# Chapter 392: Rekindling the Sun
On the Sun Ship, the pure yang energy was even more abundant, yet it was not scorching hot; instead, it gave a warm, spring-like feeling.
The Sun Ship was enormous, and the land on it was vast, but for the Sun Herding people, this habitat was not large. Because they were giants over ten zhang tall!
When Ling Yuxiu, Si Yunxiang, and the others saw that this divine race was filled with mountain-like giants everywhere, they couldn't help but gasp in amazement. Even the children among the Sun Herders were two or three zhang tall, with bulging muscles and powerful physiques. A slight movement would squeeze out lumps of flesh.
"That Sun Keeper should also be a giant."
Ling Yuxiu breathed a sigh of relief and thought to herself: "The cowherd really did come to help rekindle the sun, not to flirt and leave a trail of romantic entanglements. A giant this big couldn't possibly like a little thing like him. Besides, this Yan Jingjing is a deity. Even if she's a goddess, she must be even more muscular and powerful. A slight smile would probably squeeze out a face full of fierce flesh—strong and terrifying. Although the cowherd's aesthetic tastes are a bit strange, they can't be *that* strange!"
Qin Mu looked around. Here lived the tribes of the Sun Herders. The reason they were called Sun Herders was literally that they were a group of people who herded the sun.
This was the same as the Moon Herders. The meaning of Moon Herders was also people who herded the moon.
Since it was herding, there must have been more than one sun or moon; there must have been entire flocks of suns and moons. It seemed that in some period of history, the Sun Herders would drive suns one by one across the dark continent, moving from east to west, dispelling the darkness.
And at night, the Moon Herders would lead moons one by one through the Great Ruins, cycling back and forth.
The Sun Ship looked even more dilapidated than before. When Qin Mu had last seen this great ship, the deck was still quite intact. Although it bore many traces of battle, the Sun Herders had kept it clean and sacred.
But now, ruins and broken walls were everywhere. There were many injured people in the Sun Herder tribes. When the wounded saw the chieftain leading Qin Mu and the others, they held their breath. Only after Qin Mu and his party had walked far away did they let out low groans. But they still gritted their teeth, trying to keep their voices down.
They were trying to preserve their dignity.
"Chieftain, you have the bravest warriors in this world!" Qin Mu said with reverence.
"Among the Sun Herders, there are no cowards!" the old chieftain's voice boomed like a bell.
Qin Mu noticed wisps of black smoke drifting from the wounds of some Sun Herder warriors. That was the scorching mark left by powerful demonic divine abilities. The pure yang energy of the Sun Well was helping them refine the demonic qi.
Before long, they passed by a dilapidated temple of the Sun Herders. A broken halberd was stuck in the center of the hall, surrounded by rolling black smoke, from which piercing screams came.
"Chief, that's a demonic divine weapon!" Si Yunxiang said in a low voice.
Qin Mu nodded but said nothing. As the leader of the Heavenly Demon Sect, the helm of the largest demonic path sect in Yan Kang, he was naturally no stranger to the demonic path.
Qin Mu adhered to the principle of investigating things to acquire knowledge, unifying knowledge and action. The subtlety of application lay in the unity of mind. The former was about learning, discovering, and acting; the latter was about following nature, which was called the Dao.
Therefore, he didn't care much about distinguishing between gods and demons.
In the Great Nurturing Heavenly Demon Sutra, harboring a demonic nature made it a demonic path technique; harboring a divine nature made it a divine path technique; harboring a Buddhist nature made it a Buddhist path technique.
However, judging from the wounds on these Sun Herder warriors and this demonic divine weapon, the foreign realm experts who attacked the Sun Well had extremely high attainments in the demonic path, surpassing even the cognitive level of Qin Mu, the Heavenly Demon Sect Leader.
"The Moon Keeper of the Moon Herders chose to flee when facing the attack of foreign realm demon gods, abandoning his tribe and taking refuge in Fengdu. But the Sun Keeper is willing to stay with her people, even die protecting them."
Qin Mu thought of that girl whose legs had been gnawed thin and weak by the Sun Ship, and thought to himself: "The Sun Keeper's integrity is far higher than the Moon Keeper's."
As they passed a patch of ruins, they saw a huge golden bell. The bell was overturned, over ten zhang tall. From time to time, a clanging sound came from inside the bell, and ethereal black smoke drifted out from under it. There should be some powerful being suppressed inside. Beside the bell, several Sun Herders were channeling Sun True Fire to refine the strong entity trapped within.
In addition, some Sun Herders were piling up the corpses of strangely shaped monsters and burning them with true fire, emitting waves of nauseating stench.
Si Yunxiang and Ling Yuxiu both frowned deeply, not knowing what race this was or why they were attacking the Sun Well.
Qin Mu explained: "The Sun Herders are the guardians of the Great Ruins. Many people in the Great Ruins don't know how many dangers the Sun Herders have helped them fend off. Last time, when the National Teacher invaded the Great Ruins, he was also forced back by the Sun Herders. When divine and demonic races from other worlds invade the Great Ruins, they also need to get past the Sun Herders and Moon Herders first. The Moon Herders have already been wiped out; only the Sun Herders remain."
Ling Yuxiu's face flushed slightly.
When the Yan Kang National Teacher attacked the Great Ruins, she was also among them, responsible for scouting ahead. That was also when she first came into contact with Qin Mu. If the Yan Kang National Teacher had truly succeeded in invading the Great Ruins back then, what awaited him would have been an extremely painful lesson!
They arrived at the center of the Sun Ship and finally saw the Sun Keeper.
Only Yan Jingjing's head and hands were still visible. Her body had already sunk into the Sun Ship. Her four hands were gripping four thick pillars, and her body exuded a terrifying divine might.
"Jingjing, that boy Qin Mu from Xianglong City has come to see you," the old chieftain said softly as he approached her.
"Is it the cowherd boy come to see me?"
Yan Jingjing let go of the pillars she was holding and tried to break free from the Sun Ship, but her body had already fused with it, unable to escape. She panted heavily: "I can't get out. I can't see you. Come over here."
Qin Mu walked forward and circled around to face her. Yan Jingjing's face still carried the childishness of her youth. She looked in Qin Mu's direction, revealing a smile, and said: "You've come? It's really good to see a childhood playmate again."
Qin Mu stood before her, carefully looking into her eyes, and said softly: "I'm here. I've grown a bit."
Her eyes were filled with blazing flames, like two small suns, but she could no longer see anything. Her eyes were completely filled with Sun True Fire, and the structure of her eyes had disappeared.
She let go of the pillars she was holding, and her body rapidly shrank, but the ground of the Sun Ship also contracted, always keeping her trapped.
Such was the fate of the Sun Keeper, and also the Moon Keeper.
Once one took on the responsibility of Sun Keeper or Moon Keeper, they would gradually fuse with the Sun Ship or Moon Ship, entrusting their life to the ship, allowing the ship to draw on their vitality until they completely became part of the vessel.
Qin Mu's expression was complex. When he was searching for the villagers, he had once become the Moon Keeper, but he had only used a very short time to break free from the Moon Ship, so the drain on him was minimal.
But Yan Jingjing had lost too much. She had fused too much with the Sun Ship, and her life was nearing its end.
The more she channeled the power of the Sun Ship, the more she fused with it, and the more her life was consumed. Her flesh and blood had basically completely merged with the Sun Ship. Even if the sun were rekindled, whether she could be saved was something Qin Mu wasn't sure about.
When this girl wasn't holding the pillars, she was very thin, pitifully thin. Her neck seemed too frail to support her head, as if it might snap at any moment.
She said he was her childhood playmate, but in truth, Qin Mu had only met her once.
She had no playmates.
She was the Sun Keeper. Her tribe held her in awe. The young men and women of the tribe respected her too much to play with her. Since childhood, she had borne the heavy burden of protecting her race and the Great Ruins.
By the side of Xianglong City, when this boy from another tribe came onto the ship and chatted with her for a while, she regarded him as a playmate, as a kindred spirit.
In a way, Qin Mu and she were the same kind of person.
Young Qin Mu also had no playmates. Every day, he learned all kinds of knowledge from the elders of the village, diligently training, with no peers to play with.
But Qin Mu had nine elders who took meticulous care of him, while Yan Jingjing's elders also held her in awe.
Si Yunxiang, Hu Ling'er, and Ling Yuxiu came to Yan Jingjing's side, their hearts filled with sympathy. This girl was about the same age as them, but the burden she carried was countless times heavier than theirs.
Si Yunxiang couldn't help asking: "The sun has gone out, but there are still many in the Sun Well. Why don't you switch to a new sun? I see that your chains are tied to the black sun. Can't you use these chains to catch a new sun?"
"These chains were forged by the Heavenly Artisan Divine Race, but they have already been wiped out."
The old chieftain said: "The chains forged by our Sun Herders' true fire cannot withstand the true fire of the sun, so we cannot fish out a new sun. We have tried countless times."
Qin Mu's heart stirred, recalling the conversation between Dragon Tamer Lord and Mute, and said: "There are still Heavenly Artisans in this world. They can still forge such chains."
The old chieftain glanced at him and shook his head: "The remaining Heavenly Artisans are in Carefree Village. If you could return to Carefree Village, you might be able to bring a Heavenly Artisan to save our Sun Herder tribe. Unfortunately, you still haven't been able to return to Carefree Village, have you?"
Qin Mu shook his head: "I really haven't returned to Carefree Village. I came this time to help you rekindle the sun. Even if I can't rekindle it, I have other skills. I studied blacksmithing with a Heavenly Artisan. Maybe I can help you forge new chains to fish out a new sun."
He revealed a sunny smile and said to the thin girl who only showed her head: "I've come to fulfill my promise. I promised you, and I won't go back on my word."
He stood up, looked up at the black sun in the sky, and said calmly: "You once told me that if this sun were rekindled, you could break free. If I rekindle this sun now, can you still break free from the Sun Ship?"
"I don't know." The flames in Yan Jingjing's eyes suddenly flared up a bit, as if a glimmer of hope had been born.
The old chieftain of the Sun Herders looked gloomy and said: "Young friend Qin, although you are a visitor from Carefree Village, you haven't returned there. You don't have the ability to rekindle the sun. And even if it were rekindled, the Sun Keeper wouldn't live for many more years. Her life force has been nearly exhausted. When a person dies, it's like a lamp going out; the lamp oil is almost used up..."
He perked up and said: "Don't waste your efforts! We Sun Herders are selecting the next Sun Keeper. As a guest from Carefree Village, come and witness the birth of the next Sun Keeper! Tonight, the foreign realm monsters will attack again. We must choose a Sun Keeper to prepare for any eventuality!"
Qin Mu shook his head stubbornly: "Whether I can rekindle the sun or not, I have to try!"
The old chieftain shook his head and left with his people to prepare for the selection of the Sun Keeper.
Qin Mu took out the Sun Jade Eye, placed it on the ground, looked up at the black sun, thought for a moment, then raised the jade eye high and ran along the chains toward the black sun: "Wait for me here. I'll go rekindle the sun and come back!"
Ling Yuxiu quickly shouted: "When the sun burns, it will burn you to death!"
"No, it won't!"
The sound of a flute came, and fire flood dragons soared out one after another, following closely behind Qin Mu. Qin Mu said from afar: "With these flood dragons here, I can escape!"
"Sun Keeper, is this sun of yours a real sun or a fake one?" Ling Yuxiu quickly asked.
Yan Jingjing said: "It's a divine creation. It is said to be a treasure refined by the celestial god Xie Qing."
"Oh no!"
Ling Yuxiu's scalp tingled. The cowherd had run off without asking clearly! When this celestial god's treasure burned, the celestial god's might would spread, and it would probably burn the cowherd boy and those flood dragons to ashes!
"Doesn't that mean I can succeed as sect leader?" Si Yunxiang's eyes suddenly lit up.
Ling Yuxiu glared at her. Si Yunxiang quickly laughed and said: "I was joking. I don't want to be a young widow. I think, since they are Sun Herders, they must be able to resist the sun's divine fire. Maybe we can ask the old chieftain to help protect the Chief."