Chapter 80: The Sun Guardian
At the center of the sun ship, a crisp voice rang out. The jade pendant on Qin Mu’s chest gently floated up, as if about to fly toward the sun ship. His heart stirred, and he quickly looked toward the source of the voice. Speaking was an immensely towering giant, many times taller than the other giants on the ship, like a heavenly god.
Her legs were already sunk into the ship’s hull, most of them submerged up to her waist. Even so, she stood over a hundred zhang tall.
She had four arms, each gripping a pillar in front of and behind her body. Chains wrapped around these pillars, and those very chains were what tethered the black sun hanging in midair!
Flames blazed all around her, turning her into a figure of fire. The intense heat made Qin Mu feel a burning sensation just by looking at her.
Strangely enough, when Qin Mu saw her face, he felt she wasn’t an adult woman but a little girl even younger than himself.
But how could someone so tall be a little girl?
She looked exhausted, panting heavily.
“Senior, do you recognize this jade pendant?”
Qin Mu’s heart stirred. He quickly removed the jade pendant from his chest. The female giant released her four hands, and her body gradually shrank. Before long, she transformed from a giant over a hundred zhang tall into a girl half a head shorter than Qin Mu.
“Senior?”
Her voice was very crisp, and she laughed cheerfully. After catching her breath for a moment, she said, “I’m not a senior…”
She struggled to pull her legs out of the ship’s hull. This sun ship was very strange—her legs seemed to have fused with the ship, with flames like blood vessels threading into them, making it very difficult to extract them.
Once she pulled her legs out, the spots where she had stood smoothed over, and the two holes where her legs had merged with the hull slowly healed.
This little girl tried to take a couple of steps, but her legs trembled, and she nearly fell. She quickly used all four hands to steady herself on the ground, looking a bit embarrassed. “Can you come onto the ship?”
Qin Mu glanced at the other giants on the sun ship. One old giant nodded and said in a low voice, “Let him come up.”
A simply dressed giant walked to the bow and extended his arm, forming a bridge between the dragon pillar and the sun ship. After a moment’s hesitation, Qin Mu stepped onto his palm and hurried along this thick arm to reach the sun ship.
Once on board, he was momentarily stunned. It was much cooler here than he had imagined. He had expected it to be as scorching as a furnace, but instead, it was quite refreshing.
“That little brat Mu!”
In the Dragon-Inlaid City, the village chief and the others had also noticed the sun ship’s strange behavior. Turning back, they saw Qin Mu climbing onto the sun ship via the giant’s arm. The pharmacist laughed in exasperation and said angrily, “Too reckless! He dares to board a god’s ship!”
The butcher pulled out two cleavers, his murderous intent flaring. “They’ve taken our child! Let’s charge over!”
The village chief shot him a glare and said calmly, “They mean no harm. Let Mu go. That ship… it doesn’t seem to hold a god…”
Qin Mu walked over to the little girl. The sun ship slowly returned to a level position. The girl, having not walked for a long time, had stiff legs and feet. She tried to stand and bow but struggled, so she sat down and inclined her head toward Qin Mu.
Qin Mu returned the gesture and handed the jade pendant to her. The girl examined it closely, a thoughtful expression on her face. She uttered strange, obscure words and asked a nearby old giant.
The old giant looked startled, repeatedly sizing up Qin Mu, and replied in the same hard-to-understand language.
“That’s divine language!”
Qin Mu was surprised. The words exchanged between the old man and the girl were divine language. He had heard the speech of gods before but didn’t understand its meaning, so he had no idea what they were saying.
After a few exchanges, the girl returned the jade pendant to Qin Mu and said, “Grandpa the chieftain says this jade pendant of yours is neither divine, nor demonic, nor Buddhist. He’s seen something like it before—it should come from Carefree Village in the Great Ruins.”
“Carefree Village?”
Qin Mu’s spirits lifted. “Where is Carefree Village?”
The girl asked the old giant again. He hesitated for a moment, then said a few obscure words. The girl shook her head. “Carefree Village is extremely mysterious. It only appears when darkness shrouds the Great Ruins. He doesn’t know where it is either.”
Qin Mu felt a pang of disappointment but firmly etched the name Carefree Village into his heart. It might be his birthplace, the place where his parents were. No matter what, he had to find it.
“Was I impressive just now?” the girl giggled.
Qin Mu blinked, a strange look on his face. “Was it you who drove the sun ship and scared off the Yan Kingdom army?”
The girl puffed up with pride. “Didn’t expect that, did you?”
Qin Mu truly hadn’t. Not only had the Yan Kingdom National Teacher been startled by this little girl, but even the village chief and Mute had been taken aback. They had even thought there was an ancient, mighty god on the sun ship. The National Teacher, believing he couldn’t match such power, had retreated.
They would probably never dream that it was this little girl piloting the sun ship. Of course, the sun ship itself was so awe-inspiring and powerful that it led them to make such a misjudgment.
“My name is Yan Jingjing. What’s yours?” the little girl asked curiously.
“Qin Mu.”
Qin Mu hesitated, then said, “I don’t know if my surname is Qin or if Qin is just my name. There’s a Qin character on the jade pendant, so the village chief took it as my surname. Mu means cowherd boy. What does Yan Jingjing mean?”
“It means lots of suns and lots of fire.”
Yan Jingjing tried hard to stand up, but she hadn’t used her legs to walk in a long time. She staggered. Qin Mu saw that her legs had atrophied, becoming thin and bony, with almost no flesh at all.
Her emaciated frame made one’s heart ache.
“When I was born, I was like a sun. My mother was burned to death by the flames on my body, so Grandpa the chieftain named me Yan Jingjing.”
Yan Jingjing’s face darkened. “Later, when I grew a bit older, Grandpa the chieftain said I had the bloodline of the Sun Guardian. The power of the Sun Guardian is strong, allowing me to gain the recognition of the sun ship and pilot this great vessel on its patrol of the Great Ruins. I’m the only one in the tribe who can steer this ship, so I became this generation’s Sun Guardian.”
She cheered up again, laughing. “You’re a cowherd boy, and I’m a sun-herding girl. When I merge with the sun ship, my strength is immense, like a heavenly god. That’s why I scared off the bad guys. Were you scared just now?”
Qin Mu smiled. “I was.”
Yan Jingjing looked down. “Sorry. I was so exhausted that I had to stop here to rest, and I scared you…”
Qin Mu was taken aback, then smiled. “It’s fine. Why are your legs so thin?”
“Grandpa says our Herd Sun Tribe’s sun has gone out. So when I pilot the sun ship, it drains my strength, making me thinner and thinner.”
Yan Jingjing said, “When I have no strength left, I’ll merge with this ship, just like the previous Sun Guardians. That’s how my father died… If the sun could be reignited, the sun ship would draw power from the sun and give some back to the Sun Guardian. I’d become very strong!”
Qin Mu’s heart trembled. He looked up at the black sun hanging in the sky and murmured, “The sun needs to be lit? Who could do that? Maybe only a true god… Why do you have to stay here? Why become the Sun Guardian?”
“Because it’s the duty of us sun herders. The Sun Guardian is a divine office! A long, long time ago—I don’t know how long, but it was very long—we sun herders were appointed as Sun Guardians to protect the sun ship and guard the Great Ruins. And it’s been passed down ever since. Who appointed us? I don’t know. Grandpa the chieftain might.”
Yan Jingjing was very cheerful, as if she had few playmates. Sitting with Qin Mu, she chattered endlessly, telling him many amusing stories from her travels.
Qin Mu looked around. The Herd Sun Tribe were all giants. There were some young men and women who could play with Yan Jingjing, but they were all very respectful of her and didn’t dare approach.
Moreover, these people were much taller and stronger than Yan Jingjing. She looked more like a human, unlike the rest of her tribe.
Qin Mu guessed that Yan Jingjing might have human blood, or perhaps the sun ship draining her power had made her smaller.
But oddly enough, when Yan Jingjing merged with the sun ship, she became extraordinarily imposing, like a majestic female god, suggesting his guess might not be entirely accurate.
He didn’t know that the Herd Sun Tribe weren’t naturally so tall. Living near the sun ship, the air was filled with a kind of divine power. The tribe members unconsciously absorbed this power through breathing and eating, leading to their extraordinary stature.
Yan Jingjing, however, had her strength drained by the sun ship, leaving her with less power than she expended, so she hadn’t grown as large as the others.
When she merged with the sun ship, the ship’s power combined with hers, making her as grand as a god.
“In the future, if I have the ability, I’ll help you reignite the sun and free you!” Qin Mu said.
“Really?”
Yan Jingjing’s eyes sparkled. She said excitedly, “I look forward to that day! Then I’ll be able to walk, just like everyone else!”
Qin Mu nodded firmly and smiled. “I’ll definitely find a way to light that sun.”
Just then, the giant chieftain walked over and said, “Sun Guardian, the Yan Kingdom army has fully retreated.”
Yan Jingjing struggled to her feet, waved at Qin Mu, and said sweetly, “I have to go too. I’ll leave from the Star Sea and come out near the Sun Well. If you want to find me, just go to the Sun Well!”
Qin Mu nodded. The girl hobbled back to the pillars. As her hand touched them, her body began to expand rapidly. Then her legs sank into the sun ship, merging with it.
Her hands gripped the other three pillars, and flames blazed around her body, making her impossible to approach.
The giant chieftain came to see Qin Mu off, escorting him to the bow. This aged sun herder, with white hair and a trace of sorrow, said in a low voice, “The Sun Guardian doesn’t have many years left…”
Qin Mu’s heart jolted. He looked up at the old man, then at the female giant in the flames. Yan Jingjing was smiling at him.
“If you are a visitor from Carefree Village, you might have a way to relight the sun. After all…”
The giant chieftain hesitated, didn’t finish his sentence, and sent him down from the sun ship. This unimaginable divine vessel began to slowly rise, walking toward the Star Sea.
The setting sun dipped below the horizon, casting slanting light onto the ancient ship as it faded into the distance. The black sun in the sky also shrank, until finally the sun ship was no longer visible, and the black sun became a tiny, barely noticeable speck.