Tales of Herding Gods

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Qin Mu lured Dragon King Tian’s gigantic head into the other ruins. There, skeletons were lying everywhere, and the cliffs and ground dripped with blood—it was filled with an ominous aura.

As they ventured deeper in, there were more and more white figures emerging from the surroundings.

Initially, only one or two white figures appeared, but after that, more and more emerged—some appearing suddenly on the mountain peaks, some appearing suddenly on land—they looked at the passing group with a dazed expression, yet didn’t do anything else.

Qin Mu looked at them, yet he couldn’t see their faces.

“Young Master, there’s a white-clothed person riding on your neck,” Yan’er whispered.

Qin Mu quickly turned his head, yet he couldn’t see anything. He couldn’t help but feel his hairs stand on their ends.

He hurriedly took out a mirror, and, looking at his reflection, he saw that there was really a white figure riding on his neck. An unobservable face was sticking out from behind his neck, looking like it was checking the mirror out.

Qin Mu felt goosebumps and looked at the dragon qilin. There were a few white figures lying on him as well, and they were indistinct in appearance.

He looked to Yan’er, and on her back too was a white figure, it was making a breathing action to the back of her head.

Qin Mu turned to Dragon King Tian’s big head, there were even more white figures lying on it.

“This place is unsuitable to stay in for long!”

Qin Mu decisively opened the Gate of Heaven Influence, and the dragon qilin carried them and leaped into it, escaping out of that ruins and into Youdu.

The instant they stepped into Youdu, Qin Mu faintly heard indistinct yet piercing screams coming from behind them. He quickly turned around to look, only to see numerous white figures reaching their hands into Youdu from outside the Gate of Heaven Influence.

Qin Mu closed the Gate of Heaven Influence. Multiple broken limbs fell from where the Gate of Heaven Influence had disappeared, and they dropped into the dark.

“The ruins of the Primordial Realm are truly peculiar…”

Qin Mu recovered from his shock, while the dragon qilin and Yan’er danced about towards the darkness in Youdu. Qin Mu reversed the divine treasures, transforming them into the divine treasures of the devil path, then he executed the divine art of Youdu to drag them back.

Qin Mu laughed. “You can’t use your skills here, I will still have to bring you along. Let’s not hurry to leave this place, we’ll wait for someone to pick us up and take a free boat ride out of here.”

Yan’er was puzzled, she looked around and asked curiously, “Where is this free boat ride?”

Qin Mu was sure of himself, smiling. “It’ll arrive very soon!”

After a period of waiting, his expression darkened, and he said resentfully, “Is Celestial Venerable You slacking off today? How is he still not appearing? Usually, right after I open the Gate of Heaven Influence, his small boat will come to fetch me…”

“Usually Cult Master stands on my head, can I stand on Cult Master’s head this time?” The dragon qilin was surprised and delighted.

Qin Mu peeled off the willow leaf on the heart of his brows, his consciousness traveling to the Qin word land and transforming into an image of himself upon landing there. Qin Mu questioned, “Earth Count, why didn’t Celestial Venerable You come and fetch me today?”

Lava Earth Count sensed Qin Mu’s true body and replied, “A heaven was destroyed, and there were too many deaths. Celestial Venerable You headed there to guide the souls of the dead.”

“I see. Could Earth Count send an expert to send me to Li River Academy?” Qin Mu asked.

Lava Earth Count looked straight at him, Qin Mu’s gaze was full of sincerity. Without changing his expression, he continued, “From Youdu, I don’t know the way to Li River Academy.”

Earth Count was silent for a while before replying, “I will escort you there personally, how about that?”

Qin Mu was elated, he replied immediately, “How can this do?”

He retrieved his consciousness, feeling very pleased with himself. He turned to the dragon qilin and Yan’er, informing them in a humble tone, “Earth Count said he will personally escort us to Li River Academy.”

The dragon qilin was a little disappointed. At that exact moment, a violent gust of wind blew at them suddenly from the depths of Youdu, sweeping up Qin Mu, the dragon qilin, and Yan’er. They moved as swift as wind and lightning, tossing and turning, not knowing how far they had already flown.

The three of them were giddy and felt thrown into disorder. After the gust of wind was gone, the dragon qilin face-planted into a cliff—he was wedged in a cliff just outside of Li River Academy. Yan’er had transformed into a green bird and was lying with her belly to the sky at the top of the tree on the cliff. Meanwhile, Qin Mu had fallen headfirst into the Li River.

After a short period, the three of them tidied themselves up. Qin Mu’s expression was dark, and he said threateningly, “Today’s events stay amongst the three of us, whoever dares to spread it will be murdered by me! Understand?”

The dragon qilin and green sparrow nodded their heads hastily.

Qin Mu stared at the dragon qilin and said with a benign expression, “Fatty Dragon, do you know how Great Sun Sovereign died?”

The dragon qilin quickly replied, “Cult Master, I’m very tight-lipped. Look, I have never leaked out any of Patriarch’s embarrassing incidents!”

Two months later, Qin Mu picked Celestial Venerable Yu up. At the source of the Surging River, one could see that today’s Surging River was no longer flowing out of the broken cliff of the Great Ruins, but it was flowing through the various worlds.

That stream of the celestial river flowed out of the Heavens that hung from beyond the sky, rushing downwards and sparkling with jade-like refractions. It was truly spectacular.

Qin Mu waited at the source of the Surging River for half a day, sitting atop the river’s surface, yet the fog in the river didn’t appear at all.

‘This should be where Celestial Venerable Ling intercepted the celestial river and executed her divine art. She replaced the substance within the celestial river with herself and demonstrated her breathtaking divine art.’

Qin Mu stood up and went looking in the Heavenly Yin World.

The sand ships of Heavenly Yin World filled with Metal of Heavenly Yin were sailing out one by one, following the flow of the celestial river and sailing towards Eternal Peace.

Qin Mu boarded one of the ships to make a query, and the divine arts practitioner who was guarding the sand ships replied, “It’s by order of the Imperial Preceptor for us to come and ship the Metal of Heavenly Yin. Imperial Preceptor said that today’s Eternal Peace is divided, and the cities are struggling to defend themselves, and thus, he wanted us to gather the Metal of Heavenly Yin to forge the Sunshot Divine Cannon. Big cities especially are required to have one Sunshot Divine Cannon.”

“How are you going to deal with the medicinal stone problem?” Qin Mu asked.

“That I do not know.”

Qin Mu asked again, “Is the journey safe?”

The divine arts practitioner replied, “Dragon Rearing Sovereign has been leading the Dragon Kings of the river to protect the sand boats along the journey, so it’s considered safe. Occasionally, some demons in the river will cause some trouble, and they have destroyed a few boats.”

Qin Mu nodded and let them leave.

In the Heavenly Yin World, standing before Goddess of Heavenly Yin’s Heavenly Yin Palace that was located on the sea, Qin Mu looked out at the seaside. He saw many divine arts practitioners working hard, scooping sand out of the seawater, fishing out the Metal of Heavenly Yin from the sea, and transporting them to the outside world.

There were also a few cities at the seaside. The people of Eternal Peace and the Great Ruins lived there, staying away from the chaotic outside world. There were also quite a few divine arts practitioners teaching there, and the area was no longer quiet.

“For the Heavenly Yin World to be able to become what it is now, it’s not something that I would have expected.”

Behind Qin Mu, black sand tossed and rolled around, forming the imposing figure of a man. The figure spoke, “Eternal Peace is certainly extraordinary. If given time, how great and powerful can you all become? You have even made me feel fearful.”

Qin Mu turned around, smiling. “I should have long realized that Your Majesty’s black soul sand was hidden within the Heavenly Yin World. It was because Your Majesty’s soul was hidden here that Goddess of Heavenly Yin died. Son of Heaven Yin wanted control over the Heavenly Yin World, but not because he wanted to go against Goddess of Heavenly Yin. He wanted to look after Your Majesty’s dispersed soul. It was a pity that Goddess of Heavenly Yin didn’t realize this and was thus blindsided by Son of Heaven Yin.”

Within the surging black soul sand, an indistinct figure could be seen. When it opened its mouth to speak, the black soul sand swelled outwards due to the tremor, yet it was ultimately unable to escape its restraints.

“Celestial Venerable Mu revived Goddess of Heavenly Yin, which means that you can also revive me. After you revived Goddess of Heavenly Yin, I realized that my chance was here. A pity that Celestial Venerable Mu being Celestial Venerable Mu, you are truly very difficult, always making a fool out of me.”

The figure in the black sand continued, “But you weren’t wrong, I am, after all, a deceased ancient god, you do have the right to negotiate with me, and the right to ally with me.”

Qin Mu looked him up and down, asking suddenly, “Who gathered your soul for you?”

The figure in the black sand jolted slightly, smiling. “Official, why do you ask that?”

“I founded the technique to revive souls. Whether or not someone gathered your soul for you, it just takes one look for me to know.”

Qin Mu continued indifferently, “In this world, there aren’t many who have the ability to revive ancient gods. In fact, there’s only one, and that person is me. However, there are quite a few who can gather souls. Back in the day, I invited five people to come here to organize the runes system of the Heavenly Yin World. They were Yama of Fengdu, Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor, Xu Shenghua, First Ancestor Human Emperor, and Saint Woodcutter. After they perfected the runes system of Heavenly Yin World, they marked the runes on the cliff by the sea. Even with the runes system, to be able to deduce the technique of gathering souls would take more than a normal human’s capabilities. To gather the soul of a celestial emperor would require an expert of experts even more. Who is this person?”

Celestial Emperor, who was within the black sand, remained silent.

At this moment, from the Heavenly Yin Palace, a figure walked out while smiling. “It’s me. Celestial Venerable Mu, it’s been a long time since we’ve met. Do you still remember that moment when you plucked at my compass?”

Qin Mu’s eyes widened as he looked towards that figure. A sloppy old Daoist walked out—his hair was a mess, and he didn’t seem to care about his appearance—and his hand held a compass.

Although he looked extremely old and abjected, his gaze was extremely brilliant—it looked as though it contained boundless wisdom.

Qin Mu took a deep breath and smiled. “Dao Ancestor, it’s been a while.”

The sloppy old Daoist came forward to pay his respects. “Old Daoist of Heaven Alliance pays my respect to Celestial Venerable Mu.”

Qin Mu’s heart jolted, the corners of his eyes twitching, he cried out, “Dao Ancestor, you are also part of the Heaven Alliance?”

The sloppy old Daoist laughed in reply, “Celestial Venerable Mu must have met the old monk already? He is also one of the Founding Elders of the Heaven Alliance.”

Qin Mu felt light-headed.

Brahma Buddha was also part of the Heaven Alliance?

One of the incarnations of this Buddha had been staying in the Qin word land in the heart of his brow. Although he was napping, any events that occurred within the Qin word land wouldn’t escape him!

Could it be that they were also involved in taking control of the celestial heavens?

Goddess of Heavenly Yin walked over. “Everyone, please come inside the palace and rest.”

Qin Mu composed himself, following her into the Heavenly Yin Palace, he turned around. “Fatty Dragon, Sister Yan’er, you guys stay outside. Brother Yu, you… follow me in!”

Celestial Venerable Yu followed behind him in a confused manner. Within the palace, everyone sat down casually. There was no distinction between the host and the guests.

Qin Mu calmed down, and he thought to himself, ‘At most, we will fall out. I will just merge with Big Brother and transform into a small Earth Count, turning this place into Youdu, then lure Earth Count here to screw them all up!’

Thinking about it, he revealed a smile and laughed. “When Dao Ancestor lured me to the Guardian Pavilion, it truly broadened my perspectives. So when did Dao Ancestor realize that the runes system of the Heavenly Yin World was already set up? And when did you come searching here? To nurture a disciple like Yan Qiling, it’s not something you can achieve in just one or two years. Even if you revived Celestial Emperor, he too couldn’t nurture such a remarkable disciple in such a short period of time.”

The sloppy old Daoist laughed. “Celestial Emperor has one more piece of soul that has yet to disperse. It’s hidden in the Celestial Heavens. This piece of soul of his is also one of the Founding Elders of the Heaven Alliance, so naturally, he has nurtured many disciples.”