Tales of Herding Gods

New palace maids replaced the old one in the Jade Pool. The new ones were even more attentive and even better at serving people than Yan’er. Their faces were decked with smiles, and their postures were delicate and elegant. They were diligent and fast, able to fulfill any requests.

Qin Mu knew that these palace maids were so cautious because, after seeing the death of the previous maids, they worried about their own lives. Although he wanted to, he was too powerless to reform the celestial heavens now.

After those shocking unforeseen circumstances the day before, the celestial heavens returned to being just as peaceful and harmonious as usual. Although the incident caused a great ruckus, no one in the celestial heavens talked about it, acting as if nothing had happened.

The ruckus caused by the Jade Pool incident was too large to be completely covered up. The reason people didn’t talk about it was that they didn’t dare to.

Nevertheless, people with keen eyes in the celestial heavens could see the situation.

Although the celestial heavens seemed unbreakable, the incident at the Jade Pool showed that the celestial heavens had been in a dilapidated state for some time. At any moment, the celestial heavens could fracture.

The arrival of Celestial Venerable Mu only accelerated said process and sharpened the originally hidden conflicts to the point that moderation became impossible.

Most people’s focus was still on the Jade Pool incident. This was the first big event caused by Celestial Venerable Mu’s arrival, and it had already split the celestial heavens!

The incident at the Jade Pool was the first eruption of the dark undercurrents in the celestial heavens.

There would be a second and a third time after the first, and the conflicts would grow to be sharper and sharper until things got out of hand!

The Jade Pool quieted down until two days later, when the great great grandmother of the Yun family led the widows of the Yun family to the Jade Pool, claiming to be there to visit Yun Jianli.

This great ancestor of Yun Jianli’s was the wife of Celestial Venerable Yun and the Celestial Empress of the Heaven Han Celestial Heavens during the Dragon Han Era. After the defeat of the Heaven Han Celestial Heavens, people either died, fell, or escaped. From Celestial Venerable Yun’s bloodline, only she escaped whilst being pregnant with a son.

Due to the status of Celestial Venerable Yun, the Dragon Han Celestial Heavens didn’t trouble her, and Celestial Emperor received them into the celestial heavens. He built the Yun residence and made her Mistress Yunxiao.

Then, the bloodline curse of the Yun family emerged, and the males of the family died after growing up, generation after generation. This left a lot of widows behind in the family.

Although many widows remarried, many stayed. Thus, there were many tough ladies in the Yun family who were especially protective of the males of the Yun family.

The scribe of the celestial heavens came along with Mistress Yunxiao and the others to record down the meeting. Celestial Venerable Mu personally received Mistress Yunxiao, and both of them held an intimate meeting in the Slow Winding Pavilion to engage in friendly discussion. They exchanged their opinions on the peace and prosperity the celestial heavens was experiencing today.

In actuality, Mistress Yunxiao was ferocious and was the first to interrogate Qin Mu. She wanted to imprison Yun Jianli at the Yun residence before complaining about how Celestial Venerable Mu put Yun Jianli in danger. Even Yun Jianli’s wife struck out against Qin Mu in the hopes of beating up the Celestial Venerable as a warning.

This was the scribe’s idea of a friendly exchange.

The scribe, who had a headache induced by the bickering of these ladies, didn’t record much down, especially after Qi Jiuyi invited him for some drinks.

It was only when these tough ladies heard that Qin Mu had eradicated the bloodline curse of the Yun family that their anger turned to happiness, and they soon apologized to Qin Mu.

As for the idea that both sides exchanged opinions on the celestial heavens’ prosperity, in reality, it was more of Qin Mu hearing from Mistress Yunxiao about the various factions within the celestial heavens. The widows of the Yun family were gossipers who leaked everything about every palace and hall of the celestial heavens.

The scribe of the celestial heavens was intoxicated due to Qi Jiuyi and the dragon qilin’s drinks and thus resorted to recording the incident with sublime words of deep meaning.

Mistress Yunxiao once again led the women of the Yun family back to the Yun residence after hugging Yun Jianli along. The Yun family was happy after Qin Mu eradicated the young lad’s bloodline curse.

This time, the master of creation hiding in the celestial heavens didn’t appear.

“Celestial Venerable Mu, my husband actually wanted to see you again.”

Mistress Yunxiao actually still looked young. She merely pretended to be old by wearing a gold crown with a phoenix’s tail, clutching a dragon head staff, and dying her hair white. Trying to seem old, she glanced at the Yun family’s widows, and they immediately surrounded and trapped the scribe.

The scribe wanted to move forward and listen in on Mistress Yunxiao and Qin Mu’s conversation, but he was trapped by the Yun family’s widows and became secretly anxious as a result.

They talked while walking as Mistress Yunxiao explained, “My husband waited for Celestial Venerable Mu, you, to show up again for his entire life. He often talked about establishing rules for the Heaven Alliance—that one couldn’t be too nice to bad people or too bad to good people, and that one must treat good people even better and bad people even worse. Yet, he couldn’t put it into action because, before he died, he realized that the Heaven Alliance had begun to treat bad people too nice and good people too bad.”

Qin Mu looked down at the road before looking back up and remarking, “Although it’s easy to say such a thing, it’s hard to carry it out. People are always too critical of good people and too tolerant of bad people.”

“He left behind an item that he wanted me to give to you.”

Mistress Yunxiao continued, “I was pregnant when I painstakingly escaped the Heaven Han Celestial Heavens. I had a hard time protecting myself, and even if I lived, I couldn’t protect that item. Thus, I entrusted it to Dao Ancestor, who was an exceptionally good friend of my husband, which made depositing the item with him the safest option.”

“Dao Ancestor?”

Qin Mu stopped and asked, “Madam entrusted the item to Dao Ancestor? What was it that Celestial Venerable Yun left behind?”

Mistress Yunxiao replied, “It was a case, but I don’t know what was inside since I never opened it.”

Qin Mu nodded and continued, “Celestial Venerable Yun was an intelligent person with great foresight that I cannot match. What he left behind must have an in-depth meaning. It’s unfortunate that when I returned to the Dragon Han Celestial Heavens, I was too busy to talk to him in detail. Who would have thought that would be the last time we met.”

Mistress Yunxiao changed the topic and said, “Just now, Jianli said that he plans to head down, which I don’t agree with. The lower bounds are too dangerous! It was hard for him to rid himself of the bloodline curse, and now, he wants to seek death in the lower bounds! He’ll basically be cutting the bloodline of the Yun family! Celestial Venerable Mu you are close to him, please help me talk him out of it.”

Qin Mu smiled. “Madam, which do you feel is safer, the celestial heavens or the lower bounds?”

“Of course, it’s the celestial…”

Mistress Yunxiao was stunned as she realized Qin Mu’s point. Still, she pointed out, “Accompanying kings is akin to accompanying tigers. There are ten Celestial Venerables in the celestial heavens, which increases the danger by tenfold. Even then, the lower bounds are filled with danger. There’s no future there. If the celestial heavens decided to activate disasters there again, his presence there would put him in danger.”

Qin Mu glanced at her as he suggested, “Wouldn’t it be safe if we overthrew the celestial heavens? Nestlings eventually have to fly out of their nests. In my opinion, he isn’t one, as he has a lot of ambition and baggage. Not to mention, he showed proper restraint and expediency when being with Celestial Empress. I have to say, Madam, you don’t need to restrain him anymore.”

“You know that Yun Chuxiu is Celestial Empress?”

Mistress Yunxiao became nervous as she kneeled down, sighing. “I really don’t want Yun Jianli to walk down the path of his ancestor. Finally, the Yun family has a child that can live long enough. Nevertheless, Celestial Venerable is the beneficiary of the Yun family, and thus I shall entrust Jianli’s life to you!”

Qin Mu returned the favor hastily. “Please don’t do this Madam, I don’t deserve this!”

Both of them rose as Qin Mu smiled. “Yun Jianli’s a genius of this world. After heading down, he will definitely grow beyond your imagination. There’s no need to worry, Madam.”

Mistress Yunxiao continued, “I wish for him to revive the Yun family and restore his ancestor’s achievements, but I don’t want him to die. Celestial Venerable Mu, you boys always have all sorts of ambitions and ideals. I don’t understand all of this. All I can do is silently support you boys. Farewell.”

Qin Mu sent her off.

The ladies of the Yun family left as well, while Yun Jianli and Yun Chuxiu stayed at the Jade Pool.

Qin Mu fell into deep thought. ‘Celestial Venerable Yun left behind a case for me at Dao Ancestor’s place. Is Dao Ancestor still the sloppy Daoist from the previous Jade Pool Meeting? Is he still a Dao friend of Celestial Venerable Yun? Was he lost in the power and luxury that the celestial heavens provides?’

After much thinking, he finally made up his mind.

He was going to see this old sloppy Daoist no matter what!

“To see Dao Ancestor directly via the celestial heavens’ Dao Sect would be too obvious and traceable, which would likely give Dao Ancestor trouble,” Qin Mu groaned before setting up a plan.

“After the Jade Pool incident, you still dare to go outside? Are you not afraid of being beaten to death?”

Qi Jiuyi wasn’t comfortable with this idea and scolded Qin Mu, “You want to go out by yourself, leaving me, Second Brother, and Sister Yan’er to watch you die by yourself!”

The dragon qilin walked behind Qin Mu, while Yan’er morphed herself into a fat bird that stood on the dragon qilin’s head, then looked back at Qi Jiuyi.

Qi Jiuyi was furious as he rushed forward angrily, refusing to speak as a solemn expression adorned his face.

Curiously, Yun Jianli looked at him and said, “Are you not a follower of the Celestial Venerable? How can you talk to him like this?”

He didn’t know that Qi Jiuyi and Qin Mu had never had an amicable relationship. The fact that they didn’t fight was already giving a lot of face to Second Brother.

Yun Chuxiu gently suggested, “Brother Jiu, it’s a good thing to be out sometimes. Although the scenery of the Jade Pool is beautiful, after some time, it gets boring. You should accompany him to walk around.”

After being called Brother Jiu, Qi Jiuyi’s bones became weak, his soul flew, and his heart was filled with sweetness. ‘This demoness is indeed powerful, my Dao heart… Screw the Dao heart!’

Yun Jianli followed them, asking, “Where do you intend to go, Celestial Venerable?”

Qin Mu’s eyes flashed as he laughed and said, “So many strong practitioners visited me during the Jade Pool incident. If I don’t return the visits, I will be criticized as being ill-mannered.”

Yun Jianli was shocked, and Qi Jiuyi and Yan’er couldn’t help but feel chills down their spines. Qin Mu was planning to visit the beings who aimed to assassinate him! How daring!

Only Yun Chuxiu wasn’t afraid. Instead, she was extremely cheerful.

“Out of the strong practitioners who attacked the Jade Pool, who is the closest?” Qin Mu inquired.

Yun Jianli and Qi Jiuyi looked at each other, keeping silent. Yun Chuxiu quickly replied, “I know, I know. The closest one to the Jade Pool is Celestial Venerable Lang, God Emperor Lang Xuan in the Lang Xuan Divine Palace. God Emperor Lang Xuan has students from around the world. His palace is also an important ground of the celestial heavens and is extremely magnificent!”

Qi Jiuyi’s expression changed rapidly before he repeatedly said, “No, we can’t go to Lang Xuan Divine Palace…”

“Brother Jiu…” Yun Chuxiu blinked her beautiful sparkling eyes at him, intoxicating him with her beauty.

Qi Jiuyi was confused and, without realizing it, said, “Alright, let’s go to Lang Xuan Divine Palace.”

After they left the Jade Pool, they soon arrived at Celestial Street. The celestial heavens’ market was extremely lively and was a part of the Heavenly Market. Although the celestial heavens was pretty high up, the gods weren’t entirely self-sufficient since they still had to feed their large families. Hence, the market was important.

There were a lot of half-gods within Celestial Street, on top of people from many races, including humans. It was just that the half-gods outnumbered everyone else.

It was spacious, and there was an endless stream of cars and horses. Business was clearly good. However, just as Qin Mu and his gang approached, the people there suddenly stopped to look at him. It was as if time has stopped.

In the next moment, all sorts of alarms went off. Carts rolled and horses ran away as one divine beam after another flew in all directions. Celestial Street immediately became empty, with not a single soul present.

Shocked, Qin Mu looked at both sides of the street. The shops of the celestial realms had also closed shut.

A person who was five feet tall acted somewhat slowly and was thus locked out. He hammered a door loudly in desperation, crying miserably.

Qin Mu walked forward, concerned. “Brother…”

“Save me!”

The dwarf cried uncontrollably when he saw Qin Mu approaching him. He leaned against the shop door, desiring shelter in the shop, then started begging, “I don’t want to die here!”

Qin Mu became even more shocked as the door suddenly opened. The dwarf fell into the shop before it was shut immediately. The door and windows were locked tight.

“Thanks for the rescue!”

Inside the shop, the dwarf said, “You are akin to my second parent for rescuing me. I will never forget it!”

Within the shop, someone chided him, saying, “You certainly are daring, not running after seeing the plague god and instead choosing to cry and almost implicating us!”

The dwarf explained, “I was so scared that my legs became jelly, and I couldn’t run…”

“Silence! If someone assassinates this pestilence, everyone on this street will be silenced!”