Chapter 1415: Only Wishing for the Good to Prosper
The Butcher was also on the battlefield at this moment, gazing into the distance at that breathtaking blade light. The moment all the spirit weapons floated into the air, the Dao of the Blade roared in resonance. He was very familiar with this Dao.
The Dao of the Blade: to cry out against injustice, to cut through thorns and brambles, to guard one's domain.
Now, Qin Mu had achieved the third step.
When that spirit of guardianship surged into the heavens, the collective will coalesced into a Great Wall, empowering the ordinary iron in Qin Mu's hand, granting him the strength to shatter everything.
Cheers erupted across the battlefield. The morale of Yan Kang's soldiers suddenly soared. Hot blood surged through their veins. That wild, blazing blade light and the Dao of the Blade inspired them, driving them to fight fiercely, unafraid of death, charging into the enemy ranks.
The demigods of the Southern Heaven hesitated, some panicked. On the battlefield, morale was like a balance scale—if one side was slightly heavier, it would overwhelm the other. Rarely was there ever perfect equilibrium.
Faced with such a ferocious army of tigers and wolves, they grew fearful, cowardly. They began to retreat. Even when the supervising officers behind them beheaded dozens with their swords, they could not stop this trend of rout.
Seeing them flee, Yan Kang's army's morale surged even higher. They pursued and slaughtered, the battlefield turning bloody and tragic.
The setting sun dipped westward. The green mountains stretched like a sea; the dying sun was like blood.
This battle was but one corner of the vast Southern Wasteland battlefield. It was not the most breathtaking, tragic, or spectacular battle of the Southern Wasteland campaign. There were wars in the Southern Wasteland far more heart-stopping, far more tragic and worthy of song and tears.
By the time the fighting was no longer so intense, it was already nightfall. The commanders of the various armies began to tally their numbers. General Ba Shan inquired, "Where is the man who cut open the Southern Emperor's divine weapon?"
The soldiers searched for Qin Mu's squad. Yan Kang organized its soldiers in squads of ten. Of the ten, only three remained, and Qin Mu was not among them.
A young scholar shook his head. In the heat of the pursuit, they had lost track of Qin Mu.
The soldiers fell silent. They went back to report to Ba Shan, who also fell silent.
Generals die in a hundred battles; it was a common occurrence on the battlefield.
Late at night, ghost fires flickered across the battlefield. Some cultivators lit torches, searching for the bodies of their fallen comrades among the dead. The three young Yan Kang scholars searched everywhere, hoping to see a familiar face.
Only now did they understand why that scarred old veteran had told them to remember their comrades' faces. Remembering was so that, after the battle ended, they could send them home, so their bones would not grow cold in the wind, so they would not be buried in a foreign land, so they could return to their hometowns with the honor due to a warrior and be buried in their ancestral graves.
Blood was like frost, coagulating on the surface of each corpse.
Ghost fires drifted. These were the emissaries of the Netherworld, guiding the wandering souls on the battlefield. Old men whose faces could not be remembered rode paper boats, appearing in every corner of the battlefield. Regardless of friend or foe, they made the souls of the fallen board the paper boats, sending them into the Netherworld.
Whenever the horse lanterns of these Netherworld officials shone on the faces of the wandering souls, no matter how great a general they had been in life, or how lowly a soldier, they all had to board the boat.
At this moment, on one paper boat, Qin Mu sat with the Netherworld Lord. The Butcher sat beneath the horse lantern.
All around was silent, except for the distant sound of soldiers from the northwest, speaking with a thick regional accent, calling out their comrades' names long into the night, summoning their souls to return, warning them not to mistakenly enter the Netherworld. The Netherworld had the Earth Lord, with a tiger's face and an ox's body, who would drive them away with the River Styx Whip.
Qin Mu listened to that long, drawn-out call, somewhat lost in thought.
"The Netherworld has its own rules," the Netherworld Lord said. "You want to revive so many people. That is a violation of the Netherworld's rules. The Earth Lord will not agree."
"I naturally know the rules of the Netherworld. Reviving so many people at once is a violation of the Netherworld's Dao," Qin Mu said. "However, the Earth Lord is bound so tightly by these rules that we are all very passive. Netherworld Lord, Yan Kang is a mere speck of dust to the Ten Celestial Venerables. Fire Celestial Venerable has already begun deploying troops against Yan Kang. In the future, if he truly sweeps through, Yan Kang will crumble, and even more people will die. If we let the rules restrict us to death, the only thing waiting for us is defeat and destruction. The Earth Lord also wishes to break free from the shackles of the Netherworld's Dao. Why not turn a blind eye?"
The Netherworld Lord shook his head. "The Earth Lord is still the Earth Lord. The Netherworld's Dao is still the Netherworld's Dao. It must be administered impartially."
"Stubborn as a block of wood!"
Qin Mu laughed in exasperation. "Netherworld Lord, go back and tell the Earth Lord: the reason I am discussing this with you is merely out of courtesy! If I directly resurrect these people, I don't need to ask for the Earth Lord's opinion at all! Whether the Earth Lord agrees or not, I am going to do this!"
The Netherworld Lord's gaze fell upon him. "Your wings have hardened."
"Very hard. Hard as stone!"
Qin Mu's voice was also hard. "The ancient gods valued me because I am the Indestructible Grand Sorcerer. They hoped I could use my sorcery to resurrect them, even if their souls had scattered to the winds, I could pull their souls back. Now that I want to resurrect the human race, you start talking about rules? I have the ability, so why shouldn't I use it?"
The Netherworld Lord remained expressionless. "Countless people die on the battlefield. Resurrecting them not only goes against the Netherworld's path but also consumes your own divine power. How many people can you save? Their bodies have already been destroyed. Even if you are proficient in the Dao of Creation and can repair their physical forms, how many can you repair?"
Qin Mu's eyelids twitched.
The Netherworld Lord continued, "This is just one of countless battlefields. On other battlefields, countless people die. Can you resurrect them all? Every day, every single moment, an unknown number of people die across the myriad realms. Can you save them all? Mu Celestial Venerable, even if you are a Celestial Venerable, your power has its limits. You cannot save everyone. Moreover, if you revive the dead on a large scale, the Netherworld's Dao will constrain the Earth Lord, forcing him to deal with you. The Earth Lord was born from the Dao. He has no choice."
He stood up. "Anyone who disrupts the order of the Netherworld must be punished! The number of worlds I have destroyed is countless. Do not let Yan Kang become one of them. Because, if the Earth Lord is forced to act by the shackles of the Netherworld's Dao, even more worlds will be destroyed! The reason the Earth Lord has not moved against you all these years is that he has been resisting the Netherworld's Dao rules, fighting against the Dao's commands. The Dao of the Netherworld has long wanted to erase you!"
"The more people you resurrect, the heavier the punishment! When the punishment finally descends, not only will the people you resurrected die, but countless others will be implicated by you!"
Qin Mu stood up. "The Netherworld's Dao is devoid of human sentiment."
The Netherworld Lord said, "The Heavenly Dao of the universe was never about human sentiment."
"I am too idealistic. You are too realistic."
Qin Mu suddenly activated the Soul-Pulling Divine Art. The Heavenly and Earthly Gates manifested behind him. He laughed heartily, "Because I am too idealistic, I often end up battered and bruised against the wall of reality! Because you are too realistic, you have fallen into self-imposed isolation!"
The Netherworld Lord raised an eyebrow. "The Earth Lord will not lend you his power. The Heavenly Lord will not lend you his power to resurrect these human soldiers."
"I don't need it!"
Qin Mu laughed aloud. His divine aperture opened, revealing his Ancestral Court. Above it was the Heavenly Realm, below it was the Netherworld.
The majestic power within his divine aperture surged forth!
The Dao Rises from the Ancestral Court. Creation Opens from the Obscure.
These were his two Dao-Entry Divine Arts, the Fourteenth Heaven, the Fifteenth Heaven.
The Dao Rises from the Ancestral Court evolved the Dao of the Heavenly Realm and the Netherworld. Creation Opens from the Obscure used the Dao of Creation to repair the bodies of these fallen soldiers, reactivating their blood, letting the dead blood within them surge with new vitality!
The Netherworld Lord watched him silently, not stopping him, allowing him to act.
The Yan Kang soldiers who were collecting the dead stared blankly as their comrades stood up one by one. Bloodstains still marked them, but their bodies began to recover. Their wounds healed. Their hearts resumed beating. Their dead organs regained vitality.
Someone cheered, tightly embracing a newly resurrected comrade, laughing until they cried.
The battlefield was too vast. Too many soldiers had died. Even for Qin Mu, he felt the strain growing. Resurrecting these soldiers consumed too much of his divine power and spirit.
His aura waned. At the same time, he felt the agitation of the Netherworld's Dao. He had defied the Dao, reversed life and death, causing the Netherworld's Dao to issue a command to eliminate him.
He felt the Earth Lord in the Netherworld forcibly suppressing the Netherworld's Dao. He also felt the Netherworld Lord resisting the Dao's command.
Finally, the Yan Kang soldiers who had died on this battlefield were all resurrected, one by one. All the power within Qin Mu seemed to be exhausted. He collapsed with a crash, so weak he could barely stand.
The Netherworld Lord, still resisting the command of the Netherworld's Dao, passed by him and boarded the paper boat again. "Do not go to the Netherworld. If you go to the Netherworld, the Earth Lord will no longer protect you, but will kill you. There, the power of the Netherworld is too strong."
"Thank you," Qin Mu said, his voice weak.
The Netherworld Lord's body stiffened slightly. He did not turn back, saying coldly, "Do not thank me. For your act of reversing life and death, I will truthfully report it to the Earth Lord. The Earth Lord is just and impartial. He will record your evil deeds and settle the account with you in the future."
Qin Mu smiled, forcing his voice to be loud: "Two and a half years! At most two and a half years from now will be the Battle of the Heavenly Realm, a matter of life and death for the Heavenly Lord! Will you come or not?" He spoke too urgently and began to cough violently.
"What's it to me?" the Netherworld Lord said coldly, steering the paper boat into the Netherworld.
Qin Mu, however, kept smiling, lying on his back looking at the sky. The east was turning pale. The sun was about to rise. He murmured, "He will definitely come. He definitely will… Although the Netherworld Lord has isolated himself due to his rationality, feeling he has seen through everything and grown cold, he will definitely come. His heart is still warm, burning hot…"
The Butcher walked to his front. The rosy clouds in the east grew brighter and brighter. A red sun rose slowly from the glow. He said, "Back then, I didn't have this kind of divine art to reverse life and death. If I had, I would have defied the Earth Lord too, and saved my comrades."
He stared straight at the rising sun, silent for a long time. Then he suddenly recited softly:
"Frost falls on the autumn fruits of the southern mountain,
Wind rolls the night fires of the northern neighbor,
The affairs of the world are so hurried.
How can one question Heaven's will?
Only wish for the good to prosper."
"The Dao of the Blade is the Dao of humanity… Mu'er, have you rested long enough? Let's go! We continue forward!"
Qin Mu staggered to his feet, struggling to keep up with his steps, walking towards the light of the rising sun.
"Any acquired Dao is the Dao of humanity!" he said, his tone firm.
The Butcher turned back to look at him and smiled.
—The Legend of the Shepherd God is first published on Qidian Chinese Network. Besides Qidian, official versions are also available on QQ Book City, the QQ Browser section, and WeChat Reading. The Legend of the Shepherd God is nearly 4.5 million words long. We hope everyone will support reading the official version.