Tales of Herding Gods

Qin Mu’s heartbeat was furious as though a giant was beating battle drums furiously. His qi and blood were fluctuating violently, and the qi and blood around his body started to flourish. They gave off loud sounds of waves surging.

“Mother Earth might not know, but this spell of mine needs me to forcefully raise my qi and blood, only then can the power of my spell be raised to the most optimal state!”

Qin Mu’s body bulged up and became taller and taller. His aura also became stronger and stronger. “This spell exhausts the body extremely, and I almost tired myself to death when I tried to revive Goddess of Heavenly Yin. After the incident, Goddess of Heavenly Yin felt guilty, and she gifted me many treasures to make it up to me.”

The woman in the light understood his intention and said with a smile, “Don’t worry, I won’t be any more stingy than Goddess of Heavenly Yin. How much did Goddess of Heavenly Yin give you? I’ll give ten times that amount.”

Qin Mu was overjoyed and started to execute Soul Guide with all his power, however, he was crying bitterly to himself.

He had originally thought that Mother Earth had died in the hands of the extraterritorial celestial heavens, so it was nothing much to revive her. By creating another enemy for the extraterritorial celestial heavens, Eternal Peace could work with Mother Earth, and it would be beneficial to Eternal Peace’s current circumstances as well.

However, Mother Earth had died in the hands of the Heaven Alliance!

The Heaven Alliance was naturally not the Heaven Alliance in Eternal Peace.

It was the one Qin Mu had single-handedly created in the Dragon Han Era a million years ago!

When Qin Mu had gone back in time, he had talked about the Heaven Alliance with Celestial Venerable Ling. Back then, there were only three people that had joined the Heaven Alliance, it was Qin Mu, Founding Emperor, and Celestial Venerable Ling!

As for how the Heaven Alliance had developed afterward, Qin Mu didn’t know.

From the looks of it now, the Heaven Alliance seemed to have lived on through the Dragon Han Era, and they weren’t wiped out by the extraterritorial celestial heavens for the next few eras. Instead, they grew stronger and stronger until they killed Mother Earth when it came to the High Emperor Era!

He didn’t know why the Heaven Alliance wanted to kill Mother Earth, and he wasn’t clear about all of the grudges within. If he were to revive Mother Earth, how would it affect the Heaven Alliance?

Was the current Heaven Alliance still the Heaven Alliance he had created back then?

Did the Heaven Alliance change in the past million years? Or did it still preserve his first wish when he had founded the Heaven Alliance?

The very first wish when he created the Heaven Alliance was to gather all of the talents and righteous people of the lowly race so they could fight for the power to survive for the human and lowly race.

However, even though his wish was good, one would find it easy to forget their initial wish after attaining power. It was easy to become corrupted and change.

If the Heaven Alliance didn’t become corrupted, Mother Earth deserved to die and reviving her would just cause the Heaven Alliance’s effort to be for naught. It would bring huge troubles to the Heaven Alliance’s plans.

He was now stuck on the fence.

If he didn’t revive Mother Earth, he would definitely be killed by Mother Earth. If he revived her, many changes would happen.

Soul Guide attracted the shattered particles of Mother Earth’s soul, and they were like the finest black sand that came flooding from all parts of the Primordial Realm. They flowed into the earthly palace and into the light.

The woman in the light was very excited, and the light in the sea of light surged forth. She had preserved her earth soul among the three souls. What was shattered was the heaven soul and the life soul. Heaven soul was the light of fetus, earth soul was the bright spirit, and the life soul was the secret spirit.

Natural born sacred gods only had three souls and no seven spirits. Only lifeforms after the beginning and the half-gods had seven spirits.

Heaven soul was pure yang, which represented Xuandu. Life soul was pure yin, which represented Youdu. Lastly, with its back facing yin and its face facing the yang, earth soul represented Yuandu.

The reason why Mother Earth was able to preserve her earth soul was still mainly because of her identity.

She was Mother Earth, the embodiment of the Great Dao of Yuandu. It was incomparably difficult to get rid of her earth soul.

Mother Earth’s soul was much stronger than Goddess of Heavenly Yin’s, and the black soul sand came flooding over majestically. It was as expected of an existence that was able to be on equal terms with Heaven Duke and Earth Count.

Qin Mu’s vital qi hung in the air while his qi and blood surged more and more as though it was a sea that had fallen into a tornado. Xuandu god language and Youdu god language came from his mouth, and all the kinds of ancient languages had deep meanings that were like profound poems from gods and devils. Closing one’s eyes to listen to his Dao voice, one would have the feeling of life being born from the creation of heaven and earth, having the preposterous and distort feeling of gods dancing around at the beginning of the world.

“As expected of Great Wizard!”

Mother Earth felt that the shattered pieces of her three souls were more and more complete. Those soul particles scattered around in the world were being guided over, and Qin Mu just had to reconstruct her heaven soul and life soul. Once her three souls were complete, she could rely on her strong lifeforce to revive!

Qin Mu chanted non-stop and suddenly, a soft crack rang out.

The woman in the light, Celestial Venerable Yu, and Gongsun Yan hurriedly turned to take a look, only to see the skin of Qin Mu splitting apart continuously. Blood flowed out continuously, and they got vaporized by the violent vital qi, turning into a bloody fog that swirled furiously around him.

The three of them were shocked. This divine art of Qin Mu’s was indeed very exhausting, so much so that even his corporeal body couldn’t take it!

‘I’m too strong, reviving me is countless times harder than reviving Goddess of Heavenly Yin.’

The woman in the light was feeling nervous. ‘With this kind of intensity, I wonder how much longer he can last. Can he reconstruct my two souls?’

Qin Mu’s state was extremely bad, and it was becoming worse and worse. The surface of his body seemed to be pierced by countless grains of sand, and blood was floating out of all his orifices. Especially the blood from his nose, which would spew out several yards in tempo to his heartbeat.

Celestial Venerable Yu hurriedly said, “Brother, stop! If you continue, all your blood will be gone!”

Qin Mu ignored him and continued to focus on executing the spell.

Gongsun Yan finally couldn’t bear to watch any longer and said loudly, “Mother Earth, his cultivation isn’t enough, let him rest.”

The woman in the light was endlessly anxious and said, “Wait a while more, wait a while more. He’s a divine arts practitioner, after all, he has strong cultivation and a lot of blood in his body. His qi and blood are still vigorous, he can last a while more…”

Gongsun Yan hesitated and didn’t say anything. She paced back and forth anxiously.

Qin Mu had already started to rotate the Gate of Heaven Influence to steal Heaven Duke’s power. He was ready to construct the heaven soul when a beam of heavenly light came shining from the gate. Qin Mu’s body suddenly froze, and he collapsed face down. He fainted.

Celestial Venerable Yu instantly panicked and rushed over. Qin Mu’s nose was still spewing blood, but the fountain of blood was gradually shortening. After trying his best to spew out two small fountains, it still finally stopped.

Celestial Venerable Yu hurriedly went to check for his breath when another two small fountains spewed out from Qin Mu’s nose again, scaring him. He was delighted. “My brother is still alive!”

Gongsun Yan also went forward to check for the beating of Qin Mu’s heart. She felt that his heartbeat was weak, and he lacked both qi and blood. His life was dangling on a line, and he was in an extremely precarious state.

Gongsun Yan gritted her teeth, and that tiny green sapling in the light behind her head flew out to land in the heart of Qin Mu’s brows. Light flowed and entered Qin Mu’s body to extend his life.

After a moment, Qin Mu’s breath gradually stabilized. However, that small sapling seemed to become listless. The only two leaves fused back together and it shrunk.

Gongsun Yan’s face was slightly pale. She took back the small sapling and continued to nourish it in the light.

Qin Mu’s spell was broken, and the Gate of Heaven Influence was dispersed. Heaven Duke’s power instantly vanished and heavenly light no longer shone down.

The woman in the light hurriedly restrained his soul particles, and she felt her heaven soul recovering partially. However, it was still far from being complete, and she sighed in pity.

Qin Mu gradually woke up, and he stood up under Celestial Venerable Yu’s support. He coughed up the blood in his throat, and his breath was weak. “I’m okay, I’m fine. I can still continue to cast the spell…”

“Great Wizard doesn’t have to be too anxious.”

The woman in the light said gently, “You have overexerted yourself when casting the spell just now, and as a result, it has surpassed the limits of your body. Now that your qi and blood are emptied, if you continue casting, you will die from exhaustion. If you died from exhaustion, where am I going to find another great wizard that could revive me? I can wait, Great Wizard can just relax and nurse your injuries.”

She said with a smile, “I see Great Wizard’s cultivation is already at the peak of the Celestial Being Realm, any step forward and you will be able to open up Youdu and enter the Life and Death Realm. I reckon Great Wizard will be able to cast your spell freely when you reach the Life and Death Realm. You can reconstruct my soul then.”

Qin Mu suddenly coughed violently, and he gasped for breaths. He said sorrowfully, “Junior is dumb, and I don’t know how long will I take to cultivate to the Life and Death Realm. Now that I’m severely exhausted, I’m afraid I’ll let Mother Earth down…”

The woman in the light said with a smile, “As Mother Earth, Yuandu is the source of life. Your qi and blood being exhausted is nothing to me. Since you are helping me to reconstruct my two souls, I can’t shortchange you.”

From the light, a fruit that was already shriveled up flew to Qin Mu’s face.

This fruit was like a tangerine dried in the sun. There was no moisture at all, and it was wrinkly.

The woman in the light said, “This is a fruit born from the divine tree behind my back. Even though it has already withered, the power inside is still like an ocean. Save it first, don’t try to eat it, slowly use your vital qi to digest it. This will help you raise your cultivation realm even faster so that you can open up the Life and Death Divine Treasure. The power inside the fruit is too powerful, you won’t be able to take it if you eat it directly.”

Qin Mu’s body swayed as he struggled to give his thanks.

The woman in the light waved her hand and said, “I’m only giving you this treasure because you are saving me. If you were useless to me, I wouldn’t even look at you. Great Wizard, go and rest first. Come and cast your spell again once you cultivate the Life and Death Divine Treasure.”

In the light, an arc ray flew over and landed behind Qin Mu’s head to transform into a halo. That shriveled up fruit landed in the halo.

“I once blessed a few people out of the Seven Celestial Venerables, and I still haven’t blessed you. This blessing is for you to have continuous good fortune, to never age, and to never die.

The woman in the light said with a smile, “With my blessing, it will be easier for you to digest this fruit.”

Qin Mu felt pure waves of energy flooding into his divine treasures, and his qi and blood gradually recovered. He hurriedly gave his thanks.

“Yan’er, send Great Wizard to rest, don’t neglect my guest.”

Gongsun Yan acknowledged and escorted Qin Mu and Celestial Venerable Yu out. This celestial palace was too huge, and they had to walk a long time before getting out of the palace.

Coming out of the palace, the water qilin came up to greet Qin Mu only to be shocked when he saw him covered in bloodstains. Celestial Venerable Yu hurriedly asked, “Ah Shui, where’s Fatty Dragon?”

The water qilin was full of envy as he said, “He went to mingle with the qilins and the dragon.”

Qin Mu said weakly, “My body is weak now, so I can’t call him, which one of you is going to get him?”

The water qilin was about to shout for the dragon qilin when Gongsun Yan hurriedly said, “Be careful of alarming those High Emperors in those coffins. Let us walk over and call him back.”

Celestial Venerable Yu supported Qin Mu and placed him on the back of the water qilin. The water qilin thought to himself, ‘Why does the dragon qilin’s master look like he had his vitality plucked from him over a thousand times? How did he become so weak?’

They walked out, and that phoenix suddenly transformed into a woman with phoenix eyes. She followed behind them.

Qin Mu took a glance at her and asked weakly, “Big sister, why are you following us?”

That phoenix said without any expression, “Mother Earth’s orders, she wanted me to ensure your safety.”

Qin Mu gave his thanks and asked, “Does big sister eat spirit pills? I’ll make some for big sister once my body is better.”

The eyes of that phoenix lit up, and she smiled. “You are much more sensible than this water beast here.”

The water qilin grunted, and he grumbled to himself, blaming Celestial Venerable Yu for not knowing how to make pills.

That phoenix asked casually, “You guys are planning to go out?”

Qin Mu said carefully, “The yin aura in this earthly palace is too strong, there are too many emperor’s corpses here. My body is too weak now, so I need to recuperate outside.”

The phoenix said, “You can go out but not too far.”

Qin Mu’s brain started to operate, and he thought to himself, ‘I wonder what the cultivation of this Sister Phoenix is. If her cultivation is too high and I can’t poison her, I will be in trouble… How do I leave this place?’

He coughed repeatedly and suddenly asked, “There are so many gods outsides, and there’s even someone impersonating Mother Earth. How is Sister Phoenix’s cultivation? Are you a match for those bad guys?”

That phoenix said, “I’m already on the Numinous Sky Realm, I’m not afraid of those scum. However, Mother Earth said to let those fellows do as they please first and that she will settle everything once she’s revived!”

Qin Mu’s expression dimmed. ‘Her cultivation is so high, I probably can’t poison her to death. If Grandpa Apothecary was around, that would be good…’