Tales of Herding Gods

Even though He Yiyi said she didn’t care about being first or third, she couldn’t deny her own curiosity. In West Earth, she was known as Formation Master, the number one in formation skills. However, she didn’t dare to insist that she was number one in the whole world.

However, being the number one for so many years, she still had her competitive side.

As the cult master of Heavenly Devil Cult, Qin Mu was more experienced and knowledgeable, so she wanted to learn who were the number one and number two in his eyes.

“Sister Yiyi may not know it, but I’m from Great Ruins’ number one family in formation skills.” Qin Mu’s expression was sincere when he said that. “The number one in formation skills in the whole world is none other than my Grandpa Blind.”

He Yiyi stared at him with black eyes. He was from Great Ruins’ number one family in formation skills?

The number one in formations was a blind man?

“Does Cult Master Qin have some misunderstandings regarding formation skills?” He Yiyi asked calmly. “Formation skills walk the path of algebra, and the simplest is the Palace of Nine Halls. Kan, Kun, Zhen, Xun, Zhong, Qian, Dui, Gen, and Li represent the nine numbers which are not repeated, and their sum is forty-five.

“Slightly harder than this would be the eight trigrams, changing from octal system to base64 one, which results in endless transformations. Beyond that would be the five elements. Five Elements Eight Trigrams have the quinary system, octal system, and base64.

“The even harder taiji and wuji diagrams have no end to their circumference, but no matter how exquisite the calculations are, there will still be flaws. So what attainments can a blind man have in algebra?”

“Sister, look into my eyes,” Qin Mu said solemnly

He Yiyi didn’t know what he meant, but carefully observed his pupils. Her mind trembled when she did it.

She saw formation markings gradually forming in the eyes of the boy before her, transforming into the first heaven. The mathematical transformation within its formations intoxicated her.

But before she could even comprehend it, the second heaven formed, and its mathematical transformation was even more complicated and profound.

Next, it was the third heaven, fourth heaven, and only when it came to the fifth heaven, Bright Heaven’s Eyes, did the formation skills in Qin Mu’s eyes paused.

The first heaven of the first layer alone contained attainments in algebra that could be acclaimed as the peak of perfection!

Qin Mu’s current cultivation was only able to execute Nine Heavens Eye Awakening Skill, but the transformations in his eyes had not yet stopped. A sun and stars were born within them. The stars formed into the Milky Way, revolving around the sun at the back.

In the main hall, the hundred heads of the influential families looked at each other in dismay.

He Yiyi had almost stuck her face to that of Qin Mu. The two of them looked each other in the eyes as though they were lovers that could not turn their passionate gazes away from one another.

“Cough cough!”

A white-haired old woman finally gave a few coughs to remind their city lord of her decorum.

He Yiyi came back to her senses at that moment, and her face went beet red. She immediately stepped back and said firmly, “This Grandpa Blind can indeed be known as the number one formation expert in this world. I’m ashamed for being inferior.”

Qin Mu’s face was also slightly red. He Yiyi closeness had made his heart race.

“In the past, when I learned eye awakening skills from Grandpa Blind, I didn’t seek to understand the transformation of the formations. Grandpa Blind’s divine eyes can see through all fabrications, space, formations, and transformations in techniques. Only after I learned Dao Sect’s algebra did I understand the mathematical transformation within them.

“Dao Sect uses algebra to understand all things in the world and how the universe operates, so the reason why Grandpa Blind’s divine eyes can see through everything is because algebra is the truth of this universe. Thus, I came to understand that Grandpa Blind was the number one person in formation skills.”

He Yiyi suppressed all other thoughts and said firmly, “If he wanted to break the formation of my Bamboo City, it’d be easy for him; he deserves the reputation of number one. Then who is the number two expert in the world?”

Qin Mu smiled at her with some embarrassment.

He Yiyi stared at him with her black eyes wide open, then cried out, “You are the number two formation expert?”

Qin Mu blushed as he said, “I didn’t dare to call myself number two at first, but after seeing Sister Yiyi’s formation skills, I feel I can still be number two.”

Rage boiled in He Yiyi’s heart, but she gritted her teeth. With a smile, she said, “I don’t dare to fight for number one spot, but I’m not willing to accept being relegated to number three. Cult Master Qin proclaimed that he is number three in poisoning and defeated Mu Yingxue, making that girl personally admit that her poison is only number four in the world.

“Now that you proclaim your formation skills to be number two as well, isn’t that a little weird? Let us have a duel.”

“What kind of duel?” Qin Mu asked with interest.

He Yiyi muttered to herself irresolutely for a moment before smiling at him. “It’ll still be about this Bamboo City. You will be outside and I will be inside, standing here motionless. If you will be able to enter the city and find me, I will admit that I’m lower than you and accept being number three.

“Not only that, from today onward, He Family and its people will take you as our only guide. If you’ll want to support Nai Kui to retake her position of the palace master, my He Family will give all of its support to you!”

Qin Mu laughed loudly and turned around to walk out of the city.

In the hall, the hundred strongest practitioners of Bamboo City looked at one another in dismay. An old woman was about to say something, but He Yiyi waved a hand at her. “No need to say anything else. I will take this chance to observe Eternal Peace’s attainments in formation skills.

“If my formation is broken, Bamboo City will also fall when Eternal Peace invades later on, so why don’t we submit to it in advance. If Cult Master Qin can’t break my formation skill, we can still fight when the day of reckoning comes. Fall back. Cult Master Qin and I will have a duel to determine the fate of Bamboo City, and maybe even the fate of West Earth!”

Everyone could only retread from Bamboo City.

The city gate was left wide open.

Qin Mu had the dragon qilin bring out Xiong Qi’er. He then walked into the city, and it suddenly changed. All the buildings sank into the ground and vanished without a trace. Chunks of rocks rose into midair, evolving into formations.

The appearance of Bamboo City changed tremendously, and in the other people’s eyes, it was just weird things happening as rocks began shifting in the air. Most people would find it hard to understand the changes in formation from the moving rocks, but Qin Mu understood them, and in his eyes, they were magnificent and diverse.

Every movement of the rocks gave him an incomparably pleasant impression. Each and every rune was linked, and the infrastructure intertwined, presenting a pleasant sight to him.

No matter if it were barriers or killing formations, they were all mathematical reasonings.

Formation markings appeared in Qin Mu’s pupils, and he walked swiftly forward. Sometimes he would stop and raise his brush to change the formation markings, while at other times, he would move a step forward or stumble three steps back like a drunkard. There were also times when springs seemed to have been attached to the bottom of his feet, allowing him to jump here and there among the moving stones.

He seemed to be flying gracefully as he passed through some barriers and like he was barging through with brute force at others. Just as it looked like he was risking his life to hit a barrier, the stone wall would suddenly split open before he crashed into it, allowing him to pass.

As he wandered unhurriedly while solving the difficult algebra questions, he got closer and closer to the center of Bamboo City.

Everything within it was transforming, and even the main hall they were in had broken down and vanished. The only thing that didn’t change was He Yiyi’s location.

She stood quietly on a stone pillar and didn’t move. She was executing various transformations of Bamboo City and changing all kinds of formations to stop Qin Mu.

However, their situation was different from the previous time. Qin Mu had been ambushed at that time and trapped in the city, so it wasn’t considered fair.

Now that he was barging through the formation at his own speed, it tested whose attainments in formation skills were superior.

After some time, He Yiyi saw Qin Mu’s figure getting close and couldn’t help growing nervous. She frantically mobilized the huge stones to lay out a new formation, but Qin Mu was still closing in at a steady pace.

Where He Yiyi stood was the center of Bamboo City, and it was also the eye of the formation in Bamboo City. Qin Mu was only thirty yards away from it, and the last layer of formation might not be able to block him.

He Yiyi suddenly gritted her teeth, and Bamboo City suddenly trembled. The formation skills before her were activated, and it became an absolutely fatal situation. The killing formations linked together and their power multiplied like crazy as they rushed toward He Yiyi’s location!

She activated the last resort formation which disregarded the concepts of friend and foe. No matter if it was Qin Mu or her, both of them would be swallowed by the killing formation!

As Formation Master of West Earth, He Yiyi had inherited the honor of He Family and couldn’t allow her family’s reputation to be harmed. With the title of number one in formation skills lost, no matter if it was death that would welcome her, she had to protect the honor of He Family!

Qin Mu’s expression changed slightly, and he came to He Yiyi’s side before the fatal formation could reach them. Grabbing her waist with one hand, he raised a brush and painted in the air with the other hand.

He Yiyi closed her eyes as the killing formation came rushing over to swallow both of them!

When nothing happened, she opened her eyes and saw that they were not in Bamboo City anymore. Instead, they were hidden in the depths of its space. However, when the absolutely fatal formation skills exploded, they tore through the world in the painting and rushed over toward them.

The world in the painting in which the two resided at that moment was about to crumble and be destroyed.

With a solemn face, Qin Mu’s brush moved like dragons and snakes, possessing myriads of changes. Suddenly, He Yiyi felt a force around her waist, and she was pulled into another painting.

They rushed inside it, and He Yiyi saw beautiful mountains and rivers with flowers blooming romantically. The scenery was extremely pleasant to the eye.

Yet the next moment, the killing formation of Bamboo City crushed that world, and power that could destroy everything rolled toward them.

“You aren’t using formation skills to solve my formation skills.” He Yiyi looked sternly and seriously at this boy beside her. “Even if you escape the killing formation of Bamboo City, I won’t admit defeat.”

“You are number two in formation skills, and I’ll just not fight with you. Will that do?”

Qin Mu laughed loudly and splashed his ink like a scholar indulging himself, writing words everywhere. Before Bamboo City’s deadliest formation skill could destroy their world in the painting, he brought He Yiyi into the next world.

Resplendent stars occupied the sky there. They were like glowing gems, lighting up the darkness.

Qin Mu brought He Yiyi onto the stars and began sprinting through the starry sky. His brush didn’t stop for a moment, and he drew the Milky Way. Behind them was the absolutely fatal formation skill, but ignoring it they jumped into the river and floated far away.

The Milky Way went downstream, and Qin Mu held onto He Yiyi’s waist tightly to prevent her from being washed away.

When she finally managed to find her feet, she was still in a daze. She saw Qin Mu swinging his brush around and pulling her closer as he jumped onto a newly drawn celestial horse.

It sprinted out from the painting and became a reality. It galloped while its wings flapped to increase its speed, and they left the killing formation quite a distance away.

Qin Mu raised his brush once again and splashed the ink as much as he liked. A door appeared in front of them, and when it opened, bright rays shone from the other place. The celestial horse carried rushed to the door. He Yiyi was stunned when she realized that they were on a mountain peak outside of Bamboo City.

While still holding her by the waist, Qin Mu jumped off the celestial horse. It flapped its wings and raised its front legs to give a cry before transforming back into ink that fell onto the ground.

From the distance, numerous heads of the influential families of Bamboo City hurried over to their side.

An elder was about to say something when He Yiyi smiled and spoke in a gentle tone. “I lost; Cult Master Qin’s formation skills are number two in the world. My He Family and everyone in Bamboo City will follow him with all our hearts!”

Qin Mu looked at her with bewilderment.

In He Yiyi’s eyes, a trace of tender emotions could be seen brewing, and her gaze was like clear autumn water.