Tales of Herding Gods

Village Chief had a solemn expression and said with a soft voice, “Mu’er, keep the pendant, don’t attract any attention. Let us see where they are from.”

Qin Mu flipped his hand, and the jade pendant in his hand vanished.

That blue colored kun had an extremely strong aura and overturning the rivers and seas was no problem for it. Under the light of the ghost ship, it carried numerous half-gods to the side of this huge ship.

Compared to the battleship of the Feathered Forest Guards, this huge kun seemed much smaller.

Qin Mu wasn’t unfamiliar with kuns. There were many kuns living in the Celestial River a million years ago, and those kuns were half-gods that could swim in the water and fly in the sky.

During that time, the kuns in the Celestial River usually relied on ferrying people to receive some spirit pills for their daily lives.

Even though many of the half-gods on the kun’s back looked human, they had different faces and grew different amounts of heads.

Half-gods were the descendants of ancient gods, and the blood of ancient gods flowed in their body. Ever since Celestial Venerable Hao created the technique for half-gods to become human, half-gods could also cultivate the cultivation system of divine treasures and celestial palaces.

However, half-gods couldn’t completely transform into humans, so they still preserved part of their own characteristics. Only a small amount of half-gods would transform into humans completely.

Those half-gods saw them, but they didn’t stop. Instead, they continued to head towards this ship.

“Hook snakes, stop this ship!” On the back of the kun, an elderly half-god propped himself on a scepter as he shouted.

“It’s Ancestral Dragon King!” Qin Mu was astonished.

The currents around were very rapid, and suddenly huge and thick bodies appeared. Those were weird snakes that were over a few thousand yards long. The snakes didn’t have scales, and instead, they had bone plates. On the bone plates were bone spikes that were like the barbs of a scorpion.

These weird snakes swung their tails out to hook onto the mast of the ghost ship, trying to stop it.

The bodies of the hook snakes were stretched straight, and they were immediately ripped apart. Their blood poured out.

The huge kun swam towards the ghost ship, and that elderly half-god threw out his scepter, which transformed into a divine dragon. It passed through the chains made of black gas and stabbed into the ship.

Only then did the ghost ship stop.

That elderly half-god took out a mirror, and the mirror shone brightly in the river. It hung above their heads and lit up the huge kun and the people on it.

The black gas that trapped the ghost ship touched the mirror and bounced off. The chains couldn’t get close to them.

The huge kun swam to the deck of the ghost ship and suddenly transformed into a brilliant golden divine bird. Next, the divine bird folded its wings and transformed into a bird-headed god.

The rest of the people also came down from the kun’s back.

The forms of the kun race were different from the rest. They had three forms, one was kun, one was peng, and the last was a bird-headed human.

Village Chief felt apprehensive, and he lowered his voice and said, “That elder is very strong, I’m no match for him. The half-gods in the surroundings are also not weak. That kun’s abilities aren’t ordinary either. Mu’er, we need to bring First Ancestor over, only then can we explore this ghost ship…”

As he spoke until here, a beam of light shone down from the top of the river. That pillar of light was like moonlight shining down on the ghost ship.

In the pillar of light, a small, delicate ship ferrying a one-armed man and several one-armed youths flowed down the river surface. The small ship actually sailed along the pillar of light and dove into the river, heading for that ghost ship.

The one-armed man sat on the bow of the ship and looked abnormally sacred under the moonlight.

“Luo Wushuang!”

Qin Mu’s heart jumped, and he looked at the small ship. Zhe Huali was also on board, and he was the only one with both arms intact.

At this moment, blaze shone on the river surface. Qin Mu and Village Chief looked up from the bottom of the river and saw a huge fireball rolling over on the surface, vaporizing the water of the Celestial River.

They couldn’t see too clearly in the water, but the fireball closed in and dove into the water. It transformed into a rainbow phoenix and swam in the water, heading towards the ghost ship.

There was a stone coffin on the back of the rainbow phoenix, and it was very strange.

Qin Mu’s heart stirred. ‘Could it be Feng Qiuyun? If she wasn’t killed by Qi Xiayu and is still alive, her abilities are also remarkable! In that case, why has she come here? Could it be under Mother Earth’s orders? Could the stone coffin on her back be… one of the stone coffins from the Nine Emperors Tomb?’

He felt his hair standing on end.

If the stone coffin on Feng Qiuyun’s back was one of the stone coffins from the Nine Emperors Tomb, then that coffin was definitely one of the celestial emperors of the High Emperor Celestial Heavens!

Why would Mother Earth view this ship with so much importance that she would even activate the emperor’s coffin in the imperial tomb?

One had to know that when she was fighting with the other Mother Earth, she didn’t mobilize an emperor’s coffin!

Suddenly, a rope fell down from the sky. Qin Mu raised his head to look and saw a rope hanging down from the wrinkled moon above Eternal Peace. The rope landed right on the flagpole of the ghost ship and tied a knot there.

Several figures quickly slid down the rope and landed on the flagpole not long later.

One of the gods undid and tugged the rope. The rope fell down from the moon in the sky and tunneled into his sleeve like a spirit snake.

From the moon to the ground was a hundred thousand miles, yet when this rope tunneled into his sleeve, it didn’t bulge out at all.

This god stored the rope and bowed to another youth. That youth nodded his head, and the few of them leaped down from the flagpole and onto the mast. They jumped down the mast like leopards and slipped into the ghost ship.

‘They came down from the sky, could they be gods from the sky map? That’s not right, the gods of the sky map are left there by the extraterritorial celestial heavens to pull the wool over the eyes of the people. They have a responsibility to uphold and won’t leave their position.’

Qin Mu’s heart stirred slightly. ‘In that case, they are visitors from the celestial heavens! Strange, Luo Wushuang’s Spirit Elite Guards are also from the extraterritorial celestial heavens, so why didn’t they come together?’

At the same time, a huge star appeared in the sky, and that star was like an apple that had a chunk bitten out of it. It was the abnormal star of Crimson Light.

The light of the abnormal star flashed, and a beam of red light descended down from the sky. The light hit the deck of the ghost ship, and when the light dissipated, Crimson Light Son of God’s figure appeared there.

“Crimson Light Son of God has also arrived!”

Qin Mu said with a smile, “Village Chief, Crimson Light Son of God is a friend and not a foe. I also know One-Armed Divine Knife Luo Wushuang. That phoenix is also a big sister that I know. I’ve also met that elder with the dragon-head scepter once, and he is called Ancestral Dragon King. We aren’t in any danger even if we go in.”

Village Chief stared at him with a black face and had an unpleasant gaze. “Crimson Light Son of God might not be a friend. Also, that phoenix should be a subordinate of Mother Earth, right? As for One-Armed Divine Knife, I’ve heard of his reputation in Supreme Emperor Heaven, and he’s clearly an enemy! As for Ancestral Dragon King, he should be the leader among the half-gods, right? You have met him? Bullshit! Not one of the people that entered the ship can be trusted!”

The ghost ship started to shake more and more. Numerous hook snakes got ripped apart, dying unnaturally.

The other hook snakes hurriedly took back their barbs, and the ghost ship sailed upstream. Its speed grew faster and faster.

Village Chief saw the situation, and he hesitated. “What is that jade pendant of yours?”

Qin Mu said, “It might be a commander’s seal to control this ship, but I don’t dare to confirm it…”

Village Chief gritted his teeth and said, “Let’s go in to take a look! This ship is definitely extraordinary, otherwise, it wouldn’t have attracted so many powers. If I don’t go in to investigate, I will never have a good night’s sleep for the rest of my life!”

Qin Mu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Village Chief was even more curious than him. Even if the commander’s seal wasn’t an object to control the ghost ship, he wouldn’t be able to resist investigating.

The reason he hesitated was that he was still worried about Qin Mu’s safety; thus, he couldn’t make a decision.

Dragon Rearing Sovereign hurriedly swam towards the ghost ship, and Qin Mu took out the commander’s seal. The commander’s seal vibrated the black gas chains away and allowed them to land on the ship.

Both of them jumped down from Dragon Rearing Sovereign’s head, and Dragon Rearing Sovereign transformed into a dragon-headed god. He examined his surroundings carefully.

The deck of the ship was very wide, and it was like a small-scale landmass. All kinds of buildings were present, and there was also air here. The river water hadn’t seeped through, and the deck was very dry.

“Mu’er, follow me closely, don’t run around recklessly.”

Just as Village Chief said that, he saw Qin Mu walking in front of him and hurriedly followed after him. He said in a low voice, “Don’t be reckless, follow me, I’m experienced!”

The speed of the ghost ship grew faster and faster. It sailed through the bottom of the river, and all kinds of dragon palaces flashed past so quickly that they couldn’t see them clearly.

The ship started creaking, and with such a fast speed, the ship seemed like it could break apart at any time! “Where’s this ship heading? Why is the speed so fast? Mu’er, be careful!”

Village Chief suddenly stretched out his hands to stop Qin Mu, and he signaled. “There’s a seal under your feet! Don’t step on it.”

Qin Mu lowered his head and saw the black gas chains forming strange seals on the deck. The seal was circular, and the structure was complicated. It had the form of a tortoise and a snake.

“This is… North Deity’s seal!” He felt a lingering fear in his heart.

“There’s also a seal here!” Dragon Rearing Sovereign cried out.

When Qin Mu walked over to look, he saw that the seal which Dragon Rearing Sovereign had discovered was a seal of the green dragon. It must have been left behind by East Deity.

“There’s also one over here!”

They soon discovered even more seals on the deck. Some seals had the form of a vermillion bird, and some seals had the form of a white tiger. The seals of the four deities had actually appeared on this ship.

“The four deities of the ancient gods working together to seal this ship, it’s definitely strange…”

Village Chief muttered and said, “It definitely is extraordinary for this ship to be sealed by the four deities together. Let’s try not to touch them.”

Right at this moment, astonished cries came from the front. Ancestral Dragon King and the rest had already undone a seal on the deck, and they saw a pitch-black coffin ‘growing’ out of the deck.

The black coffin had indeed looked like it was growing out. Furthermore, it was growing taller and taller until it was about three hundred yards tall. There was also black gas shrouding it, and the black chains were like black-colored pythons. They knotted up to lock the coffin.

“The Feathered Forest Guards and the imperial guards of Celestial Emperor are top-notch gods that have been chosen from the world!”

Ancestral Dragon King raised his hand, and his dragon-head scepter landed in his hand. He tapped the center of the knot and said solemnly, “Mother Earth once unwittingly let out a secret. During the ancient Dragon Han Era, Celestial Empress was assaulted, and the Feathered Forest Guards boarded a battleship to quell the rebellion. In the end, the Feathered Forest Guards suddenly went missing in the midst of quelling the rebellion. The strongest army in the Dragon Han Celestial Heavens vanished into thin air just like that. This became an unsolvable mystery of the Dragon Han Celestial Heavens!”

The black gas chains were undone, and the black coffin let out a deflating sound as tainted air leaked out from it.

A half-god at the side suddenly let out a miserable shriek, and his feet rotted into pus. Soon, he turned into a pile of rotting flesh and gave off stinky gas.

Yet he still hadn’t died. His face laid on the rotting flesh, and he gave off miserable screams.

Fear grew in everyone’s heart, and they hurriedly held their breaths.

Some distance away, Qin Mu had also planned to see if he could grow a black coffin, but he stopped when he saw what had happened.

Ancestral Dragon King waved his hands to get rid of the corpse poison. He tapped the screaming half-god and killed him. Staring at the black coffin, he said, “Celestial Emperor sent numerous experts to search this ship for the Feathered Forest Guards, yet they always failed. However, this ship and the Feathered Forest Guards in this ship kept appearing in the Celestial River for the next few hundred thousand years. They would suddenly appear and suddenly vanish again.”

Scratching sounds came from the black coffin as though there was something clawing the lid of the coffin from the inside.

Ancestral Dragon King gripped his dragon-head scepter tightly and said, “There were also rumors of this ship during the Crimson Light Era. I’ve heard that this ship would frequently appear on the Celestial River, and there were even people who saw the awe-inspiring sight of tens of thousands of gods on the ship. During the High Emperor Era, this ship would also frequently appear. Mother Earth also investigated it once, but it was a pity that she couldn’t find the ship nor the imperial guards that had gone missing with the ship.”

The coffin lid suddenly dropped to the ground with a bang. Everyone looked at the coffin and couldn’t see anything inside as it was pitch black.

“Rumors say that there’s a huge secret hidden on this ship, a secret that could travel through time.”

Ancestral Dragon King’s mouth was parched, and his voice sounded hoarse. “Rumors say that whoever controls this ship can travel through time, going to whichever year they want!”

Two red spots of light appeared in the dark coffin, and they looked like red lanterns.