Tales of Herding Gods

“Now then I know the aspiration and abilities of Wen Yuan far surpasses those of us, the cult masters.” In the back garden of Hall of Wen Yuan, the previous cult masters all stood up and Si Yuanwei sighed ruefully. She suddenly remembered something and asked, “Why did I take you in as a disciple back then? I suddenly feel that my judgment was actually so good!”

The young patriarch blushed and said, “When master took me in as a disciple, you said I looked pretty and my aptitude was good. Of course, that important part was that I was pretty.”

Qin Mu examined his surroundings, and the people around him were all handsome men and pretty women. The past cult masters of Heavenly Devil Cult, including the young patriarch, none of them looked angry at the words.

Si Yuanwei blushed slightly while smiling. “I remember now. I took you in as a disciple with a plan to use you to break my Dao heart with the affairs between man and woman. My Great Educational Heavenly Devil Scripture mainly cultivated the heart, and I had broken my master’s Dao heart, this way taking the position of the cult master.

“I needed a person who could break my Dao heart. Without destruction there can be no construction. If you could break my Dao heart, you would become the cult master. If you couldn’t, I would be able to take another step forward and might just become a god or devil. However, since I kept putting my guard against you, Cult Master Yu Lian managed to take advantage of my inattention in regards to him and assassinated me.”

Cult Master Yu Lian sounded pleased with himself as he said, “Master only guarded against your affection for little junior brother, but you didn’t know it’s hard to guard against an attack by a hidden enemy. How old was little junior brother then? You kept being concerned about it, but if you didn’t have such thoughts and had guarded against me more, little junior brother might have become the sacred cult master.”

Qin Mu pondered over it. The devil in Heavenly Devil Cult’s name could probably be related to this continued tradition between masters and their disciples.

This kind of style of master letting the disciple assassinate oneself couldn’t not be called evil. It was like Li Tianxing. When he was assassinated by Granny Si, she was only on Celestial Being Realm, so she absolutely couldn’t have used her true strength to kill Li Tianxing who was already on Divine Bridge Realm.

Yet Li Tianxing had given her this chance.

The fights between masters and disciples of Heavenly Devil Cult should have originated from Founding Master whose motive was to make one generation stronger than the previous one, so he had established the rule that when a disciple defeated their master, they could become Heavenly Devil Cult Master.

However, this kind of rule had gradually changed. With the strangeness of Great Educational Heavenly Devil Scriptures, it was easy to give birth to the devil nature. As a result, the rule that looked very good on paper had gradually changed to what it was now.

The young patriarch smiled and said, “If I had become the sacred cult master, I would most likely have become like everyone, worrying about the benefits of Heavenly Saint Cult and not the people of the world. Not being the cult master had instead made me whole.”

All the past cult master nodded in agreement.

“As for Cult Master Qin…” Si Yuanwei turned to look at Qin Mu and stood silent for a moment. “We won’t argue about how your position of the cult master wasn’t attained properly. After you’ve become the cult master, you’ve done well, but if it was us, we could have also done well.”

Qin Mu was humble. “This is natural. All the previous cult masters are dragons and phoenixes among humans, so if you were in my position, you would definitely do even better than me. It’s just that when you guys were in my position, you guys did nothing.”

The faces of all the past cult master twitched, and their expressions flickered between dark and clear as they fought back the urge to get rid of him.

The brat was fearless, but he was the sacred cult master too. He carried the important responsibility of passing down his position and the teachings on the rock, so if they got rid of him, Heavenly Devil Cult would be finished.

“I was impolite just now, since I felt indignant that seniors are using wrong and outdated rules to limit the later generation, so I offended all of you. I hereby apologize to all the past cult masters,” Qin Mu said.

The expressions of the cult masters softened, and Cult Master Zu Yang immediately helped him up with a smile. “Little Cult Master Qin has done what we didn’t do, and that makes us admire you endlessly. Among the past cult masters, even if you can’t rank in the top three, you could still rank in the top five. People say everything is empty after death, and we won’t bear any grudge just because of a small quarrel.”

Cult Master Hu Jun smiled and said, “Other than admiring your attainments in cultivation, we are more worried that after you go back, you won’t let the cult followers burn offering for us every new year and festive occasions!”

“You’re right, extremely right!”

Everyone laughed and said, “We don’t want to become like those poverty-stricken people from Hall of Human Emperor. They don’t even have a person to burn offerings for them!”

“The current human emperor of Hall of Human Emperor is really unfilial, not giving any offering every new year and on festive occasions. Look at how glorious the human emperors were when they were alive and look at how poor they are now. How are they like us, glorious when we are alive and glorious even after death!”

Everyone laughed loudly, and the young patriarch also gave a few chuckles. But he then suddenly remembered Qin Mu and immediately glanced at him.

Qin Mu also gave a few dry laughs. Luckily he had no face now, or he would have definitely blushed.

The past cult masters of Heavenly Devil Cult didn’t know his other identity was the current human emperor and that the past human emperors were so poor because he didn’t give any offerings.

‘After returning to Eternal Peace, I must take a trip to Hall of Human Emperors and allow the past human emperors live wealthily. They can’t be too poor!’ He set a new resolve in his heart.

“Cult Master Qin,” the young patriarch said with a righteous expression. “You have come to meet me so what are you going to do after returning to the world of the living?”

Everyone’s laughs stopped, and they all looked at him to see how he would answer.

Qin Mu was solemn for a moment before smiling. “After returning to Eternal Peace Empire, I will first open roads.”

“Open roads?” The young patriarch frowned and said, “It’s true that the traffic and roads make it convenient for the people to travel, but the cost is also great. Eternal Peace Empire has gone through numerous battles and the treasury is empty. You regard the lives of people as important, so why would you open the roads first? The roads of Eternal Peace Empire are already good, so if you open more now, won’t it be a waste of manpower and resources?”

Qin Mu sighed ruefully. “This is because I’ve just conquered West Earth!”

The young patriarch heart trembled violently, and he cried out, “You led the army to invade West Earth? How big was the army you brought? West Earth is so huge, so how did you conquer it?”

The hearts of the other cult masters also trembled violently as they found it unbelievable.

“By myself, along with the dragon qilin and Xiong Qi’er, I conquered West Earth.” Qin Mu smiled lightly. “West Earth has already joined Eternal Peace, but the distance from it to Middle Earth is a hundred thousand miles. If the whip can’t reach, the emperor can’t control it, as they say. West Earth will know its place for a short period of time, but with the roads long and unpaved, as time goes on, West Earth will definitely grow chaotic, so what I want to do is to open traffic between West Earth and Middle Earth!”

The young patriarch and the past cult masters couldn’t believe his words, and they held their foreheads while walking around. Suddenly, a previous cult master stopped and asked solemnly, “West Earth and Middle Earth have a Great Ruins and a flaming desert between them. The closest distance is ten thousand miles! You want to open up a road that’s a hundred thousand miles?”

“Not one, my plan is two roads. Two avenues that have to be incomparably flat for carriages and horses to pass at the greatest speed. The fastest rider should be able to cover those ten thousand miles on a strange beast in a day and night!”

“Wrong!” that cult master shouted out sternly. “Do you have that much money? Does Eternal Peace Empire have that much money? Paving the roads needs money and divine arts; it takes human lives! Even though my sacred cult has Heavenly Works Hall, but if you have them pave the road, then not only tons of money would be spent, many of our Heavenly Works Hall’s disciples would die of exhaustion!”

Qin Mu shook his head. “No. When in West Earth, I’ve seen the roads there, and they are much more advanced than those of Eternal Peace. The divine arts of True Heaven Palace can be used to pave the road, and I have good relations with the influential families of West Earth so I can ask True Heaven Palace Master to lead the divine arts practitioners of West Earth to pave the road. They can pave a thousand miles in a day, so the road of a hundred thousand miles will only need a hundred days. The cost won’t be too high.”

The eyes of the previous cult master lit up, and he smiled. He then took a step back. The other cult masters were still circling around Qin Mu when Si Yuanwei suddenly stopped. “What about the flaming desert? It is tens of thousands of miles wide, and it’s so dry that there’s no water at all. If you open the roads and they get covered by sand, they will be completely useless! When that time comes, the people on the path will grow exhausted and distressed, and will die there!”

“When Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor killed True Heaven Old Mother, the flaming desert went out, and only Black Tortoise Bead is required to draw the water to irrigate the desert. Green Dragon Bead can be used to grow vegetation and turn the desert into a forest. The plains on the north have snow mountains which could be used for streams. I’ll draw it from there and create lakes in the desert, solving the irrigation problem!”

Si Yuanwei revealed a smile and also backed off.

Another cult master then stopped to ask, “The closest path is through Great Ruins. It is peaceful during the day, but when night comes, monsters and the darkness invade. How will you protect the traffic?”

“I cannot ensure it, but I can shift stone statues and gather them to defend against the darkness. There will be a town every thousand miles, and a city every ten thousand miles. The cities and the towns will be between the two roads for travelers to have a place to rest their feet. With these cities and towns, goods will come to and fro between West Earth, Great Ruins, and Middle Earth. As a result, trade and commerce will definitely prosper.”

“You still haven’t explained how you’ll solve the issue of money!”

“Once the roads are open and the trade and commerce come and go, the money will naturally pour in!”

“Great Ruins isn’t a level road and there are many strange and bizarre incidents. How can you level the mountains and rivers?”

“Cut into a mountain when meeting a mountain, build a bridge when meeting a river, and pay respect to a god when meeting a god!”

“How wide is the avenue?”

“A hundred and eight yards wide, eight tracks for carriages and four tracks for soldiers.”

“The width of the vehicles and horses tracks in West Earth are different from those in Eternal Peace. How will you ensure smooth traffic on the tracks?”

“In that case, make the tracks similar!”

“The local conditions and customs of West Earth and Eternal Peace are different. What will you do?”

“I’ll make them the same then!”

“The writings are different and the divine arts are different, so what will you do?”

“In that case, spread the same writing system and open up education!”

…

Suddenly, the twenty-eight past cult masters laughed in unison, and they bowed toward Qin Mu. “Cult Master can also be called a saint! You are worthy of the title of the sacred cult master! We tested you on behalf of Cult Master Li, and you’ve passed!”

Qin Mu returned their greeting and said sincerely, “Much thanks to all the cult masters for asking me questions and enlightening me! After returning to the world of the living, I will have the way to carry out the reform. If the reform succeeds to some extent and turns the heavenly moat into thoroughfare, all of you will have the most important merit!”

Everyone laughed loudly and stood up.

The young patriarch was also happy for them. Qin Mu had had a falling out with the past cult masters at first, but now all the grudges were wiped away. And he was glad for it.

Suddenly, Bird-Headed God Chi Xiu’s voice reached them. “Cult Master Qin, King Yama wants to punish you personally. Won’t you come out?”