Tales of Herding Gods

“Earth Count, you still know what morality is!”

Qin Mu was rather indignant, he just didn’t dare to say it.

The battle of Youdu was clearly Earth Count planning to use his hands to clean up the power of the celestial heavens in Youdu. Because his parents were both in Youdu and Earth Count treated his parents well, he had to do this favor for Earth Count.

Yet from the looks of it now, other than taking the blame from the celestial heavens, there was more blame here with Mother Earth waiting for him.

In the battle of Youdu Jade Lock Pass, the Son of Mother Earth who died in his hands should be Yan Jiuxi. In that battle, Yan Jiuxi seemed to mention he had the bloodline of Mother Earth, that he was the son of Mother Earth.

Furthermore, the divine art that Yan Jiuxi mastered was the magnetism divine art.

Even though his magnetism divine art wasn’t as exquisite as Granny Si, it was still extraordinary. He forced Qin Mu to have no choice but to use the Great Dao of Heavenly Fire to solve it.

Yan Jiuxi’s end was to be eaten by Qin Fengqing.

However, since Mother Earth was already dead, there was no need for him to worry.

“The primordial spirits that big brother has eaten are countless, there is still god knows how much blame waiting for me.”

Qin Mu thought to himself, ‘Granny Si executed the great divine art of magnetism, which resulted in the Primordial Realm resurfacing, so is Mother Earth really dead? Why would the magnetism divine art activate the changes here?’

The Great Ruins was like a folded fan.

And now the fan was opened up.

The folded fan was like the Great Ruins, and the fan that was opened up was the Mother Earth Primordial Realm.

Why would the Mother Earth Primordial Realm be folded up into the Great Ruins, and why would it be opened up now?

Who was the one that folded such a vast world like the Mother Earth Primordial Realm into the Great Ruins?

Why were magnetism divine arts basically extinct after Mother Earth died?

Could someone have killed all divine arts practitioners that cultivated magnetism divine arts?

‘The only remaining magnetism divine arts in this world are left in the Great Educational Heavenly Devil Scriptures. Furthermore, there’s only a few of them which don’t form any system. This was the reason why I had the idea to create magnetism runes.’

Qin Mu thought to himself, ‘So who is it that erased magnetism divine arts? Could the ones that erased magnetism divine arts be the same group of people that killed Mother Earth? Granny Si just used magnetism divine arts, and the Primordial Realm was opened up. Could this be Mother Earth leaving a method behind to ensure her revival?’

He pulled back his consciousness and looked around. The Primordial Realm was becoming wider and wider now, and Eternal Peace, which was far away, couldn’t be seen anymore. Even the South Sea couldn’t be seen anymore.

The expansion of the Great Ruins gradually slowed down, and in the distance, clouds surrounded magnificent peaks.

“If such an astonishing transformation happened in the Great Ruins, would Eternal Peace have such a transformation as well?” asked Granny Si.

Everyone felt apprehensive. If Eternal Peace also became so vast, every city would be extremely far from one another, and in an instant, the rules of the Eternal Peace Imperial Court would fall to its lowest.

When the control over every land becomes low, this was the forewarning of the collapse of an empire.

Eternal Peace Empire was originally ruling over the prairie of West Earth and the icy plains of the north, but now, it was hard to say.

Everyone’s hearts were heavy.

“The most crucial thing is still the safety of the people.”

Qin Mu said solemnly, “The huge change in the Great Ruins has turned it into the Primordial Realm, and numerous places are spewing out multicolored sunlight that is left behind by divine arts. If people accidentally venture into those places, there will be a great number of casualties. The Great Ruins now is filled with danger, so we have to warn the people in the Great Ruins!”

Everyone nodded their heads. Now wasn’t the time to worry about Eternal Peace, the safety of the people in the Great Ruins was more important.

“True God Pang Yu, may I trouble you to dispatch the divine arts practitioners and gods of Supreme Emperor Heaven to each and every land to warn the people living there.”

Qin Mu said, “Everyone else can also head to each and every land and ensure every city and every village is informed.”

True God Pang Yu said, “Don’t worry, I’ll go right away!”

He was about to head to the god city of Supreme Emperor Heaven when a dull and astonishing roar came from the wilds of the Primordial Realm. True God Pang Yu stopped in his steps and looked over.

Among the boundless mountains, a huge beast could faintly be seen among the mountains, revealing its large, green back.

Everyone was astonished, and Honored God Sang Ye muttered, “What is that thing? Such a huge body…”

Qin Mu’s heart trembled, and he let out a shaky breath. “Half-god.”

Everyone didn’t know what he meant, and all of them looked at him. “What’s a half-god? Is it a fake god?”

Qin Mu said solemnly, “These half-gods are extremely dangerous, they are the children of ancient gods, and they possess ancient bloodlines, we must be careful! You guys have to be careful too. After the seal of the Great Ruins was activated and it turned into the Primordial Realm, I’m afraid many half-gods might have survived.”

Sang Ye was puzzled. “What are ancient gods?”

Qin Mu explained and said, “Ancient gods are like natural-born sacred gods like Heaven Duke, Earth Count, and Mother Earth. Half-gods are their offspring, and they are like the dragon qilin who is also considered a half-god. They grow stronger as they grow older. These half-gods rely on the power of their bloodline, but they can also cultivate like we do. Moreover, after they cultivate, they would be even stronger, so you must be careful!”

True God Pang Yu shouted loudly, “Soldiers of Supreme Emperor Heaven, follow me!”

He brought everyone to leave, and Xu Shenghua said, “I need to make a trip back to West Earth and see if it’s safe there.”

Qin Mu nodded his head and said, “You might need to spend one to two years or even longer to reach West Earth, you must be careful on your journey.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t die in the hands of half-gods if I haven’t died in your hands.” Xu Shenghua hurried away.

Granny Si brought numerous scholars of Heavenly Saint Academy over to pack up their luggage. “Mu’er, I’ll be going with these scholars to inform the villages of the West Great Ruins, you need to be more careful.”

Qin Mu said, “Granny, don’t worry. You head west, and I’ll head east. Also, don’t release your primordial spirit to contact Eternal Peace. There are too many battlefields in the Primordial Realm, and there’s danger everywhere. Half-gods have also surfaced, so be careful of hurting your primordial spirit.”

“Rascal, starting to lecture me now.”

Granny Si led everyone to leave, and she said with a smile, “You are still taught by me, which schemes and plans weren’t taught by granny?”

Qin Mu saw them off, and he thought to himself, ‘I should go to the Bullfighting Realm and find Martial Arts Heavenly Teacher. I need to invite the martial arts practitioners of Bullfighting World to help, and only then can I inform the people of the Great Ruins faster.’

He altered his direction, and he brought Celestial Venerable Yu to walk down Supreme Emperor Heaven as he sprinted straight for that little mountain village. ‘I wonder if Bullfighting World got thrown out or not…’

When the Great Ruins underwent the huge change, the worlds flew out of the broken cliff, and these worlds were thrown into the sky by the divine power of magnetism when the Primordial Realm broke through its seal.

Bullfighting World was also a world which was forged by the Bullfighting Celestial Palace. Martial Arts Heavenly Teacher had hidden this world in the Great Ruins, and it might have also been thrown into the sky.

“Big Brother Mu, slow down.” Celestial Venerable Yu panted heavily as he followed behind him.

Qin Mu’s vital qi circulated, and he used some magic power to lift up Celestial Venerable Yu before increasing his speed.

His cultivation was dense now, so it wasn’t too much of an effort to lift up Celestial Venerable Yu.

Qin Mu sprinted the whole way, and it was as if he had entered a primitive forest that was completely unfamiliar to him. There were towering mountains all around him, and even the trees were abnormally huge. They were much taller and larger than the trees in the Great Ruins.

There were numerous unsolved secrets hidden in the Primordial Realm, and it was like a completely unfamiliar world to him. However, even with dangers lying everywhere, he still had to barge in.

The Great Ruins was where he grew up, and the people in the Great Ruins were his family.

Qin Mu didn’t know how far he ran before he slowed down and looked at the mountain in front of them. Lumps of multicolored sunlight gradually rose from the mountains, and looking at them with Jade Heaven Divine Eyes, he saw that those rays of multicolored sunlight were some extremely dangerous divine arts.

‘Take a detour!’

Qin Mu immediately made a decision and took a detour around the foot of the mountain. When he came to the shadow of the mountain, he was stunned. He only saw an ancient and vast battlefield in front of his eyes. Countless rays of multicolored sunlight were like the smoke from the fire of war spread throughout the entire battlefield. They were hidden between the dilapidated walls and broken fences, looking gorgeous, eye-catching, and extremely charming.

Qin Mu composed himself and flew into the sky. After flying over a dozen miles, he looked down and saw that this ancient battlefield was very long. However, it wasn’t as wide as he had expected. There was only a distance of a thousand miles.

‘Fly across it through the sky?’

Qin Mu examined the sky above the battlefield, and the sky looked very clean. Just as he was about to fly through, a golden-colored bird flew across his head and flapped its wings forward.

That golden bird flew over ten miles when it suddenly split into pieces. It transformed into pieces of meat that fell from the sky.

Next, those pieces of meat continuously split apart as they fell from the sky. They turned into cubes of meat.

When the cubes of meat fell, they became smaller and smaller. When they landed on the ground, they were already too small to be seen clearly.

Qin Mu was astonished, and the third eye in the heart of his brows opened up. Three of his divine eyes looked up into the sky, and only then did he see the black lines above this ancient battlefield. The lines stretched out in all directions and looked like spiderwebs that were hard to detect. They formed messy nets in the sky.

‘Cracks in space!’

Qin Mu’s scalp turned numb. When flying from the sky, it was very difficult to notice these cracks in space that had no thickness at all. If he had flown over, he would have ended up like that golden bird.

‘The distance of a thousand miles doesn’t take long to walk over, but if I’m to take a detour, that will take up too much time.’

He landed down and said to Celestial Venerable Yu, “Follow me, don’t wander off.”

Celestial Venerable Yu could also see the danger and nodded his head repeatedly.

Both of them delved deep into this ancient battlefield only to see will-o’-the-wisps rising from white bones to float around. Qin Mu avoided the multicolored sunlight and the will-o’-the-wisps. He used his vital qi to execute his sword pellet to roll in front of them, testing out if there was any danger.

This road was safe, and after walking a hundred miles, a dilapidated city appeared in front of them.

They came to the front of the city, and they could faintly hear the sounds of a zither coming from the city. The sounds of the zither seemed to be whimpering like a young girl lamenting about her sorrowful past.

Qin Mu’s scalp crawled. This ancient battlefield was covered with white skeletons, so why would there be the sound of zither?

There were several stone tablets that had collapsed in front of the city gate. The cracks on the stone tablets were fresh, and Qin Mu shushed Celestial Venerable Yu. He carefully pushed away the rubble on the stone tablet, and on it was the record of a battle.

“High Emperor Seventy-Two Halls, Phoenix Hall, Hall Master Qi Xiayu, slew Red Deity Yan Qianzhong of the extraterritorial celestial heavens here!”

Beside this stone tablet was another broken stone tablet, and it recorded another war. Qin Mu read, and on it was recorded that Crown Prince seized Qi Xiayu here and Qi Xiayu surrendered. The crown prince conferred her as the new Southern Heaven Red Deity and erected this stone tablet to commemorate his merit.

‘This zither…’

Qin Mu was slightly stunned, and he cried out, “Could it be Red Deity Qi Xiayu’s zither? No wonder it’s slightly familiar! Didn’t she go chasing after Sakra Buddha? Could Sakra Buddha have come to the Great Ruins too?”

Just as he thought until here, a female voice rang out. “Phoenix Hall Master Qi Xiayu!”

Qin Mu was stunned. ‘This voice seems slightly familiar…’

As he thought until here, the sounds of the zither stopped, and multicolored sunlight rose. Countless rays of sunlight shrouded a majestic phoenix ship as it flew up. The two phoenix wings at the side flapped and raised terrifying gales and sandstorm.

“Phoenix Hall Master, don’t go! Bai Qu’er of Hundred Prosperities City seeks an audience!” The other voice in the city rang out.

Qin Mu’s mind was blown, and he stared dumbfoundedly. He stood there in a daze as he saw the phoenix ship breaking through the air. Behind the phoenix ship, a girl soared through the sky with a divine sword in her hands. She broke through the cracks in space, and her body trembled as she transformed into a white dragon to chase after the phoenix ship!

“Bai Qu’er of Hundred Prosperities City…”

Qin Mu looked at that white dragon moving away, and he muttered, “She’s still alive, she’s still alive… She has also come to the Great Ruins!”

He couldn’t help remember that night forty-thousand years ago when he, the dragon qilin, the chest, and Pangong Tso had escorted the people of Hundred Prosperities City to head east.

Bai Qu’er was slightly weak, but she was unbending. She brought the last people of the High Emperor Era to find a path of survival through difficulties.

When the sun rose, Qin Mu and the rest transformed into black sand and faded along with the darkness, leaving only that young girl to protect the helpless mortals.

How did she live through these forty thousand years?

“The debt of love is hard to experience, so why become a monk?”

Another faint voice came from the city as though lamenting at oneself. “Time is like a song, the path is never ending, and the love last forever.”