eaten too many humans, so they suppressed me here. Thank you, thank you, little monk. I can finally eat humans again..."

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