Tales of Herding Gods

The nine-headed phoenix flew off the ship, and with its wings stretched through the sky, it protected the whole ship and withstood this blow head-on. It was Qi Xiayu channeling her magic power from the Primordial Realm, saving them.

Everyone who had flown upwards on the ship bumped into the wings of the nine-headed phoenix, which were extremely soft and gentle, and thus they didn’t get injured from the fall.

The pulses from the Heaven Bell were getting stronger, and the phoenix ship was now flying unsteadily, barging ahead through the Blood Rust Zone.

The ship brushed past pieces of land, even crashing against the destroyed stars and into a piece of land. On the ancient broken pieces of land in the Blood Rust Zone, the prehistoric ruins suddenly lit up, and rays of light shone brilliantly. Then, a sight that caused everyone’s scalp to turn numb emerged before their eyes.

On the countless lands, within the innumerous ruins, rays of light burst out, and apparitions of terrifying ancient gods appeared and floated up from within those lands!

The length of the Blood Rust Zone was shocking, and it was entirely filled with dark red bodies of stars and broken land. Yet, at this moment, it was dotted with bright lights that lit up the whole stretch.

The apparition of the nine-headed phoenix was trying its best to control the phoenix ship and navigate through the area while avoiding the oncoming terrifying attacks. From the beak of one of the phoenix’s heads came Qi Xiayu’s angry voice. “The Blood Rust Zone is dangerous beyond measure! In the celestial heavens, it’s even considered a restricted area! Who caused this huge problem?”

The more than six thousand gods onboard the ship all turned in unison to look towards Qin Mu. They raised their hands one by one and pointed at him.

Yan’er also lifted a wing to point at Qin Mu.

The dragon qilin hesitated for a moment, but in the end, he didn’t point at Qin Mu.

However, the tiny Earth Count walked out of his ear-hole to raise a hand and point at Qin Mu. With a solemn expression, he mooed.

The dragon qilin hurriedly shushed him. “You can’t speak nonsense. The spirit pills are all forged by Cult Master. If you point nonsensically, Cult Master won’t feed you.”

The tiny Earth Count put down his hand, turning around and walking back into the ear-hole with a lowered head, looking as though he had done something wrong.

Qin Mu instantly felt like he had just been isolated. He stood there without a change in expression, but he felt uneasy in his heart, fearing that he would be thrown out of the ship by the enraged crowd.

“Celestial Venerable Mu, I will only help you out this once. Don’t expect me to save you again next time!”

The nine-headed phoenix apparition pushed the phoenix ship to its limits. However, the Blood Rust Zone was now like a pot of porridge that was spilling over, and from within the innumerous imposing rays of light emerged gods and devils of various shapes and sizes that bore some resemblance to the ancient gods. They all reached their hands out, nearly making the Blood Rust Zone overflow as they grabbed towards the phoenix ship!

The people on the ship all looked for something that they could hold on to so that they wouldn’t be thrown off of the phoenix ship that was now tossing and turning about.

The apparition of the nine-headed phoenix controlled the ship to weave through at high speeds. However, the Blood Rust Zone was a long stretch where the starry sky extended endlessly, so it was unable to fly out of the area in a short period.

Also, the figures in mid-air above the sacrificial altars on the lands were disrupting the Blood Rust Zone. They had alarmed more sacrificial altars in the ruins up ahead, so there were more and more ancient god spirit bodies flying towards them from the front.

These ancient god spirit bodies could be considered to have remarkable abilities. The various divine arts they were executing were exactly the Great Dao divine arts of the ancient gods, which were extremely powerful.

If it was a one-on-one match, Qi Xiayu would be fearless even if she was controlling the phoenix ship from the Primordial Realm. However, there were simply too many ancient god spirit bodies for her to handle.

She could only drive the phoenix ship with all her might, narrowly avoiding the attacks from these massive spirit bodies and doing all she could to protect the safety of all those on board and escape this area.

The phoenix ship weaved upwards and downwards, and when it was really unable to dodge in time, it would shrink in size to take the ancient god spirit bodies head-on, traveling through the spirit bodies in an act of incomparable courage.

It was just that every collision that occurred caused Qi Xiayu to weaken a little. After all, she didn’t come here personally. Controlling the phoenix ship from the Primordial Realm made it difficult for her to react accordingly, and her magic power was also a little weakened. The apparition of the nine-headed phoenix was becoming fainter and fainter.

Finally, when her magic power was almost exhausted, the phoenix ship had, at long last, managed to fly out of that terrifying stretch of the Blood Rust Zone. Everyone on the ship let out sighs of relief.

The apparition of the nine-headed phoenix had almost completely vanished. Evidently, in this attempt to save everyone, Qi Xiayu had used up a lot of energy, and she was greatly exhausted.

“Send him to the celestial heavens, but just dump him before the Southern Heavenly Gate. Then, immediately drive the ship back to me and don’t ever let me see him again!” The nine-headed phoenix left this message behind before automatically dissipating.

Qin Mu remained silent with bitterness.

Qi Jiuyi glanced at him. “Cult Master Qin, I warned you that the Blood Rust Zone was incredibly dangerous, but you didn’t believe me. This is a restricted zone. Even existences at the Emperor’s Throne Realm won’t step in here carelessly, much less, people like us. Men, come and help Cult Master Qin into the hold of the ship to let him rest!”

Several gods came forward. Two of them propped Qin Mu up on both sides, while the others followed behind, escorting Qin Mu into the hold of the ship.

Qi Jiuyi was still uneasy. Worried that he would run out, he ordered his men to apply several layers of seals, saying, “Cult Master Qin, there are still some dangerous ruins along the way. Just be patient for a few more days. When we reach the celestial heavens, I’ll let you out.”

Yan’er asked curiously, “There are still dangerous areas along the way? How dangerous compared to the Blood Rust Zone?”

Qi Jiuyi replied, “No less dangerous than here. If we continue ahead for another two days, we will reach the place where Light Emperor fell. Light Emperor died in battle there, so it’s extremely dangerous, even surpassing this place.”

Yan’er replied in a serious tone, “The gods under you won’t be able to trap Young Master. Young Master is proficient in all sorts of skills meant for breaking restrictions. Even though the cultivation of the gods under you are higher than his, he can still easily break through the seals that you have put in place. I will have to be the one who seals him, only then will he be unable to break through them.”

With that, she added layers of seals onto the door of the hold to prevent Qin Mu from escaping and causing trouble again.

From within the hold came Qin Mu’s upset and angry voice. “Sister Yan’er, you are mutinous!”

The dragon qilin hurriedly said, “Cult Master, Sister Yan’er is also doing this for your own good. She is just trying to prevent you from getting into trouble again. Next time, Red Deity won’t save us, and at that time, we’ll really die!”

Qin Mu raged, saying, “Fatty Dragon, you are mutinous too. During New Years, I will kill you and make a meal out of you!”

The phoenix ship increased its speed and traveled on.

In the hold of the ship, Qin Mu took out the piece of red creation divine stone. He had yet to carefully inspect this precious treasure after obtaining it.

This creation divine stone wasn’t big in size and was likely a broken piece from a complete creation divine stone. Wei Suifeng most likely obtained this treasure after searching through the ruins of the Blood Rust Zone.

Wei Suifeng knew of many secrets. This big senior brother had truly gone through great pains while trying to fulfill the criteria of gaining merits. Therefore, him leaving this piece of the creation divine stone for Qin Mu must have some deep meaning behind it.

Qin Mu placed the creation divine stone at the heart of his brows. He cleared his heart and mind of thoughts, and his consciousness surged towards it. At this very moment, something strange occurred!

The small bump at the heart of his brows suddenly moved abnormally, and a terrifying energy surged through and swept up all of his qi and blood, pushing them towards the heart of his brows!

Qin Mu was startled, and his face turned extremely pale all of a sudden. All of the blood in his body was surging towards the heart of his brows, and in a split second, his entire being became emaciated, and he resembled a shriveled corpse with bones wrapped in skin!

“Crap!”

He activated his vital qi to control the qi and blood flowing to the heart of his brows, but unexpectedly, it was actually better when he hadn’t used his vital qi. When he activated his vital qi, it instantly lost control and flowed towards the heart of his brow as well!

‘This creation divine stone that Big Senior Brother gave me, what is it exactly?’

Qin Mu felt his scalp turn numb. His emaciated palm was gripping the creation divine stone with all his strength, trying to resist the energy that was coming from the heart of his brows. That energy seemed to desperately want to obtain this creation divine stone, and it was guiding the divine stone to the heart of his brows.

This energy was so powerful that it was almost impossible for Qin Mu to hold on to the divine stone.

‘It’s not the heart of my brows that wants to obtain this divine stone, it’s actually this divine stone that wants to bury itself in the heart of my brows!’ Qin Mu came to a sudden realization.

The energy within his body belonged to himself, there wasn’t even energy of the Son of Youdu. Ever since he performed the groundbreaking feat of forging a divine soul to let himself be reborn, he had become extremely familiar with the energy within his own body.

At present, there was definitely no foreign energy within his body.

That being the case, the energy was definitely coming from the piece of creation divine stone!

It was the creation divine stone that shifted his qi and blood and his vital qi. This jewel wanted to bury itself into the heart of his brows and become his third eye!

Qin Mu resisted it with all his might. He opened his mouth, wanting to shout for Yan’er, but he was unable to make any sound.

He stretched out his other palm as he trembled, wanting to get hold of something to smash it and alert the dragon qilin and Yan’er who were guarding his door. However, he was unable to move his body and unable to mobilize any vital qi.

Even his primordial spirit was trapped within his body, and he was unable to mobilize it!

Suddenly, he felt an excruciating pain at the heart of his brows. The skin there tore open, and a bloody wound appeared.

Opposite Qin Mu was a mirror. He looked to the mirror and saw that the wound at the heart of his brows was inside out, but no blood was flowing from it.

The little bump in the heart of his brows finally revealed itself. It was an eye that appeared within the eye socket that belonged to his original third eye. His qi, blood, and vital qi surged forth, being sucked in frantically by this eye!

Qin Mu was rapidly losing his vital qi, qi, and blood. Although his qi, blood, and vital qi were incomparably dense, comparable to that of a real god, this eye was like a bottomless pit that was impossible to fill!

Qin Mu felt great terror within his heart. He had long had some guesses regarding the little bump at the heart of his brows, suspecting that the eye socket had grown another eye after he dug out his third eye.

After all, he was proficient in the art of creation, so regrowing a third eye was only too easy.

It was just that this little bump hadn’t stirred all this time. However, every time he activated the Overlord Body Three Elixir Technique or his vital qi circulated to the heart of his brows, he could faintly feel the vital qi, qi, and blood that flowed into the bump simply vanish.

It didn’t consume much, and Qin Mu was in a state where his cultivation was growing exponentially after he was reborn, so he hadn’t thought much of it.

Who would have imagined that when the creation divine stone drew his qi, blood, and vital qi to the heart of his brows, this premature eye would actually devour all of the qi and blood from his body?

‘I won’t be killed by my own eye, right?’

He felt chills down his spine and was gradually unable to control his palm. The creation divine stone in his hand was getting closer to his third eye. The divine stone seemed to have a mind of its own, and it was desperately trying to get into his forehead to force out his third eye and replace it!

‘Wei Suifeng, damn your a**… you always cause me to get into trouble!’

Qin Mu gritted his teeth, and his palms were trembling. It was getting harder for him to resist the energy coming from the divine stone.

His third eye finally finished devouring all of his qi, blood, and vital qi and was no longer able to obtain any more qi and blood from within his body. It was then that a force of energy burst out of the eye, and a ray of light shone out of it and onto the blood-colored divine stone.

This eye of his was actually trying to absorb the energy from the creation divine stone!

‘My eye is also a monster!’

Qin Mu quietly scolded. The third eye and the creation divine stone were fighting with one another—one wanted to take away the other’s energy, while the other wanted to squeeze the other one out to take its place.

Qin Mu moved his other palm with great difficulty and slowly shifted it to his own chest to tug down the jade pendant hung around his neck.

The jade pendant was the Qin jade pendant. When Qin Fengqing went to Carefree Village, he had handed it to Celestial Venerable You and entrusted her to pass it over to him. Qin Mu had it hung on his neck all this time.

Qin Mu gripped the jade pendant and slowly shifted it, finally coming near the heart of his brows. With great effort, he resisted the energies coming from his third eye and the creation divine stone, and with great difficulty, he shoved the jade pendant in-between the two.

This jade pendant was forged from the horn of Earth Count, so while it looked like a jade pendant, it was actually a piece of vast land that Earth Count had used to suppress Qin Fengqing.

With the jade pendant in-between his third eye and the creation divine stone, separating the two terrifying energies, Qin Mu was able to loosen his grip on the creation divine stone. His eye and the consciousness were no longer attracted to each other, and only then did he let out a sigh of relief.

At this very moment, the creation divine stone suddenly flew out of his hand and collided with the jade pendant. It was so unexpected that he couldn’t do anything!

Qin Mu’s eyes widened. He wanted to grab hold of the divine stone, but it had already crashed into his third eye with the jade pendant between them!

Light burst out from the heart of his brows, and the power contained within the jade pendant collided with the creation divine stone and his third eye. In an instant, Qin Mu’s consciousness was hit so hard that he fell into a daze, and following that, he fell backwards and became unconscious.

“Wei Suifeng, damn your a**…” he scolded right before he passed out, spitting out a breath with great difficulty.

“We have arrived at the place Light Emperor fell, increase all defenses!”

From the deck came the shouting sounds of various gods. The dragon qilin and Yan’er, who were both guarding outside the door, hurriedly ran out to view the final battlefield of this celestial emperor from the Crimson Light Era.

Only after the phoenix ship left the area did they return.

“This time around, Cult Master was quite well-behaved. He didn’t have as much curiosity as before.”

The dragon qilin laughed. “It’s truly rare. Cult Master should be kept in like this frequently so that his heart will become tamer.”

Yan’er shared the same sentiments.

Qin Mu laid flat in the hold of the ship, motionlessly. His breathing was weak, and at the heart of his brows, the competition between his third eye, jade pendant, and the creation divine stone was still ongoing.