Aboard the Dawnboat, the pure yang energy was even more concentrated, yet it was not scorching; instead it carried a warmth like spring.

The Dawnboat was vast, and the land upon it broad, but to the Sunherd clan this dwelling place was not large at all—for they were giants standing over ten zhang tall!

When Ling Yuxiu, Si Yunxiang, and the others saw that this divine race was filled with giants like little mountains, they could not help but gasp in wonder. Even the children among the Sunherds stood two or three zhang tall, all sinew and brawn, and the slightest movement bunched their flesh into knots of muscle.

"That Sun Warden must be a giant too."

Ling Yuxiu breathed a sigh of relief. She thought, "The cowherd really did come to help light the sun, not to dally with flowers and scatter his affections everywhere. A giant this big couldn't possibly fancy a little runt like him. And this Yan Jingjing is a deity—even if she's a goddess, she must be even more powerfully built. The slightest smile would bunch her face into slabs of muscle, terrifyingly virile. The cowherd's taste may be a little strange, but it can't be strange to that degree!"

Shen Mu looked around. Here lived the tribe of the Sunherds. The reason they were called Sunherds was, by the literal meaning, that they were a people who herded the sun.

It was the same with the Moonherds. Moonherds meant people who herded the moon.

Since it was herding, there must be more than one sun or moon—surely they came in flocks and herds. It must be that at some period in history, the Sunherds drove suns one by one across the dark continent, from east to west, dispelling the darkness.

And when night came, the Moonherds would lead moons one after another through the Desolate Ruins, cycling on and on.

The Dawnboat looked more dilapidated than before. The last time Shen Mu had seen this great ship, the deck had still been quite intact. Though many traces of battle remained, the Sunherds had kept the place clean and sacred.

But now broken walls and ruins were everywhere, and many in the Sunherd tribe were wounded. When those wounded saw the clan chief leading Shen Mu and the others, they immediately held their breath; only after Shen Mu and his companions had walked far off did they let out low groans. Even then they gritted their teeth and kept their voices as low as they could.

They were trying to preserve their dignity.

"Clan Chief, you have the bravest warriors in the world!" Shen Mu said, filled with reverence.

"Among the Sunherds, there are no cowards!" The old clan chief's voice boomed like a great bell.

Shen Mu saw wisps of black smoke drifting from the wounds of some Sunherds. Those were burns left by the divine abilities of powerful heavenly demons, and the pure yang energy of the Dawnspring was helping them refine away the demonic qi.

Before long, they passed a ruined temple of the Sunherds. A battle halberd, broken in half, was thrust into the center of the hall, black qi billowing around it, and from the black qi came piercing shrieks.

"Cult Leader, it's a demon-god weapon!" Si Yunxiang said in a low voice.

Shen Mu nodded and said nothing. As the leader of the Nether Demon Sect, the helmsman of the foremost demonic sect in the Kingdom of Jingping, he was naturally no stranger to the demonic path.

Shen Mu upheld the principles of investigating things to attain knowledge and the unity of knowledge and action; the wonder of their application lay in a single mind. The former meant learning, discovering, and doing; the latter meant following nature purely, which was called the Way.

So he did not care how one distinguished gods from demons.

In the Great Nurturing Nether Demon Scripture, if one harbored demonic nature, it was a demonic-path technique; if one harbored divine nature, it was a divine-path technique; if one harbored Buddha-nature, then it was a Buddhist-path technique.

But judging from the wounds on these Sunherd warriors and this demon-god weapon, the otherworldly power attacking the Dawnspring had attained an extremely high level in the demonic path, beyond the comprehension of even him, the Nether Demon Cult Leader.

"The Moon Warden of the Moonherds, when faced with the attack of otherworldly demon-gods, chose to flee, abandoning her people and running to Fengdu for refuge. But the Sun Warden is willing to stay with her people, to guard them even in death."

Shen Mu thought of that girl whose legs had been gnawed by the Dawnboat until they were pitifully thin, and he thought, "The Sun Warden's integrity is far above the Moon Warden's."

As they passed a stretch of ruins, they saw an enormous golden bell, inverted, over ten zhang tall. From within the bell came intermittent clanging sounds, and beneath it black smoke curled. Something formidable must still be suppressed inside. Beside the bell, several Sunherds were channeling the sun's true fire to refine the powerful being imprisoned within.

Besides that, some Sunherds were piling together the corpses of strangely shaped monsters and channeling true fire to cremate them, releasing wave after wave of nauseating stench.

Si Yunxiang and Ling Yuxiu both frowned deeply, not knowing what race this was or why they would attack the Dawnspring.

Shen Mu explained, "The Sunherds are the guardians of the Desolate Ruins. Many in the Desolate Ruins do not know how many dangers the Sunherds have fended off for them. Last time, when the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping invaded the Desolate Ruins, it was the Sunherds who drove him back. When god-demon races from other worlds invade the Desolate Ruins, they too must first get past the Sunherds and Moonherds. The Moonherds are already extinct; only the Sunherds remain."

Ling Yuxiu's face reddened slightly.

She had been among those when the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping attacked the Desolate Ruins, scouting the way, and it was then that she had come into contact with Shen Mu. If the Imperial Preceptor had truly broken into the Desolate Ruins then, what awaited him would likely have been an incomparably bitter lesson!

They came to the center of the Dawnboat and finally saw the Sun Warden.

Only Yan Jingjing's head and hands remained outside; her body had already sunk into the Dawnboat. Her four hands gripped four thick pillars, and a terrifying divine majesty radiated from her.

"Jingjing, that youth from Crimson Dragon City, Shen Mu, has come to see you." The old clan chief came to her side and said in a low voice.

"Is it the cowherd boy who's come to see me?"

Yan Jingjing released her grip on the pillars, wanting to break free of the Dawnboat, but her body had already merged with it and she could not escape. Panting, she said, "I can't get out. I can't see you. Come over here."

Shen Mu walked forward and came around to face her. Yan Jingjing's face still held a childlike innocence. She looked in Shen Mu's direction and smiled. "You've come? To see a childhood playmate again—how wonderful."

Shen Mu stood before her and looked carefully into her eyes. Softly he said, "I'm here. I've grown a little."

Her eyes were filled with raging flames, like two little suns, but she could no longer see. They had been completely filled by the sun's true fire; the structure of her eyes was gone.

She let go of the pillars, and her body rapidly shrank, but the floor of the Dawnboat shrank as well, always keeping her trapped.

So it was with the Sun Warden, and so it was with the Moon Warden.

As soon as one took up the duty of Sun Warden or Moon Warden, one would gradually merge with the Dawnboat or the Soulboat, entrusting one's life to the ship, letting it draw on one's life force until one became completely part of the vessel.

Shen Mu's expression was complicated. When searching for the people of his village, he had once become the Moon Warden, but he had only needed a very short time to break free of the Soulboat, so the toll on him had not been great.