Tales of Herding Gods

Yan’er cheered quietly. She was so excited that she trembled. “We will become legends of the Dragon Han Era! The god thief worshipped by many! Our legend will go on even after 600,000 years!”

The dragon qilin glanced at her and said, “Look at you. We’ll be sent to jail before we reach the Black Tortoise Celestial Palace if you continue on like this. We must be calm.”

Yan’er rubbed against his forehead and giggled. “I never did something so exciting when I followed Celestial Venerable Yue. You know a lot, Fatty Dragon, even things like these.”

“That’s to be expected!”

The dragon qilin wanted to raise his tail, but he realized that he had become a human with no tail, which vexed him.

“Cult Master would take me with him when he returned to the village. Grandpa Cripple, the number one god thief, was at the village. When he guided Cult Master…”

He gazed deeply and said, “I learned some too.”

Yan’er was fully impressed as she looked at the little stars inside his eye.

The dragon qilin was largely satisfied, though he was still somewhat displeased. ‘Unfortunately, I don’t have my tail to lift up and swing. I would have looked awesome.’

Many Heavenly Roaring Dogs sniffed the area to find Divine King Gong Yun and her accomplices. The Great Sun Sovereign’s voice would periodically be heard. “That female thief is a divine king from the prehistoric era. She’s skilled in consciousness and won’t die unless her consciousness is eliminated. We must find it!”

Yan’er and the dragon qilin brought the palace maid with them. Gong Yun borrowed the maid’s body to live. Her consciousness injury was serious enough to cause her to rely on the both of them.

However, she always felt that the dragon qilin and Yan’er were unreliable when she looked at them.

It was great that they had six heavenly dragons with them. The heavenly dragons contained East Deity Qing Long’s bloodline, so when the dogs smelled it, they wouldn’t dare to approach.

The dogs were of a peculiar breed, but they paled in comparison to East Deity Qing Long. When the heavenly dragons became humans and walked together, their scent was so dense that they could suppress the dogs.

They ran through half of the celestial heavens amidst the chaos and reached North Deity Xuan Wu’s celestial palace. The dragon qilin went forward and awakened the tortoise gods at the door.

They were so lazy that they were petrified. Being awakened displeased them, and they asked lazily, “What are you here for?”

“We are East Deity and South Deity’s descendants, and we are here to visit Prince You Ming,” the dragon qilin said.

The tortoise gods saw how they looked like experts. Some of them were heavenly dragons, and there was a dragon sparrow and a dragon qilin, which made them resemble East Deity’s descendants. Thus, they hastily said, “So you’re all the two deities’ descendants! Please wait while I report your visit.”

Afterward, one of the tortoise gods turned around to enter the Black Tortoise Celestial Palace.

Prince You Ming heard it and said peculiarly, “East Deity Qing Long is so promiscuous that he probably has more than a million sons. Even the hen dragon is rumored to have his blood. I’m not sure which chicken he did it with. We can ignore his descendants, but South Deity is clean. I’ve never heard of her having any descendants. Now that her princess is here, we have to see her.”

That god reminded him, “Prince, those who came to befriend you before did so to fool you in order to obtain our treasures. These people are likely trying to do the same.”

Prince You Ming smiled and said, “Nonsense! Those who tried to obtain the treasures are Celestial Venerable Hao, God Emperor Lang Xuan, and Son of Heaven Yin. I’ve already listened to my parents to avoid them. In contrast, the princess of South Deity can’t be so despicable.”

That god hesitated and said, “Should I tell both masters?”

“I’m not a kid. Why should you tell them about me making a friend?”

Prince You Ming continued, “Besides, North Deity isn’t here. They went to find West Deity, South Deity, and East Deity. I don’t know when they’ll be back. Should I let them wait outside? If people heard about that, wouldn’t I be laughed at for my lack of manners? Invite them in.”

That god had no choice but to exit the palace and invite the dragon qilin and Yan’er inside. “Our prince invites you in.”

The gang entered the Black Tortoise Celestial Palace. Unsurprisingly, it was filled with treasures and jewelry. A luxurious aura filled the air, just like treasures filled the palace.

“North Deity’s residence really is extravagant.” The dragon qilin couldn’t help but praise it.

The tortoise led the way while saying, “Our master is a saint born from the celestial river, worshipped by many with sacrifices. The celestial river is our master’s, so all sorts of treasures of the celestial river are also our master’s. Thus, he’s naturally wealthy.”

Gong Yun coldly laughed. “Deceiving the world with theft!”

The tortoise glanced at her and saw how the palace maid was in a lull. He didn’t take it to heart though, for he assumed her to be a palace maid of the South Deity palace.

Everyone claimed that the four deities were ancient gods born from nature, which was what they claimed to be, yet Gong Yun knew everything about their origins.

West Deity White Tiger was an ancient god born from collective sacrifice by Gong Yun’s Nü Xin Clan.

The other three deities had their own origins too. North Deity Xuan Wu was an ancient god born from sacrifice from the Ju Yu Clan. Deity Wu had some relation to Gong Yun too.

The Yu in Ju Yu Clan meant water of the north. Ju Yu Clan also meant masters of creation who lived beside the northern waters.

The Ju Yu Clan originally lived beside the northern part of the celestial river, and they created the Black Tortoise ancient gods via sacrifice.

They were split into two. One was Deity Xuan, while the other was Deity Wu. This was because Gong Yun was the Grand Emperor’s wife and the chief of the Nü Xin Clan.

Women were superior in the Nü Xin Clan. When Gong Yun married the Grand Emperor, her status in the Ju Yu Clan was even higher. She was equal to the Grand Emperor, so the Ju Yu Clan sacrificed to create two ancient gods, Deity Xuan and Deity Wu.

Their sacrifice was also a representation of their beautiful wish. The wish that the Grand Emperor and Gong Yun would be a perfect couple like the ancient gods of their imagination, as if they were one.

However, reality was cruel.

North Deity was able to be rich due to raiding the Ju Yu Clan when the great calamity of the masters of creation came.

Suddenly, loud laughter came as a large and handsome lad walked towards them. It was Prince You Ming.

The Prince You Ming of then didn’t look that destitute. He looked strong and handsome, with a strong aura and dragon mustaches. It was just that his clothes were too extravagant. He wore a black robe with images of flowers and snakes made from golden threads.

The most eye-catching thing was the scattered treasure he had hung around his body. First, he had 24 pearls around his waist, which were 24 heavens!

On his arms were bracelets made from pearls, four to five of them on each. Three to four jade pendants were on his wrists, while a necklace was on his neck. The necklace had an unknown treasure.

As for his shoes, they gave off clouds. When he walked, the clouds would lift him up so that he hovered.

The dragon qilin thought, ‘This Prince You Ming is like a traveling blacksmith. He could be a good merchant!’

Yan’er saw him and said, “I pay my respects, Brother.”

The dragon qilin and the six heavenly dragons also said, “Brother!”

Prince You Ming anxiously returned the greeting. “We don’t go around often, so I’m quite rusty with my brothers and sisters. Please forgive me.”

Divine King Gong Yun covered his thoughts with consciousness so that he couldn’t see Qin Mu behind Yan’er’s halo. Thus, he failed to notice Celestial Venerable Mu under a dragon blood treasure tree.

The dragon qilin said something shocking, “Brother, do you know that the celestial heavens is about to be split?”

Prince You Ming was shocked, and he hastily covered his mouth before looking around and whispering, “You can die from saying that! Don’t spout nonsense!”

Suddenly, gods reported, “The deity is back.”

Prince You Ming hurriedly went to receive them, excusing himself by saying, “Please stay here first, I’ll be back soon.”

Deity Xuan and Deity Wu sat down, and Prince You Ming received them. Deity Xuan and Deity Wu looked at one another and said, “Don’t go out now, the celestial heavens is going to be split.”

Prince You Ming had a flash of inspiration as he recalled the dragon qilin’s words and said, “I knew that.”

Deity Xuan and Deity Wu felt pleased. “It appears that our silly son is enlightened enough to see the situation in the celestial heavens.”