Tales of Herding Gods

Chapter 921: Reform of the Celestial Heavens

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

In front of the Slow Winding Pavilion, many of the young experts on the prestigious Splendid Youths List and the Divine Talents List found themselves with their eyes wide open. They stared at the scene in front of them dumbfoundedly, watching as Qin Mu pulled his sword from Yun Jianli’s body with blood dripping out.

One move was all it took.

Qin Mu only used one move and defeated the seemingly invincible Yun Jianli!

Not only did he defeat him with one attack, he also broke his divine bridge, sending him to the Life and Death Realm from the Divine Bridge Realm!

However, this wasn’t the most terrifying occurrence, for the most terrifying occurrence was how Yun Jianli’s Divine Bridge Divine Treasure was obliterated.

In other words, Yun Jianli could never cultivate back to the Divine Bridge Realm in this lifetime. He was now stuck as a divine arts practitioner within the Life and Death Realm with no chance of becoming a god!

Though, this might not be so bad for Yun Jianli. After all, the male heirs of the Yun family were plagued with a disease that would kill them should they cultivate to the Divine Bridge Realm.

Now that Qin Mu had shattered his divine bridge, he might be able to live longer.

For other people, however, that fact was too terrifying.

The crowd shivered in fear. If they were to face Yun Jianli’s move, their chance of victory would be slim. However, they all feared the possibility of failing to dodge Qin Mu’s blade, which would leave them to suffer the same fate as Yun Jianli.

All of them unavoidably had the scene of Qin Mu’s blade stabbing them imprinted into their memory. Regardless of how many times they tried to deduce it, they were still unable to dodge it.

Every time, they ended up being stabbed by his blade and having their divine treasures sliced apart. It wasn’t only their Divine Bridge Divine Treasure, but their other divine treasures as well. The Spirit Embryo, Five Elements, Six Directions, Seven Stars, Celestial Being, and Life and Death Divine Treasures—all of them would be sliced apart!

That was Qin Mu’s full-power strike!

Suddenly, the lady with the bird head chuckled and said, “I suddenly remembered that I have things to attend to, and thus, I shall leave first. I will come and pay my respects to you, Celestial Venerable, another day! Goodbye.”

The wings behind her body spread open, while the others started walking away.

Qin Mu walked forward while holding Yun Jianli in his arm and said in a clear voice, “Since everyone is already here, why not stay for a while first before leaving? People who don’t understand the situation might think that I, Celestial Venerable Mu, don’t understand how to properly treat guests, generating rumors.”

The lady with the bird head, who had intended to fly off, found her body frozen. She didn’t dare to move.

The others weren’t any better off, a delicate cold sweat appearing on their foreheads.

Qin Mu smiled gently with red lips and perfect white teeth as he reassured them, saying, “Don’t be nervous, everyone, those of us from the lower bound don’t eat others.”

However, from the perspective of the masses, his smile was the pinnacle of terror and evil. Despite them being children favored by heaven on the Splendid Youths List and Divine Talents List, they felt that they were all too powerless to resist that strike of Qin Mu’s.

That lady with the bird head muttered, “Do people from the lower bound eat half-gods?”

Without answering, Qin Mu assisted Yun Jianli onto the island in front of the Slow Winding Pavilion and sighed helplessly. “Brother Yun, I originally intended to kill a bunch of blind young experts from the celestial heavens to establish my authority. Now that you allowed me to strike with my full power, how do I kill them to show off my might now?”

The crowd felt a chill down their spines as they looked at him, absolutely engulfed in terror.

Qin Mu flashed a simple smile and observed his surroundings, apologizing, “I wasn’t talking about killing the bunch of you, so don’t worry. What’s the purpose of this challenge by you lot?”

He looked excitedly at the masses, which silenced them as they shook their heads.

Qin Mu remained very disappointed.

Yun Jianli’s body grew increasingly weaker due to his injury, but even though Qin Mu’s strike broke his divine bridge, his expression remained unchanged. It seemed like the one injured wasn’t him, as he didn’t appear to be disappointed by the decimation of his Divine Bridge Divine Treasure. He even laughed and said, “Why strike out against the younger generations to show off your might?”

Qin Mu laughed in return. “You’re right, it’s just that my realm isn’t high enough. If it were a god that struck out, I wouldn’t be able to defend myself.”

Yun Jianli continued to cough as he warned the masses, saying, “Don’t trust him. He just wants to establish his might by killing gods. If you lot call for your senior brothers, most of them will die at his hands.”

The masses stared at them, unable to utter a single word.

As Qin Mu assisted Yun Jianli to pass through them, Qi Jiuyi followed them hastily, also assisting Yun Jianli before quietly grumbling, “Cult Master Qin, I think you struck him too harshly! Brother Yun’s divine bridge has been sliced apart! It’s likely that his family’s grandmothers won’t forgive you! Everyone in the celestial heavens knows that the widows of the Yun family are the worst people to provoke! Now that you’ve hurt their precious boy, even if you don’t die, you’ll likely be skinned alive!”

Yun Jianli bitterly joked, saying, “My family’s grandmothers are so difficult to deal with?”

Qi Jiuyi coldly carried on the joke and said, “If you don’t know, ask somebody else! Who in the celestial heavens doesn’t know that your Yun family’s grandmothers guard their younglings dearly? Cult Master Qin, what you have done is akin to attacking a large hornets’ nest!”

Qin Mu replied, “The slicing apart of Brother Yun’s divine bridge was intentional, for it allows him to try the results of Eternal Peace’s reform—the Celestial River Divine Treasure. You lot come over too.”

He signaled for them to come and continued, “Previously, I opened the forum and lectured here to impart the technique to become a god. That was a million years ago. Today, I shall do it here again.”

The people on the Splendid Youths List and Divine Talents List looked at one another as they reluctantly followed him into the Slow Winding Pavilion.

Qin Mu finished dealing with Yun Jianli’s injuries before explaining, “The reason that Celestial Venerable Yun opened the Divine Bridge Divine Treasure then was due to how there was no other path ahead after Celestial Venerable You opened the Life and Death Divine Treasure. Celestial Venerable Yun wanted to pave a path by raising a bridge, so he opened the Divine Bridge Divine Treasure. This gave Celestial Venerable Yu inspiration to open the big realm of the celestial palace, which gave birth to the story of rising heavenwards to become a god. The Divine Bridge Divine Treasure is of critical importance, for without it, there is no realm for the back of the celestial palace. Celestial Venerable Yun accomplished a great deed.”

Yun Jianli remarked, “The Celestial River Divine Treasure that Celestial Venerable talked about, what’s up with that?”

Qin Mu explained, “The Celestial River Divine Treasure is a result of Eternal Peace’s reform. Although the Divine Bridge Divine Treasure is usually inherited, it’s not always the case. The celestial river connects all of the worlds, it opens access to Life and Death and connects to the celestial palace. If the Divine Bridge Divine Treasure is destroyed to open the celestial river, it will connect the celestial palace with all of the seven divine treasures and combine them to form one divine treasure!”

Yun Jianli’s eyes immediately lit up.

The masses within the Slow Winding Pavilion shuddered when thinking about the crux of what Qin Mu said.

When the seven divine treasures combined into one, there would be a sudden surge in vital qi. Anyone below or in the same realm would find the cultivation of their vital qi stronger than those who cultivated it normally!

Additionally, because of how the divine treasures became one, the circulation of the technique would be faster than the traditional seven divine treasures. This was because of how traditional techniques required vital qi to start from the Spirit Embryo Divine Treasure in accordance with the technique circulation’s guiding paths before it could flow to the Five Elements Divine Treasure. Then, it would go through the Five Elements to the Six Directions before reaching the Seven Stars, Celestial Being, Life and Death, and Divine Bridge Divine Treasures.

By combining the Celestial River Divine Treasure with the other divine treasures, the vital qi would only circulate in one large divine treasure, which would cut out a lot of unnecessary steps, making it simpler.

At the same time, the activation of divine arts would be faster than if one used the traditional seven divine treasures, which would raise the battle power of divine arts practitioners to a frightening level!

After all, they were brilliant youths on the Splendid Youths List and Divine Talents List with extraordinary gifts and intelligence, which allowed them to recognize the enormous potential hidden within the Celestial River Divine Treasure.

Qin Mu continued, “After one cultivates to the Celestial Palace Realm and becomes a god, the importance of the seven divine treasures cultivated by divine arts practitioners becomes minimal. They essentially become appendages of the Celestial Palace Realm. In the case of the Celestial River Divine Treasure, however, the power of the celestial palace can accommodate that of the divine treasure and bolster its power. The magic power of the user will also be denser than if cultivated traditionally, which is of great benefit to gods as well!”

The lady with the bird head suddenly interrupted him, asking, “Celestial Venerable, for all the praises you sang about the Celestial River Divine Treasure, why then has the celestial heavens not thought about replacing the Divine Bridge Divine Treasure with the Celestial River Divine Treasure?”

Qin Mu looked at her and revealed the doubt within him on his face.

The lady continued, “I am Que Jingxue of the Splendid Youths List, the disciple of Tai Lao.”

“Tai Lao?”

Qin Mu had never heard of this god and laughed. “Which one of the gods of the celestial heavens would care about the divine treasure after cultivating to the Celestial Palace Realm? It’s a mere stepping stone to success. What they care more about is the Celestial Heavens Realm. Once they heard about the Celestial Heavens Realm, all of their thoughts focused on it. As for divine arts practitioners like you, do you lot dare to question your divine masters? Do you lot dare to question the divine treasure cultivation technique they inherited? If any doubts were to be expressed, then there would be a possibility to open the Celestial River Divine Treasure.”

The masses were stunned before recalling their cultivation process.

As the celestial heavens’ most outstanding talented youths, they had never thought of getting rid of the Divine Bridge Divine Treasure. Their greatest innovations were probably a couple of divine arts of their own creation.

To them, every fixed realm was a law that shouldn’t be questioned at all.

Qin Mu remarked, “It’s different in the lower bound. Down there, many people’s Divine Bridge Divine Treasure was shattered. Hence, countless people researched how to modify the divine treasure, how to breakthrough using current knowledge. It’s Eternal Peace’s reform and their refusal to follow the ways of the ancestors and refusal to worship the ancient gods, the celestial heavens, and the Celestial Venerables that allowed them to reform and possess the Celestial River Divine Treasure.”

After the masses heard the word “reform”, they couldn’t help but feel a chill down their spines.

Suddenly, a youth rose and trembling with a hoarse voice, saying, “I shall listen no more! Forgive me for being timid, Celestial Venerable, I shall take my leave first!”

Qin Mu asked with concern, “Do you not want to know how to open the Celestial River Divine Treasure?”

“I want to!”

That person’s laughter resembled a cry as he protested, “However, I don’t dare to listen! I’m afraid that if I listened to your Celestial River Divine Treasure, I would die mysteriously!” He turned around and left hastily.

Another couple of people also rose and left.

Others wanted to leave as well, but the Celestial River Divine Treasure was simply too tempting, which made them hesitate.

Qi Jiuyi’s eyes lit up as he rose and said, “I’ll escort them out.”

Qin Mu smiled as he continued to lecture on how to open the Celestial River Divine Treasure. “The Celestial River Divine Treasure secretly contains the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth, but the human body can only contain seven divine treasures at best. This necessitates the scraping of the divine bridge. I have pioneered a couple of techniques to understand the power of the celestial river. After scrapping the divine bridge, one can go to the side of the celestial river to utilize my magical power and understand its power.”

Qin Mu explained the few techniques to understand the celestial river, sowing doubt in many of the younglings in the Slow Winding Pavilion. Although they memorized the technique to understand the celestial river, they dared not try it.

Yun Jianli laughingly said, “Well, then allow a person that’s about to die like me try to open the Celestial River Divine Treasure.”

Que Jingxue found it hard to believe and suppressed the noise before saying, “Prince Yun, are you sure that you’re willing to abandon the Divine Bridge Divine Treasure that your ancestor Celestial Venerable Yun opened? Won’t you be betraying Celestial Venerable Yun?”

Yun Jianli shook his head, rebutting, “He wouldn’t be so narrow-minded. I think that if he saw Celestial Venerable Mu’s Celestial River Divine Treasure, he would cheer in joy and willingly scrap his own Divine Bridge Divine Treasure too.”

Que Jingxue whispered, “This is a reform! You must think carefully, reforming constitutes rebelling!”

Yun Jianli laughed it off. “What fear does a person about to die have?”

The Celestial River had tributaries that flowed into the Jade Pool, which made the celestial river’s power quite dense here too. He immediately tried to utilize the technique of understanding imparted by Qin Mu.

He was exceptionally gifted, even more so than the generations of human emperors. Thus, he was able to swiftly grasp the trick and pull the power of the celestial river.

All that was seen was that there was a celestial river that gradually formed around him, growing in length. Yun Jianli accumulated power and waited for the opportune moment to achieve his breakthrough.

As time passed, everyone looked at him nervously.

If Yun Jianli could open the Celestial River Divine Treasure, it would mean that the path that Qin Mu pointed out was viable.

Soon, the celestial river that orbited Yun Jianli rushed into his body. Accompanying it was a deafening sound. Yun Jianli’s body shook as a curious rhythm emanated from his body.

It was a type of Dao sound, whose rhythm resembled the changing tides of the bursting celestial river. It crossed through worlds, from the celestial heavens’ celestial palace to the human world, before heading to the Ruins of End and Youdu.

Such a mesmerizing rhythm made people indulge in it uncontrollably.

Yun Jianli was both surprised and pleased as he obsessively inspected his own divine treasure. The water from the celestial river soon drained from the celestial palace and pierced through all of his divine treasures, flowing into Youdu to form one large cycle.

“Do we have to cultivate the Celestial River Divine Treasure too?” Que Jingxue mumbled.

Others were excited to try, but deep worries within them prevented them from doing so.

Qin Mu said with deep meaning, “Everyone here has a choice on whether to cultivate the Celestial River Divine Treasure or not. However, if one day, the celestial heavens were to declare war on the lower bound, you lot will die at the hands of the lower bound. You lot here can cultivate the Celestial River Divine Treasure too, but the people who desire your lives will become your divine masters or other gods instead.”

Que Jingxue felt a chill before she laughed. “Don’t try to scare us, Celestial Venerable. Our masters can reopen the Celestial River Divine Treasure too!”

“Them opening the Celestial River Divine Treasure?”

Qin Mu laughed heartily. “They would have to change their own techniques from the Spirit Embryo Divine Treasure. If they happen to fail, they would have to restart via reincarnation, which would require them to give up their current statuses and even lives! The reason that the celestial heavens want to eradicate the lower bound is that they don’t want to change at all.”