Tales of Herding Gods

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

“What are those human emperors doing again? Why is it so bustling?” In Fengdu City, King Yama stood in front of Hall of King Qin and looked into the city. He could see palaces collapsing one after another, and asked suspiciously, “Are the disciples beating the masters again? The beatings look quite ruthless…”

A huge bird flew over and landed on the ground to transform into Bird-Headed God Chi Xiu. He pruned his feathers and shook his head. “King Yama has guessed wrong. It’s not disciples beating up the masters, but the masters ganging up with the ancestors to beat the last disciple. Human Emperor Su has come back and got beaten up by his master, grand-master, and all the ancestors. He is getting beaten quite miserably, but he can’t die even if he wanted.”

King Yama was quite astonished. “They have changed the rules?”

“I also don’t know, but it seems to be about the overlord body. Human Emperor Su brought an inscription and said that it’s the legend of the overlord body from forty thousand years ago. Second Ancestor and the rest had smiled while listening, but after that, they surrounded him and started beating him up.”

God Chi Xiu paused for a moment. “After that, when Human Emperor Su resisted, he got beaten up even more miserably. They talked about how he deceived the masters and ancestors, how he schemed them and allowed the little human emperor to beat them. I only heard bits and pieces, but Human Emperor Su is getting beaten quite badly.

“The other gods and devils don’t dare to go forward to break up the fight. The cult masters of Heavenly Saint Cult are even cheering on the fight and wishing for the whole world to be in chaos. Should I stop them?”

King Yama was silent for a moment. “No need for that. If you go and stop them, they will gang up on you.”

Deep in the night, it was still extremely lively in the darkness of Great Ruins. Countless monsters appeared while Xing An hurried past them. The divine light around his body forced back the invasion of the dark substances as he headed toward the location Ling Yuxiu had marked.

His mind trembled when he saw a huge sealed space. Pieces of forest were located up, down, left, and right of the gigantic cube, covering its every side. Meanwhile, in the sealed space, there was a humongous ship that was countless times larger than Sun Ship and Moon Ship!

It was the huge ship forged by Heavenly Works God Race of Founding Emperor Celestial Heavens to head toward Carefree Village, Paramita Ark!

This ship was tattered, which made it evident that a bloody battle had happened on it. That was the reason why the ship was destroyed and could no longer advance!

Xing An could see the danger, and he hesitated slightly. In the end though, he still stepped inside.

He was the strongest existence in the current world, so even though he had seen the danger, he was confident that he could leave it easily!

Not long later, he came to the little village in the forest, and Xing An’s mind trembled. He indeed saw the pictures that were similar to the jade pendant. “The little princess of Ling Family didn’t lie to me!”

At that moment, he discovered that he was not the only one there.

The door of a courtyard was open, and he saw someone’s back there.

‘This is the person I’m looking for?’

Xing An couldn’t help growing excited. He took out his mirror and turned around to point it at that person. The man turned around, revealing his face full of wrinkles. He smiled at him. “Ah ah!”

Xing An was slightly stunned. It was an elder and not the person he was looking for. The elder was carrying a chest and had an iron forging furnace nearby.

“You are very strong.” Xing An turned to face him with a calm expression. “You have made me feel the delight in seeing a prey after noticing the boundless energy in your body. It’s extremely terrifying! You might be the most terrifying opponent I’ve met in recent years.”

“Ah ah!” The elder’s face wrinkled like the skin of a tangerine. He smiled happily and signaled twice.

Xing An didn’t understand and talked by himself. “I want to collect you very much. Show me your strongest moves and let me see your abilities.”

Boom!

The furnace beside the elder blazed, and flames rushed over ten miles into the sky. Xing An instantly felt the space burning, but the most terrifying thing wasn’t that furnace. The threat came from the body of the elder.

His dantian suddenly burst forth with dazzling light, like a small sun exploding with incomparable energy!

Xing An was excited when he saw a divine bridge behind the elder stretching into the sky. On it was his primordial spirit that had a bird’s head and a human’s body while extreme heat energy radiated off it. The primordial spirit leaped up and crossed the bridge, entering the celestial heavens above it.

Boom!

The magic power of the elder exploded violently once again, and the blazing heat could warp the space. Suddenly, the chest opened by itself, and countless silver pellets flew out like flowing water. They covered the elder’s body and instantly turned him into a general clad in silver armor. Two silver lights became two huge hammers which smashed toward Xing An!

When the hammer hit him, Xing An felt like an obstinate iron on an iron felt. He was being forged into a form that the elder wanted!

“How strong! Your dantian is even stronger than the god realm’s dantians I collected from the other strong practitioners!”

Xing An was ineffably excited. He raised his hand and ripples swirled. An apparition of a vast sea appeared behind his body, and sounds of waves rushed into the sky. He took the strike head on and was blown out of the little village. The elder rushed after him, his huge hammers rising and falling as they attacked.

The two people fought among the mountains and forests, moving and attacking non-stop. Xing An laughed loudly.

“Superb body, superb dantian! I will definitely add you to my collection! Yin alone or Yang alone cannot result in longevity. The path you took is the path of pure yang which is fierce and overbearing, but that has difficulty in lasting long! Your strength to taking too big of a toll on your corporeal body which resulted in you looking so old.

“Unless you refine your corporeal body to the god realm, you won’t be able to endure the divine might of the dantian great furnace. If you continue fighting like this, you will definitely exceed the limits of your body. You are bound to lose!”

At that moment, the elder was already finding it hard to continue anymore. He suddenly pulled back his hammers, and the silver armor flowed down to his legs to become a silver horse, which he then rode away.

Xing An hurriedly gave chase, but his feet suddenly stepped into emptiness. They had come to the space of Parimita Ark, and everywhere were shattered pieces of the ark which were incomparably huge.

Xing An saw the speed of the silver horse under the elder’s hip slowing down and understood just how strong was the dantian of the person before him. It had already harmed the man’s body, however, so he couldn’t endure any longer.

Xing An gave chase once more.

After a moment, cold sweat rolled off his forehead. He had lost all track of the elder and found himself trapped in a dangerous place. Seals were everywhere, and it made it hard for him to tread around.

Suddenly, the elder appeared again, sitting at the bow of a small, silver boat. From somewhere, he had even gotten a bamboo hat.

Xing An composed himself as the corner of his eye twitched. He wanted to rush over, but he was blocked by a seal that was floating in space.

The elder grinned at him, revealing his lack of tongue. He did a cutting gesture over his neck, and his small, silver boat sailed away.

Xing An flew into a fury, but he suddenly felt that the elder’s smile was slightly familiar. He seemed to have seen it somewhere before.

‘This smile, I’ve definitely seen it before, definitely…’

He calmed himself down and threw the smile of that elder to the back of his head. He focused on finding the path out, but just as he was about to solve the first talisman seal, Qin Mu’s smile suddenly flashed across his mind and overlapped with the smile of the mute elder. He grew flustered and was then struck away by the talisman seal.

Qin Mu’s smiles and the mute elder’s smile overlapped nearly perfectly. The only difference was that Qin Mu’s smile was sincere while that mute elder’s smile had a hint of craftiness!

“I…” Xing An’s god blood rose up to his throat, but was forced back down by him. “I won’t be angry, I won’t be angry. I will definitely not let him spoil my Dao heart. I— Euargh”

He still couldn’t resist puking out a mouthful of god blood. With the expression of defeat, he let out an angry roar. “Divine Physician Qin, I will never let you off!”

Qin Mu followed the light that was guiding the way and walked out of Great Ruins. As he continued on his journey, he walked to the southern borders of Eternal Peace. There were numerous bugs and snakes there, and people were scarce. The further he walked, the more desolate it became.

Finally, slightly after dawn, the guiding light formed a door that wasn’t very big before him on one of the mountaintops.

There were no other doors formed by light on the small mountaintop. Qin Mu looked around and saw barren mountains and wild lands. There were no people here, only empty terrain.

The dragon qilin raised his head to examine the surroundings. When he saw the sun coming up, he couldn’t help cheering up. “Cult Master, it’s daybreak, time for breakfast…”

Qin Mu pushed open the door, and it opened with light shining out from inside. He walked into that light.

The dragon qilin hurried in after him. Their figures vanished, and the door of light became dimmer and dimmer before vanishing.

After a moment, Qin Mu appeared on a desolate land. The emptiness earlier was nothing compared to what he saw now.

In front of him were collapsed sacred halls with fog covering everything. Hidden by it were slabs of tombstones with burial mounds behind them. The broken fences and dilapidated walls struck deep into Qin Mu’s heart.

In the distance, there was a palace standing tall alone in the fog.

Qin Mu went forward while looking around. The space was extremely vast, but the countless tombstones in the fog were the only scenery of Hall of Human Emperors.

He came to the first burial mound and looked at the tombstone. On it was written: Celestial Heavens West General Wei Ming. Beside the tombstone was a shield dyed with blood.

Qin Mu came to the second burial mound with words: Celestial Heavens Brave Tiger Guards High Official Ding Yunhe. Under the tombstone was a helmet.

He continued to walk forward in complete silence. Even the dragon qilin who was clamoring for breakfast didn’t dare to speak. He shrunk his tail back and suddenly lifted the chest hide inside it; he didn’t dare to show his face.

Qin Mu checked tombstone by tombstone, but many of them weren’t even carved. The person that had erected the tombstones had probably not known their names.

Both named and unnamed tombs paved a way that led to Hall of Human Emperors which stood in the fog.

It was hard to say how much later it was when Qin Mu finally came close to it. Before his eyes, a straw hut took form. Inside it, a dried up skeleton sat with its skull hanging down. Beside him was a collapsed tombstone. Even though only the bones were left, Qin Mu could still see that the person had possessed a tall and sturdy physique. The knuckles on his hands were thick and big, so he should have been skilled in mudra skills, palm skills, and fist skills.

Qin Mu dusted off the dirt on the stone tablet and couldn’t help being stunned.

The words on it were: Human Emperor Qi Kang. Seeing how I’ve achieved nothing in my life, I’m too ashamed to erect a tombstone for myself and I’m too ashamed to meet my ancestors. I shall die in this straw hut and not bury my bones.

Qin Mu opened the chest and took out some candles, paper money, and offerings. He offered incense and sacrifices to Human Emperor Qi Kang with respect.

He walked out of the straw hut and saw another one nearby. Inside it was a few severed arms and legs near a tombstone that had fallen over. On it was only the word Su written with a sword. It had been carved halfway before the broken sword was stabbed into the tombstone, leaving the character unfinished.

Qin Mu looked at the severed arms and legs. At the severed parts, there were sword wounds, and the corners of his eyes trembled. He then paid his respects.

“Village Chief!”

He knew that Village Chief had come here once wanting to end his life, but since he had not passed down Human Emperor’s Seal, he couldn’t do it. Because of that, he had only buried his severed arms and legs.

He hadn’t even dared to write his name as he hadn’t left his inheritance behind at that time.

Qin Mu came to the third straw hut where he saw a skeleton that was only five feet tall. It was Human Emperor Yi Shan.

On the tombstone, there were only a few simple words.

Human Emperor Yi Shan, defeated by High Heaven. I’ve no face to bury myself and meet my teacher. The later generation doesn’t need to pay their respects to me.

Qin Mu came to the fourth straw hut where he found another skeleton. It held a flower basket in its hand.

Human Emperor Lan Po. I’ve achieved nothing in my life, and I’m ashamed to have failed my teacher’s teachings…

Qin Mu entered each and every straw hut to pay his respects. He witnessed the twenty thousand years of history of Hall of Human Emperors. He had met all the human emperors in Fengdu where they were scolding and beating their own masters, not getting along well. However, over here in the straw huts of Hall of Human Emperors, Qin Mu saw their respect for their teachers and the remorse of their own failures.

He came to the far end of Hall of Human Emperors and saw the view of a back.