Tales of Herding Gods

Qin Mu raised his brush and wrote down the spirit herbs and poisonous herbs he needed. The magistrate of Purple Chaste City came to visit him, but was held off by Hu Ling’er. “Young master is not seeing any visitors for the next couple days.”

The magistrate was helpless and could only leave.

Si Yunxiang hurriedly contracted Si Family, asking it to inform the brothers of the cult to report to the emperor as soon as possible. She also had the elders in the cult to strictly choose the best experts of Five Demons Transferring Technique and send them over as soon as possible.

When Qin Mu handed over the prescription, Si Yunxiang realized that there were over a hundred types of herbs in it, and she had never seen or heard about many of them. “These spirit herbs will probably be very difficult to find, so you will need to flip through all the medicine shops in the cities all over the empire in order to find them. It’s going to take quite some time.”

Qin Mu let out a shaky breath and smiled. “I gave God Bai Xi those couple days for us to find the herbs, and also to wait for the experts of the cult and the emperor to come. Otherwise, why would I have let him consider it for so long?”

Si Yunxiang sighed. “As your enemy, they have to be careful not to choke on even rice when eating. I’ve already informed the sacred cult. Besides a few elders that who skilled in Five Demons Transferring Technique, the rest will come from Light Fingers Hall.”

“Light Fingers Hall?” Qin Mu stared blankly at her with a look of inquiry.

“Light fingers mean that they are thieves.” Si Yunxiang smiled and said, “Thieves hold the majority in Light Fingers Hall. They usually steal from the rich, taking away the riches from the wealthy families over to us. However, they are usually working on small-scale things. Lately though, the emperor recruited them into the army to grab the enemy’s rations, and many of them achieved meritorious services, so their official positions aren’t shabby.”

“I see.” Qin Mu suddenly understood it and praised them, “In every trade, a master will always appear. Even a thief can be promoted and gain wealth; I must tell this to Grandpa Cripple.”

Yet he was also worried. He didn’t know what the situation was like on God Broken Mountain Range, where Cripple and the rest had intercepted the gods of High Heavens.

‘With Grandpa Apothecary there, they should be fine.’

Even though he thought so, he still couldn’t help worrying. Even though Apothecary could save the injured, it was still a battlefield of gods and devils. If they got killed, even Apothecary wouldn’t be able to save them.

Si Yunxiang ordered the disciples of the cult to prepare the herbs while Qin Mu wrote down prescriptions to treat his own injuries. Hu Ling’er grabbed the herbs from the medicine shops in the city so his body could be nursed properly. After all, the life force exhausted by using Moon Ship was no small matter. If there was a way to replenish it, he would do all he could to do so.

After two-three days, Qin Mu felt much better. He then brought the divine flood dragon king and the bunch of flood dragons into the courtyard of Fragrance Well to ask, “Senior Brother Bai Xi, would you like me to treat your injuries?”

“No need!” God Bai Xi said with alertness. “A person who’s skilled in medicine is naturally skilled in poison. If I consumed your medicine, I’m worried I wouldn’t even know how I died!”

Qin Mu took a glance at his wounds and saw that they were no longer bleeding. However, there were many broken bones that made his appearance pretty miserable. “If your leg is not treated soon, it will go lame and you will only be able to use one leg to walk. After two more days, the lame one will have to be sawed off. On top of that, the rot from your injury will slowly spread through the rest of your body which is fine for now. You will start to rot alive.”

God Bai Xi sneered at him. “You are trying to scare me? I am a god, so how will my flesh and blood spoil? You used a moon to strike me and not a divine art. My flesh and blood won’t spoil from an attack of brute strength!”

Qin Mu sighed. “That moon is a treasure forged by a god during Founding Emperor Era, so how could it not have any divine art? That moon is also the supreme yin whose qi is the best at spoiling a person’s corporeal body. Hiding a sickness for fear of treatment, never did I expect a magnificent god to be like this as well.” After he said that, he shook his sleeves and left.

God Bai Xi sneered over and over again.

Qin Mu walked out of the courtyard of Fragrance Well where Si Yunxiang had already prepared a portion of the spirit herbs. “There are still some spirit herbs that haven’t been found yet, but I have told the brothers of the cult to locate them as soon as possible. Once they are found, they will send them over on a fast ship.”

Qin Mu examined the spirit herbs and said, “The herbs now still can’t take his life, only one leg at most.”

Si Yunxiang jumped in shock and immediately asked in a whisper, “What are you going to do with his leg?”

Qin Mu smiled and instructed her, “Have everyone if the surroundings who has even the slightest external injury, even if it’s just a prick from a needle, to leave. They have to get at least one mile away from Fragrance Well.”

“What if someone who got pricked by a needle doesn’t leave?”

“That would be bad.” Qin Mu chose his herbs, his eyes focused solely on them. “The place where they got pricked will first become a small hole which will slowly expand. In just four to six hours, the rot will spread throughout their whole body and their bones will suffer from necrosis.”

Si Yunxiang felt a chill run down her spine and hurried away.

Fragrance Well was a historical site so there weren’t many people living around it. Si Yunxiang instructed the magistrate to just move all them away.

Qin Mu refined and brewed a medicine that was colorless and odorless, so it was extremely difficult to notice. After two days, God Bai Xi instructed someone to invite him over. Qin Mu sealed and put away the medicine he had refined into his taotie sack as backup. He returned to the courtyard of Fragrance Well and saw God Bai Xi sitting on the floor. The wound on his leg had already started to rot, and it was spreading upwards to the flesh which had been fine before.

“You laid your hands on me?” God Bai Xi stared intensely at him with his bright eyes and croaked, “It must be something you did in the dark that my leg is spoiling so fast!”

Qin Mu went over to carefully examine it and shook his head. “I said you were hiding a sickness for fear of treatment yet you didn’t believe me. How could the moon of that Moon Ship be ordinary? You were injured by it, and if you had let me treat you earlier, you could have kept your leg, but now it’s gone. The flesh and blood have already rotted, and the bone marrow is also dead. I can only saw this leg off to prevent it from continuing to spread the rot.”

The corners of God Bai Xi’s eyes twitched as he stared at him ruthlessly. Yet when he saw his expression wasn’t faked, he said dejectedly, “If I saw it off, I will only be left with one leg. I will lose a lot of my bargaining power.”

“My medical expertise is astounding and I can attach another person’s leg to you. I have three legs here, and you can choose the one that you like. After cutting off your leg, you’ll have to nurse yourself for two days before I will be able to replace it for you,” Qin Mu said seriously.

God Bai Xi’s face flickered between dark and clear as he hesitated in making up his mind. “Do you know why I’m called Bai Xi?” he suddenly asked.

Qin Mu shook his head.

“When a white steed flits past a crack, it lasts but an instant,” God Bai Xi said with an indifferent tone. “This is talking about my speed. It is the number one in the world, and you can’t even see my silhouette before I’m already a thousand miles away. With my leg injured, how will I be able to exhibit my speed?”

Qin Mu nodded. When he had met the three gods of High Heavens, he had caught one off guard and got rid of him while God Bai Xi was the most difficult to deal with. His speed was extremely fast, and he moved to and fro like lightning. Even when Qin Mu had opened Nine Heavens Eyes Awakening Skill to the ninth layer, he still could only catch his silhouette. This was why their fight covered several thousand miles before the other’s leg got injured, crippling him.

“You can also run very fast with one leg,” Qin Mu consoled him. “Grandpa Cripple of my village also had one leg, but his speed was still unmatched in this world. Look at your spoiled leg, should I saw it off for you?”

God Bai Xi’s body trembled and he asked in a hoarse voice, “Aren’t you a divine physician? Don’t you have any methods to treat it?”

Qin Mu expression dimmed. “If it was two days ago… If I saw it off now, you will still have one leg left, but if you continue to delay, I’ll be forced to cut off everything from the waist down. But don’t you worry, Grandpa Butcher of my village was also like that when I grew up, yet he also lived pretty well. He could run very fast with his arms, and it was pretty convenient not having to pee.”

The muscles on God Bai Xi’s face twitched randomly before he gritted his teeth. “In that case, cut it off!”

Qin Mu took out Carefree Sword and passed it to him while saying apologetically. “You are a god, so I don’t have the ability to cut off your leg. It’s best you do it yourself.”

God Bai Xi gripped the hilt of the sword and wanted to make his move, but tears began to flow down from his eyes.

Qin Mu couldn’t bear to see it and was about to say something when God Bai Xi gave a loud shout and slashed down, severing his leg just below the chip!

Qin Mu was stunned. He immediately went forward to help him stop bleeding. He put away Carefree Sword and took out three legs before saying with utter sincerity, “You can choose one leg. I’m sincere in wanting to save this world from disaster, so I will definitely do all I can to attach your leg back, for you to continue to be able to flit past a crack in but an instant. Don’t worry, these three legs are all from Xing An’s collection, so they are legs of the highest quality and won’t be any inferior to your original leg. You know who Xing An is, right? A madman who loves collecting; he won’t collect any body parts that are not on the god level.”

God Bai Xi endured the pain as beads of sweat continued to roll down his forehead. His gaze fell on the three legs and he said in a hoarse voice, “How do I know if you had done anything to them? A person who is skilled in healing is also skilled in poison. If you’ve tampered with them, won’t I be tricked?”

Qin Mu looked at him with a sincere gaze.

When God Bai Xi saw it and expression, he felt slightly ashamed in his heart, but he still didn’t dare to believe. His gaze flickered before he pointed at a slightly shorter leg. “I choose that one.”

Qin Mu smiled and handed him that leg while putting away the other two. “Don’t worry, you can keep this leg. When your complexion is better two days later, I’ll come and help attack it. If I leave this leg with you, you won’t worry about me doing anything to it, right?”

God Bai Xi nodded and sighed. “I shouldn’t have doubted you. I now trust that you are a doctor who treats his patient like the parents treat their children. But I don’t need you to prescribe me any medicine to recuperate; I’ll do it myself!”

Qin Mu sneered at him. “You still don’t trust me. Oh well, if you need any spirit herbs, just instruct the divine arts practitioners outside the courtyard to fetch them. I won’t interfere.” When he was finished, he turned around to leave.

God Baixi summoned a divine arts practitioners over and wrote down a prescription for the medicine he wanted.

Outside the courtyard, Si Yunxiang’s gaze flickered, and she asked in a low voice, “Cult Master, do you want to do something to his herbs?”

“No need. Are all the spirit herbs I need here?”

“There are still a few left.”

Qin Mu went over to check and after calculating for a moment said, “These are about enough.” He took out the other two divine legs and prepared to refine poison for them.

“Cult Master, you…” Si Yunxiang cried out.

“Even if I let him keep that divine leg, he definitely won’t use it. After a few days, he will definitely make me take out these two divine legs and choose one of them.”

Qin Mu refined his poison seriously, planning to hide it in the legs. His serious expression was actually pretty terrifying. “I don’t know which leg he will use, so I might I need to prepare both of them. The poison that’s left, I plan to…”

He executed his vital qi and his hand techniques changed without end. “Find a chance to return it to Xing An! What do you think of this idea?”

Si Yunxiang shuddered, her face ashen. “Cult Master, I don’t dare to covet after the position of cult master anymore!” she said in a trembling voice.

“What nonsense are you talking about?” Qin Mu turned his head back and smiled at her. His smile of a big boy was very radiant, like sunshine, and brimming with youth.

Si Yunxiang felt her blood run cold.