Tales of Herding Gods

“Flowers are not flowers, fogs are not fogs. Like shadowy appearances coming at midnight, leaving at first light…”

Qin Mu seemed to be in deep thoughts as he savored this poem over and over again.

On Jade Pool Meeting a million years ago, he had once researched about a divine art that could allow the substance to not change, not increase and not decrease. Even though the time they had spent together wasn’t long, they had still managed to find a blurry path.

Of course, Celestial Venerable Ling was the main pillar of the research while Qin Mu and Founding Emperor were just assistants to help Celestial Venerable Ling do her deductions and also to teach her the art of creation.

However, Qin Mu still knew the result of Celestial Venerable Ling’s research very clearly.

It was that moment that had determined the foundation of Celestial Venerable Ling’s divine art.

In the long years afterward, it was always Celestial Venerable Ling that had deduced and perfected this kind of divine art.

From the perspective of the ghost ship, Celestial Venerable Ling had not perfected this divine art when she was executing, thus the flaw of thirty-six people was left behind.

Every time this ship reset time and space, there would be a flaw left behind.

This flaw would result in three outcomes.

Firstly, it would fuse the living and non-living on the ship together and transformed them into a monster that wasn’t human or an object. This was the reason why numerous people that had boarded the ship had grown together with the body of the ship.

Secondly, the divine art would fuse with the ship and the ship would fuse with the living. This would already result in the divine art and ship to become a marvelous lifeform. This lifeform would roam through thirty-six different years and attack the existences on the ship that could threaten it.

Thirdly, the ship would complete cycles in thirty-six different years and the cycles would fade the people who board the ship into the void. In the end, they would be turned into an invisible state where they were neither living nor dead.

To the people who boarded the ship, this was the strangest and most terrifying divine art. However, to Celestial Venerable Ling, this was the result of her divine art being imperfect.

To the people who boarded the ship, it was strange. However, it was a flaw to her and it wasn’t what she had intended.

When Celestial Venerable Ling had left this poem behind, she must have boarded this ship years later and realized her divine art was imperfect, thus she left this poem behind which mention the flaw in the divine art.

The chance of survival for the people on the ship doesn’t lie in comprehending Celestial Venerable Ling’s divine art, it was to find out the flaw in Celestial Venerable Ling’s divine art in order to seek a chance of survival by solving her divine art!

Qin Mu faintly grasped the direction of solving this kind of divine art. However, this feeling was too hazy so he couldn’t think through for a moment.

Suddenly, terrifying pulses came from the back of the palace. After going around this palace, they saw Crimson Light Son of God fighting with the two retainers of Prince Qiu Ming!

The bodies of Crimson Light Son of God and those two gods had already started to fade into void. Their corporeal bodies and primordial spirits didn’t seem real and yet their battle power was still incomparably astonishing.

After Qin Mu had imparted Three Primordial Spirit Undying God Consciousness of Crimson Emperor to him, Crimson Light Son of God had finally patched his shortcomings by cultivating three heads and six arms for his primordial spirit as well. By complementing it with Light Emperor’s Anasrava Creation Mysterious Technique, he was truly capable of killing anyone who was going to stand in his way!

However, those two gods following Prince Qiu Ming were also extraordinary. One of the gods made a deep impression on Qin Mu with his silver rope hanging down from the moon.

The silver rope was over a hundred thousand miles long when it hung down from the bright moon, yet they were all kept into his sleeve after they had landed.

The silver rope that he was using now had become a whip instead. This silver whip was sometimes long and sometimes short as he executed all kinds of whip techniques. However, this wasn’t all of the whip’s transformation. The head of the whip would sometimes transform into a silver dragon that bared its fangs and brandished its claws. Sometimes, it would transform into a silver spear, stabbing and attacking abruptly with a myriad of changes.

The other god was also extremely powerful so when they worked together to attack Crimson Light Son of God, they caused the palaces to collapsed one after another.

Village Chief suddenly said, “Their abilities are much weaker than before, their cultivation must have faded into the void as well. Looks like the stronger you are on this ship, the more you will be weakened.”

Qin Mu nodded his head. Right at this moment, their hair stood on ends as they got locked on by an incomparably terrifying aura. They didn’t dare to move.

That was incomparably terrifying dragon awe.

Village Chief cried out with a hoarse voice. “Ancestral Dragon King!”

Qin Mu suddenly turned back and saw Ancestral Dragon King rushing furiously at them. He was already a hundred steps away from them and this old dragon on Numinous Sky Realm opened its incomparably wide head, wanting to swallow them up!

Yet the moment Qin Mu turned around to look at him, Ancestral Dragon King’s corporeal body instantly faded into the void and turned into a hazy shadow!

His abilities were extremely high and were slightly inferior to Feng Qiuyun so his condition was rather similar to Feng Qiuyun. Feng Qiuyun had already fused with the mural and her body had faded so much that it was hard to see clearly. Ancestral Dragon King was slightly better than her but not by much.

If Qin Mu didn’t force himself to break out of the dragon’s awe to turn around, Ancestral Dragon King would remain in his unobserved stage and he wouldn’t have faded into void. Yet under Qin Mu’s gaze, his corporeal body and primordial spirit quickly faded into the void and his abilities were mostly gone.”

Ancestral Dragon King hurriedly soared up into the sky. In the next instant, he appeared behind Qin Mu but Village Chief and Dragon Rearing Sovereign had their eyes on him.

“Clever! I’ll let you guys off the hook this time!”

Ancestral Dragon King flew away and in the next instant, Crimson Light Son of God who was fighting with the two gods from the celestial heavens suddenly closed his eyes. The figure of Ancestral Dragon King suddenly appeared behind the silver rope god that tore him apart.

Crimson Light Son of God flipped backward and the other god received a lethal blow from Ancestral Dragon King as he got shattered by a blow from his scepter.

Crimson Light Son of God suddenly opened his eyes on all three heads and Ancestral Dragon King had already come to his face. He fell into his line of sight and the body of this dragon king instantly faded into void.

Crimson Light Son of God brazenly made his move. Ancestral Dragon King who was greatly weakened coughed up blood and escaped after several moves.

Crimson Light Son of God couldn’t chase after him and he shouted, “Ancestral Dragon King, stop resisting, you won’t last through the next reset. If I am you, I will hide properly and wait to become another when I completely fade into void, this is so I won’t die.”

He turned around and looked at Qin Mu, Village Chief and Dragon Rearing Sovereign before walking over to them.

Village Chief gripped Carefree Sword tightly and his gaze landed on his footsteps. Village Chief said insipidly, “Crimson Light Son of God, if you want to escape the fate of fading into the void, the only way is to rely on the one and only overlord body to solve the difficult problem of this ghost ship. If you killed us, you will never be able to return to your people.”

Crimson Light Son of God stopped and his gaze landed on Qin Mu. He said softly, “I always admire Overlord Body Qin’s intelligence and talent, however, to make me give up my only chance of hope just with an overlord body, are you treating this as child’s play? Overlord Body Qin, what capabilities do you have to make me give up?”

“Son of God, you can gamble.”

Qin Mu said, “You can gamble that I solve this ghost ship and you return alive or you can gamble to see if you will become one of the thirty-six unchanging constants on this ghost ship after killing me.”

Crimson Light Son of God remained silent. After a moment, he asked, “Crimson Emperor is in your body?”

Qin Mu nodded and said, “He is only left with his consciousness currently, he has no soul or spirit.”

Crimson Light Son of God closed his eyes and opened them after a long time. His killing intent had faded away and he had an enlightened bearing as he said with a smile, “I can’t last until the next next reset before my abilities decrease drastically from fading into void. After I fade into void, you guys can only rely on yourself.”

Village Chief said solemnly, “Many thanks.”

Crimson Light Son of God said, “The danger isn’t only from the ones who had boarded the ship in our batch, there are also other people who had boarded the ship from the various years. Thirty-six people wouldn’t fade into the void but it doesn’t mean these thirty-six people wouldn’t die. When we came onto the ship, we didn’t see the other unchanging constants so they are most likely dead.”

Village Chief said solemnly, “I understand, that lantern has a very big problem.”

Crimson Light Son of God turn to leave and he said, “Ancestral Dragon King will completely fade into the void in the next reset, there are still experts outside like Divine Knife Luo Wushuang and the half-gods under Ancestral Dragon King, as well as the other people who had boarded the ship in the different cycles. I shall go and get rid of them.”

Village Chief saw him off.

Not long later, light burst forth again and shrouded this ship once. When the light faded away, Qin Mu hurriedly looked at Village Chief and saw Village Chief fading even more.

“I’m alright. After this reset, Crimson Light Son of God’s abilities is probably eighty to ninety percent gone, Ancestral Dragon King also would have most likely faded away as well.”

Village Chief said, “Now, Crimson Light Son of God can’t protect us anymore, we can only rely on ourselves.”

Right at this moment, they saw a lush and dense Primordial Tree shrouding Primordial Realm outside the Celestial River.

Numerous gods of High Emperor Era discovered this ship and they executed their divine arts to trap this ship so they could fly up. Those people were a bunch of half-gods and they must be the strong practitioners of North High Emperor Celestial Heavens.

There was an extremely high number of half-gods and they flooded in from all directions.

“There are humans and a dragon here!” One of the half-gods discovered them and rushed over.

Village Chief revealed a smile and examined the sword in his hand. “This is truly a great sword. Mu’er, there is the world carefree on the sword, could this sword be named Carefree Sword?”

Qin Mu nodded and said solemnly, “This is Founding Emperor’s sword.”

Village Chief was stunned and he said with a smile, “Founding Emperor? I admire him the most. I roamed around the martial world when I was young and I encountered numerous ancient ruins. The one glorious civilization and the countless stone statues. That made me wonder how much of a hero Founding Emperor was to command such loyalty from these heroes, for them to fight their whole lives just for a dream? This is why the second form of my Sword Picture is called Sword of Founding Emperor. It’s truly fortunate of me to be able to wield his sword!”

He pulled his sword and head in the directions of the enemies, vibrating his sword and singing along. The sword light was like an ocean and it was as though the moonlight had scattered down onto the sea while the ocean sprays were like moving silver scales.

Village Chief was full of mettle and it was as if he was an emperor riding on precious horses and magnificent carriage to roam the seas, quelling the chaos in the four seas.

Second form of Sword Picture, Sword of Founding Emperor.

“Easterlies of the night call to bloom blossoms of a thousand trees!”

His Sword Dao scattered and he was imagining the scene of Founding Emperor quelling rebellions. It was as if that emperor had encountered his enemies and he jumped from his precious horse and magnificent carriage to swing his sword in the four directions!

“As if blowing adrift stars that drizzle like rain! Precious horses and lavish carriages go by leaving a scented trail. Phoenix flutes music perform as the timekeeper witnesses the turning of hours, throughout the night lanterns in the shape of fish and dragons dance and gyrate!”

The sword lights were like scales, making them looked like fish and dragons dancing and gyrating in the sea of swords.

Qin Mu had also learned this move from Founding Emperor before and the exact same sword move had a completely different mood when released by Village Chief and by him.

However, the mood was also different when it was released by the Village Chief in the past and the Village Chief now.

In the past, when Village Chief executed this move, mountains and rivers exist in a vast and obscure heart, but when looking around left and right, there are no more people donning the clothes of homeland. It was a lonely reminiscence of one’s homeland, the long-gone martyrs. It had a mood of sorrow and heroism.

And Village Chief’s sword now had the confident and wild feeling of a young emperor quelling the rebellions everywhere, there was the mood of a young hero, the high spirits that he rarely had!

The difference in the frame of mind, the different the experience would be, as a result, the Sword Dao would also be different.

He had gone through death once and the revived Village Chief seemed as though he had returned back to his youth. He had the heart of a youth striving to do his best and his Sword Dao had swept away the mood of sorrow and heroism of the past. Replacing it was the drive and strive of a youth that was filled with heroic passion.

The half-gods of North High Emperor Celestial Heavens poured over and they died under the sword light. Village Chief was like a young emperor standing on his precious horses and magnificent carriage to cut down the invading strong practitioners.

His Sword Dao was evolving and becoming sharper and more initiative. It was conforming to Eternal Peace, the era of reform, to guide this era of reform!

He was a person walking at the very front of this era!

“Magnificent sword skills! As expected from the strong practitioner that taught Overlord Body Qin!”

A thick and dull voice rang from faraway and knife light shone as a knife cleaved out a path of survival. He split apart the waves and broke through the sea of swords, slaying numerous of the half-gods from High Emperor.

One-Armed Divine Knife Luo Wushuang came over with formidable power and imposing manner as he broke through Sword Picture to slash at the young emperor. “Eternal Peace Sword God, the overlord body’s sword skill originates from you, I’ll kill you first before killing him!”

He was fading into the void quite seriously but since he was still the number one divine knife of the extraterritorial celestial heavens after all so his abilities were still extremely terrifying. He had entered the path with his knife and has achieved astonishing attainments in his knife skills.

Village Chief’s sword light transformed into Calamity of the High Emperor. The sword sea surged and split the sky, clashing fiercely with Luo Wushuang.

One was honored as the number one divine knife of the extraterritorial celestial heavens and the one was honored as Eternal Peace Sword God. Both of them executed all kinds of moves that had entered the Dao, dazzling Qin Mu and Dragon Rearing Sovereign who were standing in the rain of sword and knives.

Meanwhile, the half-gods that rushed into the knife skills and sword skills of these two experts died miserably. They couldn’t withstand the clash of these two strong practitioners on such Dao realms.

Suddenly, an incomparably bright light burst forth as the ghost ship reset again.

Luo Wushuang grunted and he pulled himself out to leave.

In this reset, his condition had become even more serious and the situation was against him. He had to find a safe place and avoid his enemies. He had to wait for the next reset to let him completely fade into void.

Village Chief pulled the sword back and he lowered his head to examine Carefree Sword while praising. “Truly a magnificent sword. Luo Wushuang is also worthy of the title of Divine Knife, if Butcher wants to catch up to him, there’s still a distance.”

Qin Mu looked at Village Chief’s body and he saw that his corporeal body and primordial spirit were also fading into void badly. Dragon Rearing Sovereign was also slowly fading.

They experienced another two resets and experienced another two more bunch of outsiders boarding the ship. Village Chief’s condition was too severe and he was already close to being unable to hold Carefree Sword anymore.

“Mu’er, the next reset is almost coming and I’m probably close to vanishing.”

They sat on the ridge of the palace hall and Village Chief looked at the sun rising from the east. “However, you don’t have to worry. Even if I completely fade into void, I will remain by your side, I won’t leave you.”

Qin Mu nodded his head gently, “I know.”

“Dragon Rearing Sovereign, it’s up to you now, protect your lord.”

Light burst forth once more and swallowed them up. When the light faded away, only Qin Mu and Dragon Rearing Sovereign were left.

‘I know you are still beside me.’

Qin Mu stood up and looked at the unfamiliar world outside the Celestial River. ‘I will definitely find a solution and turn you back into a physical form! You are still my Grandpa Village Chief, no one can take you away!’