Tales of Herding Gods

Qin Mu looked forward, and he saw the gray mountains and rivers. The ground was also gray, and not far away, there were black shadows that appeared and disappeared unpredictably—likely monsters that came and went like smoke in the darkness, they were hard to detect.

Some monsters even circled to the back of a gray tree to size him up sneakily.

Qin Mu heard rustling sounds beside his ears again. When those monsters closed in and the darkness flowed, there would be rustling sounds.

He walked forward, and even though there were also lifeforms such as those monsters, it seemed so desolate. However, there were trees, flowers, and even unknown monsters, so if there was just a little bit of light, it might have been different scenery altogether.

Even though the monsters were closing on him, they were still a slight distance away, and they didn’t dare to approach. It was hard for Qin Mu to see the true faces of the monsters as the area was simply too gray and dark.

Suddenly, his heart stirred. He took out a piece of beef from his taotie sack.

Swoosh—

The beef in his hand suddenly vanished as if it something gnawed away at it. Qin Mu jumped in shock, and he could only roughly make out a lump of shadow pouncing towards the beef in his hand. He didn’t even see what it was!

‘These kind of strange lifeforms are everywhere, and their speed is beyond imagination. What kind of lifeform lives in Heavenly Yin World?’

That explained why one couldn’t recklessly step into the darkness, as the monsters that were everywhere could pounce over and eat their flesh.

Far away, there were still sounds of nibbling. When Qin Mu looked towards the source of the sound, he could faintly see some monsters hiding behind a rock and eating something.

He walked forward, and those monster escaped in a fluster. He still couldn’t see what they looked like.

The sky was dark and gloomy. Qin Mu turned back and confirmed the direction he had come from, not wanting to walk back in the wrong direction. Only then did he continue forward.

Numerous whispers came from the dark, and some monsters gathered together. They seemed to be discussing something, and when they saw him coming closer, they scattered like black sand blown away by a gale.

‘Could the entire Heavenly Yin World be as gray as this, are there no other things? Is the darkness really from this place?’

Qin Mu searched about, but he couldn’t find any useful information. When he finally couldn’t resist the urge any longer, he took out the Life and Death Book to shine at one of the monsters.

The monster suddenly gave off a miserably scream, and black smoke poured out its body. The monster shriveled up and fell to the ground.

“This is…”

Qin Mu’s expression changed drastically, and he took a look in a hurry. He saw that the shriveled up monster had transformed into human skin!

Like the god he had seen in front of Heavenly Yin Boundary Stone, only skin remained!

Qin Mu was bewildered and muttered, “Could these monsters all be skins? Could there be no true monster?”

His heart was in chaos, and he didn’t know why such an unbelievable situation would appear. After thinking, he immediately walked further away and observed.

After a moment, he saw the darkness moving like sand and flowing into the skin. The monster quickly stood up again and disappeared, leaving no trace behind.

Qin Mu composed himself and suddenly turned back on his original route. He came to the front of the boundary stone and bowed. “Senior, sorry for disturbing you.”

His hands lifted the skin, and he walked into Heavenly Yin World again.

Coming to Heavenly Yin World, the human skin that was lifted by his hands suddenly took off and ran. It vanished without a trace in an instant!

‘As expected!’

Qin Mu’s heart trembled violently. The monsters weren’t truly monsters; they were just skins!

The skins didn’t have any flesh and blood, and once they were taken over by the dark substances, their speed would become unbelievably quick. Once the Life and Death Book shined on them, the dark substances would fly out, and they became empty skins.

‘Why do they have to eat flesh and blood?’

Qin Mu felt he was a little closer to the truth, but he was still way far from uncovering it entirely. ‘If I want to uncover the truth of the darkness, I will probably have to search for the secret behind Heavenly Yin World.’

He walked forward, and rustling rang out. One monster walked closer to him, and Qin Mu was slightly stunned. The monster gave him a familiar feeling.

‘It’s the god of Founding Emperor Era that had the lantern!’

The monster transformed from that god came close to him and stopped. Qin Mu closed on him, and it hurriedly escaped. However, he didn’t move far before stopping and turning his head back.

‘His speed is as fast as lightning and far surpasses mine. The reason why he’s walking and stopping is for me to follow him!’

Qin Mu’s heart stirred slightly, and he immediately increased his speed to chase the monster.

One human and one monster sprinted in a land of darkness. Whenever Qin Mu got exhausted from running too long, the monster would slow down his speed—even stopping occasionally. One human and one monster were only three hundred yards apart, and he waited quietly to let Qin Mu recover.

After walking like that for countless miles, Qin Mu suddenly saw other colors and his eyes lit up.

There were verdant hills and limpid waters, birdsong and fragrant flowers, and azure blue lakes—the air even seemed to become much fresher.

There was also a town there that had gorgeous structures and beautiful scenery. Looking from afar, he saw numerous figures of humans, and they were living prosperously. He didn’t expect Heavenly Yin World to have such a place.

When the monster walked into that valley, the grayness on his body seemed to fade away immediately, and he became a god that was full of vigor.

Qin Mu hurried forward, but he didn’t immediately step into the place. He observed his surroundings first, and when he was sure there was no danger, only then did he walk into the valley.

Gods were walking to and fro on the streets, and they were laughing and shouting. Some were even singing in high voices. It was truly the scene of a town.

“Little friend has come from afar yet we didn’t receive you, please pardon us!”

An elderly god dressed as a scholar came from afar and laughed loudly. He received Qin Mu and said with a smile, “Our small town rarely has people visiting so we have probably let you wait. Please come inside.”

Even though he looked older, he was still full of vigor, and his face was glowing. He didn’t look aged at all.

Qin Mu remained calm and said with a smile, “Elder is too courteous. Elder, what is this place? I saw Heavenly Yin World was completely gray, yet this place is full of life. There must be something special.”

“This is Cheerful Village of Heavenly Yin World, and it’s a place where immortals make joy.”

The elderly god’s voice boomed loudly, and he said with a smile, “Our place here is filled with beauties that can soothe the troubles in your heart or alleviate the exhaustion in your body; therefore people tend to forget to go home and remain here. It’s not too much to call it Cheerful Village.

As they were speaking, numerous goddesses walked out from nowhere, and they started dancing and singing. There were beautiful ones, seductive ones, sweet ones, sour ones, hot ones, and cold ones that all swept towards him. They smiled and said, “Guest from afar, coming to Cheerful Village, you naturally have to be cheerful!”

Qin Mu laughed and hugged them left and right. “Heavenly Yin World has such a relaxing and exquisite place; I would naturally have to live cheerfully. It’s just that I only have two arms, how can I hug all of you? Hahaha——”

The other goddesses also started laughing. The elderly god said with a smile, “If the esteemed guest wants to hug them all, it’s simple. Just stay here and be like us, wouldn’t that be great? Once you stay here long enough, you would be able to hug all of them once and not only can you hug, but you can also sleep with them.”

Qin Mu said with a smile, “The same as you guys? In that case wouldn’t I have to become a starved corpse?”

“Starved corpse?”

That elderly god’s expression changed drastically, and the goddess around Qin Mu also has a huge change in expression. Their expression became stern. “What starved corpse? What do you know?”

“Aren’t ghosts that died from hunger starved corpse?” Qin Mu replied with a smile.

His arms were instantly restrained by the goddesses beside him, and he couldn’t move. That elderly god sneered and said, “So you know? But it’s also too late! We are so hungry—”

The other goddesses gave off mournful laughs. “The flesh and blood on our body has all been completely eaten, so hungry—”

“So our young and esteemed guest, we can only eat you!”

“Bring him away—”

Qin Mu got lifted by the goddesses, and they headed towards the center of the town. Numerous gods came flooding over and were overjoyed as they waited for the meal to be served.

When they came to the center of the city, Qin Mu put his heart at ease, and the elder god sat down on a throne in front of the hall. Two goddesses that looked like flowers grabbed Qin Mu by the arms, and below him were tens of thousands of gods that looked starved.

The elderly god chuckled and said, “We have been trapped here for countless years, and we can only eat ourselves when we are starving. Even all of our bones are completely devoured, leaving only our skin left. Now that a living one has come, we can finally eat meat again.”

Below, the tens of thousands of gods were clapping and dancing in delight. They clamored to eat.

The elderly god smiled to Qin Mu and said, “Esteemed guest, you need not worry, after you’ve been eaten, you will become one of us. However, you will have to starve from today onwards too.”

Qin Mu said with a smile, “This is your Cheerful Village? This is how you treat your guest? No wonder you guys don’t prosper.”

“Eh, the esteemed guest is not flustered and can even joke around, could you have someone to rely on?”

The elderly god said with a smile, “However, in Heavenly Yin World, even if you have Heaven Duke backing you up, you can’t do anything. Heaven Duke can’t touch here, and Earth Count can’t come here either! You can only wait for your death, obediently!”

Qin Mu said, “Then what is going on with the darkness in Heavenly Yin World? Why would darkness leak out from Heavenly Yin World? When a person is about to die, one would get very curious, can senior satisfy the curiosity of this person who is about to die?”

The elderly god said with a smile, “Only Heavenly Yin Empress can reply to this question of yours. But you will be able to see her soon. Heavenly Yin Empress, hehehe…”

“Since you starved corpses don’t want to answer…”

Four arms grew out from Qin Mu’s armpits, and he was holding the Life and Death Book. Spreading out the book with a swoosh, he shone the book in all directions and said indifferently, “In that case, I’ll have to meet Heavenly Yin Empress myself.”

“Ah, ahh, ahhh—”

Incomparably miserable screams rang throughout the sky as countless gods held onto their faces. Black smoke poured out furiously from their orifices, and the gods that looked incomparably strong started to shrivel and turn into skins on the ground!

The two goddesses that were grabbing Qin Mu by the arm also turned into two bags of skin.

Qin Mu turned around and looked at that elderly god on the throne. He slowly walked towards him, and the body of that elderly god trembled. He hurriedly got up from his throne and stared at the Life and Death Book in his hands.

“Mingdu’s Life and Death Book… This is Mingdu’s Life and Death Book!”

He continued to move back while muttering to himself, “What you are using is the divine art of Crimson Light Era. Your six arms…”

Qin Mu walked forward and sat on the throne with a smile. “Not bad. You still have some judgment, looks like after you’ve become a starved corpse, you still preserved some memories of your past. In that case, can you tell me how Heavenly Yin World had turned into such a stage now? Also, what’s up with Heavenly Yin Empress? Does this Heavenly Yin World have any relationship with Mingdu?”