Tales of Herding Gods

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

The Kunlun Border was originally a sacred ground in Eternal Peace, and it was named the King of Ten Thousand Mountains. This sacred ground had countless mountain peaks that were fighting to be more magnificent than the others, and the Dao Sect was hidden right among these mountains.

Qin Mu and the rest arrived at the Kunlun Border and looked around to see the magnificent sight of the divine mountains stretching straight up into the sky like trees. Then, he turned to look at the mountains of the Kunlun Border, and they were much shorter than those divine mountains. Qin Mu shook his head; it didn’t have the ambiance of a sacred ground at all.

The reappearance of the Primordial Realm had made it difficult for the Kunlun Border to preserve the reputation of a sacred ground.

Dao Sect Academy was constructed at the foot of the Dao Sect’s mountain, and since the Daoists just left everything to fate, they weren’t as rich as Great Thunderclap Monastery was. As a result, they built a city under the mountain and wrote Dao Sect Academy on the city tower to start taking in scholars.

Beside the Dao Sect Academy was a peach forest that extended forever into the distance, and the peach blossoms were brightly-colored. Qin Mu looked into the depths of the peach forest, and even with his sharp gaze, he couldn’t see the end of it. He could only faintly see numerous palaces in the depths of the peach forest. There was even a city wall, and he didn’t know what kind of people lived there.

Blind closed his eyes and ‘looked’ into the peach forest. After a moment, he said, “There are very strong existences living in the peach forest, and they have already sealed the peach forest. I looked over with my divine mind’s eye, and when I came to the deepest part, I saw countless peach blossoms dancing in the sky to block my vision.”

Qin Mu was astonished. “Even Grandpa Blind’s divine mind’s eye can’t see through it?”

Blind’s divine mind’s eye could be said to be the strongest divine eye in the current world. It was also the crux of how he had such great achievements in the path of formation skills.

In his early years, he had already cultivated his eyes to the level of a true god, and even though he was called Spear God, his divine eyes that could see through everything were the crux.

And after he lost his eyes, he cultivated the divine mind’s eye in Disabled Elderly Village.

Now that his lost eyes were recovered, his attainments in the divine mind’s eye were becoming more and more unpredictable.

His divine mind’s eye was a big reason why he could fight with Squad Leader Qu He from the Celestial Heavens Divine Constable Camp without being overwhelmed.

Yet now that Blind’s divine mind’s eye couldn’t see through the layout of the peach forest, Qin Mu was wary. For this peach forest to be so vast, the existences living inside would be extraordinary. If they laid their hands on the Dao Sect, the Dao Sect probably wouldn’t be able to defend against them.

However, what astonished him was how the scholars of Dao Sect Academy seemed to pay no special attention to the peach forest. There were even people living near the peach forest and running into the peach forest to pluck peaches.

The peach forest was too vast, and as a result, there were four different seasons in the peach forest. The peaches on some of the peach trees had already turned ripe.

Even when these ordinary people moved in and out of the forest, no one from the peach forest came to stop them.

Qin Mu watched outside the academy for a long time, and only then did he enter the Dao Sect Academy.

Ordinary houses were everywhere in the city, and it didn’t have vast structures like palaces. Numerous old Daoists were currently teaching disciples, and some of them just found empty land to sit down and teach. The scholars sat on the ground and didn’t pay particular attention to their surroundings.

The number one sacred ground of algebra was actually so simple and out of his expectations.

Qin Mu brought Celestial Venerable Yu forward to seek knowledge, and it naturally created quite a commotion. Dao Master Lin Xuan hurriedly ran out to welcome them with a smile. “Cult Master Qin is a man of your words, you are really here.”

Qin Mu exchanged conventional greetings and asked, “What is the origin of that peach forest outside the academy?”

“I have no idea.”

Dao Master Lin Xuan shook his head. “When the Primordial Realm broke out of the seal, this peach forest suddenly appeared beside the academy. Come to think of it, there are so many strange places in the Primordial Realm, and there are countless gods among the half-gods, but the surroundings of the Dao Sect have always been very peaceful. No half-gods have come to create any trouble. I guessed that it was because of the peach forest, so I entered to investigate, but I could never get close to the palaces inside. There seems to be a bewitching formation of some sort.”

Qin Mu revealed a suspicious look and said, “I also didn’t find any signs of half-gods on the way here. It’s very peaceful, unlike the other places. Half-gods are beating down on the human race in those places, and using them as slaves is already considered benevolent. I thought it was the Dao Sect suppressing those half-gods. I never expected it to be the effect of the peach forest.”

Dao Master Lin Xuan smiled bitterly. “Does the Dao Sect have this kind of ability? There are many half-gods with strong abilities living on the divine mountains nearby, and I even saw a half-god pulling the sun in the sky closer to him just by breathing. Of course, it was the sun in the sky map. There’s another peculiar incident. It’s easy to enter this peach forest, but it’s even easier to come out.”

Qin Mu was puzzled.

“When you look at the peach forest from outside, it stretches on for ten thousand miles, and if you walk in, you can never walk to the end. I have walked for a hundred thousand miles and even a million miles, much less ten thousand miles. When I walked forward, the peach forest beside me would go through spring, summer, autumn, and winter, which shows that the roads I walked were all real.”

Dao Master Lin Xuan revealed a weird expression and said, “But as long as I turned my head back, I would realize I was still at the border of the peach forest. I just needed to turn around and walk a few steps to be able to walk out of the forest. That is why many people run into the peach forest to pluck the peaches without any fear of getting lost. I also planned to investigate the secret of this peach garden, but I couldn’t find anything at all. Furthermore, the master of the peach forest doesn’t seem to have any ill intention, so I just leave it.”

Blind suddenly said, “This should be a formation skill, but this doesn’t seem like a formation skill. It seems like someone is using magic power to shrink boundless space into ten thousand miles and even into an inch! It’s impossible for anyone to have such strong magic power, so it can only be using formation skills to borrow the power of heaven and earth to achieve this.”

Qin Mu asked, “Could Grandpa Blind see what kind of formation it is?”

Blind shook his head and said, “I can’t see from the outside, I can only go in to understand the situation. Furthermore, I can’t see any traces of the formation. If it’s really a formation, even Heavenly Teacher Zi Xi would be far inferior to the master of the peach forest! However, it’s impossible to have a formation master that is much stronger than Heavenly Teacher Zi Xi.”

“Since the master of the peach forest has no ill intention and is protecting the people here, we have no need to worry.”

Qin Mu smiled and said, “Dao Master Lin, I’m here to seek knowledge from the Dao Sect, so I will be eating and staying in the academy these few days. Also, my Brother Yu needs to learn algebra. Can you please find a few excellent directorates to teach him the basics?”

Lin Xuan nodded his head. “Don’t worry, we have many experts in our Dao Sect, you can let Lan Yutian learn from them. As for Cult Master Qin, you will be personally taught by the elders of Dao Sect and myself.”

Qin Mu was delighted and bowed to give his thanks.

Lin Xuan hurriedly returned the greeting and said firmly, “I do not deserve this, Cult Master. You imparted the Computational Canon of Supreme Molecule to our Dao Sect, and it’s only natural for us to return the favor.”

Qin Mu, Celestial Venerable Yu, and the rest settled down in Dao Sect Academy, and Celestial Venerable Yu went to learn all kinds of algebra from the teachers. There were many computational canons in the Dao Sect, and Lin Xuan had even brought back a huge number of computational canons from Clear Sky Heaven. It was difficult for him to finish learning all of them.

Learning algebra was extremely dry and dull, yet it was one of the most important foundations in the system of divine arts, paths, and skills. Other than the Martial Dao and a few of the divine arts that didn’t need many attainments in algebra, most of the other divine arts required algebra.

What Lin Xuan brought back from Clear Sky Heaven was all macroscopic algebra, the classics of the Celestial Heaven Dao Sect that were extremely profound and developed to their extremes.

On the other hand, microscopic algebra had just taken off, and even though this kind of algebra was created by Qin Mu, it was still the Dao Sect that had popularized it.

Dao Master Lin Xuan and the rest had already deduced the Computational Canon of Supreme Molecule to the extent that it couldn’t be understood with regular algebra. It was even to the extent where, under the situation of microscopic algebra, there were signs of the Great Dao of macroscopic algebra losing their effect. They even discovered microscopic algebra measuring inaccurate law.

Even though there were these signs, when microscopic algebra formed macroscopic algebra and all kinds of Great Dao were used once again, they would be extremely nimble.

Qin Mu sought knowledge sincerely. He felt that even though the Computational Canon of Supreme Molecule was elaborating on microscopic algebra and could explain microscopic algebra, the system was still incomparably vast and could be used on all kinds of divine arts.

He used over twenty days to absorb all of the fruits of the Dao Sect, turning them into his own knowledge. He was deeply moved.

Dao Master Lin Xuan long knew how intelligent he was, so he wasn’t surprised that he had mastered the Computational Canon of Supreme Molecule in just over twenty days. However, those old Daoists looked at him with faces of disbelief.

Qin Mu found Celestial Venerable Yu, and the Celestial Venerable Yu with the invincible comprehension had finally met his match. He was dispirited and listless from being tormented by all kinds of computational canons.

On the other hand, the dragon qilin was full of vigor, going around to listen to various classes and benefiting a lot.

“Even though Lan Yutian’s comprehension is high, his aptitude in algebra is only ordinary. He couldn’t even be compared to the dragon qilin.”

Lin Xuan said to Qin Mu, “He needs to spend a long time to master the various computational canons from the Dao Sect.”

“His comprehension is what is strong, algebra is only one kind of tool for him to learn Dao, it isn’t important for him.”

Qin Mu sighed and said, “Has Dao Master Lin ever seen a peerless talent before?”

Lin Xuan asked warily, “Are you getting ready to become humble again?”

Qin Mu shook his head. “I’m also considered an expert, but I’m strong in my aptitudes. My comprehension is merely a little better than you guys. It’s because I’m the overlord body that I just need to work hard to learn everything fast. However, it’s different for Lan Yutian. He is much closer to the Dao, and the reason why Dao Ancestor created algebra was to analyze all of the Great Dao in the world, making algebra a tool for learning the Dao. If someone were naturally close to the Dao ever since they were born and could clearly sense the Dao and comprehend the Dao, would they still need algebra as a tool?”

Lin Xuan was stunned, and he looked at Lan Yutian, who was scratching his ears after being stumped by a difficult problem in algebra. He was so vexed that his forehead was covered in sweat.

“Where has Grandpa Blind gone?”

Qin Mu searched through the Dao Sect Academy, and he still couldn’t find any trace of Blind. He felt apprehensive and hurriedly went to find the dragon qilin, who was listening attentively to a lecture. The dragon qilin said, “Grandpa Blind has gone to the peach forest and said he was going in to take a look. He didn’t let me tell Cult Master.”

Qin Mu was furious. “Old Man Blind is truly worrisome! How long has he been gone?”

“Once Cult Master went off to learn algebra, Grandpa Blind went in.”

The dragon qilin hurriedly said, “Cult Master, feel free to go find him. I will protect Young Master Lan. He also knows how to refine spirit pills, so Cult Master need not worry about my rations.”

“Protect him well. He cannot come to any harm!”

Qin Mu hurriedly left the city and arrived at the peach forest. Looking into the distance, he could see the densely packed peach forest, and there were countless brightly-colored trees and flowers.

He flew into the sky and looked forward, only to see that peach tree still in front of his face. He couldn’t fly over it.

Qin Mu could only land and walk into the forest step by step. His undying god consciousness flew around and searched for Blind’s location.

He didn’t know how long he had been walking when he saw green peaches growing out on the peach trees beside him. As he continued forward, the peaches became red. As he continued forward, the peach tree leaves turned red and fell to the ground. Walking forward some more, snow began to fall from the sky.

Qin Mu suddenly turned around and realized that he was still at the border of the peach forest. He hadn’t walked too far away.

‘It’s just like Dao Master Lin said, this peach forest is indeed strange! Grandpa Blind just needs to turn around, and he will be able to walk out of the forest, so why hasn’t he come out?’

He composed himself and tried to find the formation, but no matter how he executed his divine eyes, he couldn’t find any traces of formation skills.

His undying god consciousness also couldn’t find the end of this peach forest.

At this moment, the sun set, and the sky gradually turned dark. The stars in the sky sparkled, and Qin Mu raised his head to examine these stars. As he tried to determine his location, he was suddenly stunned.

‘This aspect of the celestial bodies seems to be wrong… It is indeed wrong. This isn’t the star atlas that is covering Eternal Peace, this is the true starry sky!’

He took off the willow leaf on the heart of his brows right away and asked solemnly, “Heaven Duke, can your main body see me?”

In Qin word land, Heaven Duke’s voice rang out. “Wait a moment, let me find you… Found you! Eh, when did you leave the Primordial Realm?”

Qin Mu’s heart trembled violently. “I’m not in the Primordial Realm? Heaven Duke, in that case, where is my body now?”

“In a very strange heaven, you are standing beside a peach tree.”

Qin Mu said solemnly, “Heaven Duke, is there a palace in front of me? Can you lead the way for me?”

The clone of Heaven Duke in Qin word land said with a smile, “Look at the starry sky. I shall light up a star to guide you, and you can follow this star.”

Qin Mu raised his head to look into the sky, and there was suddenly one more star in the sky. Heaven Duke must have plucked a star from somewhere and hung in on Xuandu.

In Xuandu, Heaven Duke moved this star, and Qin Mu followed the trajectory of this star. After some time, a cluster of palaces appeared in front of him, and in the dim light of the night, there were altar lamps hanging outside the palaces.

He could hear the very pleasant voice of a woman laughing and saying, “I have a guest, an old friend. Go and invite him in.”

“Understood.”

The voices of several girls came from the palace, and several young girls carried lanterns to walk quietly out of the palace.