Tales of Herding Gods

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Qin Mu held down the teleportation runes and looked into the depths of the blood sea. There was an abyss opening up and a woman in emerald green rising up from the blood sea. Both sides of the blood sea merged back behind her.

She wore a green colored dress, and the dress was embroidered with all kinds of leaves. Her hair was coiled up like the horns of a deer, and there was a circular halo behind her head. There was a sapling on her head, and it looks like a seed that had just sprouted out from moisturized land. There were two green and tender petals.

“Big sister.”

The teleportation runes around Qin Mu’s body moved slowly, but they weren’t activated. He asked with a smile, “How do I address big sister? What has Mother Earth invited me for?

The woman in the green dress walked towards him and stopped. “My name is Gongsun Yan, I’m a maid of Mother Earth. Mother Earth has instructed me to invite esteemed guest over, but she hasn’t told me the reason. Esteemed guest, please.”

Qin Mu jumped down from the head of the dragon qilin, and he signaled for Celestial Venerable Yu to remain on the back of the water qilin. “Sister Yan, your dress is so pretty.”

Gongsun Yan was delighted. “Is that true? I sewed this dress painstakingly, it took me quite some effort.”

Qin Mu followed her forward and said, “I’ve also heard of the reputation of Mother Earth for quite a long time, but I never had the opportunity to meet her. Sister Yan, how does Mother Earth know about me?”

Gongsun Yan led them passed the sea of blood, and she said, “I’m not sure about that. It might be Goddess of Heavenly Yin who mentioned you when she came to visit Mother Earth. Goddess of Heavenly Yin was assassinated by others during the end period of the Dragon Han Era, and Mother Earth was rather uneasy of something similar happening. However, Goddess of Heavenly Yin was revived, and she came to find Mother Earth on her own initiative. I was outside the palace at that time and couldn’t hear their conversation.”

Qin Mu let out a sigh of relief.

After Goddess of Heavenly Yin had revived, there was indeed a period of time that she wasn’t in Heavenly Yin World. Qin Mu had gone to Heavenly Yin World once to find her, but the divine arts practitioners of Heavenly Yin World said she was out visiting an old friend. That old friend should have been Mother Earth.

‘Goddess of Heavenly Yin must have told Mother Earth that I revived her, and she probably has something planned for asking Gongsun Yan to receive me this time.’

Qin Mu thought until here, and he said with a smile, “Sister Yan, on my way here, I saw numerous gods and devils heading here. There were also many half-gods rushing over here, making this journey rather dangerous. What is happening?”

Gongsun Yan brought them to the other shore of the blood sea, and they came ashore. However, they didn’t head for Jade Capital City. Instead, they walked around it, and Gongsun Yan said, “The Mother Earth Primordial Realm’s power is complicated now. Now that the Primordial Realm has reappeared, many powers are stirring, and they want to take advantage of the crisis. These gods and devils are from the many worlds under Mother Earth, and now they have snuck in with ill intentions. As for those half-gods, they aren’t summoned over by Mother Earth, someone faked the name of Mother Earth and summoned them over.”

Qin Mu’s heart jumped, and he cried out, “Someone faked the name of Mother Earth to summon the half-gods over?”

The water qilin was also shocked, and he hurriedly said, “Impossible! After I awakened, I could clearly feel that it was Mother Earth that was calling us! She is the ruler of the Primordial Realm, so the feeling of her summon can definitely not be wrong! Old Brother Dragon Qilin, didn’t you sense the call of Mother Earth?”

The dragon qilin said, “I felt it. However, I was plowing the fields at that time, so I ignored it.”

Qin Mu pondered and said, “Since it wasn’t Mother Earth who summoned the half-gods, who else can fake Mother Earth’s name to get the half-gods to come over? What kind of method did that person use to call the half-gods in the Primordial Realm? To allow everyone to hear that person’s call and not be able to differentiate between real or fake, it shouldn’t be simple, right?”

Gongsun Yan shook her head. “This isn’t something I can know. Ever since Mother Earth died, I’ve been waiting quietly in the earthly palace for the day she would be revived. I don’t know much about the affairs outside.”

Jade Capital City was extremely huge, and its land was vast. Furthermore, the Numinous Sky Hall was right in Jade Capital City. Terrifying waves came from them, and sometimes, powerful divine arts would explode and spread out from the Numinous Sky Hall as the center.

Qin Mu looked over, and he thought to himself, ‘The person who faked Mother Earth’s name should be in the Numinous Sky Hall, I just don’t know who it is. Exactly who is so daring to impersonate Mother Earth and gather the half-gods for his use? Heavenly Teacher Zi Xi must have gone there, I wonder if she would be in danger?’

He then shook his head. Even though Scholar’s abilities weren’t the highest among the four great heavenly teachers, she was the one who had the highest combat power with all of her abilities combined. Even Martial Arts Heavenly Teacher had suffered in her hands several times. He accepted the fact that she was able to be ranked in front of him.

Martial Arts Heavenly Teacher was an existence on Emperor’s Throne Realm. If even he admitted he was inferior, Heavenly Teacher Zi Xi was probably not in any danger.

They took a long detour until they came to a small mound.

On the small mound was a dilapidated temple, and the horizontal inscribed board stuck in the ground was a few words.

Qin Mu pulled out the board, and he wiped the dirt away. The writings were extremely ancient.

He looked at Celestial Venerable Yu, and Celestial Venerable Yu said, “Brother, these words read Temple of Mother Earth.”

Gongsun Yan walked into the dilapidated temple and hurried them. “Come quickly!”

Qin Mu hesitated for a moment before storing this board in his taotie sack. He thought to himself, ‘I’ll keep it first, maybe it will be useful.’

They walked into the temple, and the dilapidated temple wasn’t huge. However, it was very clean, and it was evident that someone had frequently been cleaning it. They were a few guest rooms at the side with their door closed.

“Is that where big sister usually stays?” asked Qin Mu.

Gongsun Yan nodded her head. “I usually stay here. There are also several fields behind the temple where fruits and vegetables are planted. The fruits that I’ve planted are very delicious. It’s a pity we are in a hurry, and I don’t have time to give you a taste. After we meet Mother Earth, I’ll pluck some for you.”

Qin Mu expressed his thanks.

This woman seemed to be lovable and simple-minded. She didn’t have any schemes, which made Qin Mu find it rather easy to get along with her.

Gongsun Yan went into the main hall of the temple. Qin Mu raised his head, and in front of him was the statue of a goddess. The goddess had a look of prosperity, and the corners of her lips were smiling.

Behind the god statue was an ancient tree sculpted in bronze. The statue stood under the tree.

Gongsun Yan paid her respects to the god statue, and the ground of the temple suddenly opened up to reveal a passage leading underground. Light could be faintly seen coming from the darkness.

Qin Mu examined the seal on the ground, and he thought to himself, ‘This kind of seal is slightly unpolished.’

Gongsun Yan said with a smile, “You are such a klutzy person, what’s nice to look at on the ground? Let’s go down!”

Qin Mu followed her. The dragon qilin hurriedly moved to Qin Mu’s back, and he was inseparable. He looked nervously at his surroundings, and on the other hand, the water qilin was rather brave. He carried Celestial Venerable Yu, and every step was very stable.

Qin Mu only felt that it wasn’t steps under his feet. Instead, it was an incomparably thick root.

This root was even thicker than the roads leading from Eternal Peace to West Earth. The root was covered with moss, and as they walked on the root, a footprint would light up on the soft moss every time they took a step. After moving over a dozen steps away, only then did the footprint gradually darken.

The dragon qilin and the water qilin were both very astonished. They jumped around on the root and left a series of hoof marks.

Celestial Venerable Yu also jumped down to play with them in joy. Suddenly, he missed a step and fell off the branch while letting out a mournful shriek.

Qin Mu shook his head. One strand of his hair grew as it swooped down against the wind. It coiled tightly around him before pulling him up.

Celestial Venerable Yu still hadn’t recovered from the shock, and he became much more obedient.

The tree roots spread out in all directions, and this underground didn’t seem like it was underground. On the contrary, it seemed like an incomparably vast space. However, the surroundings were dark, and Qin Mu couldn’t see the layout here.

He followed Gongsun Yan down underground, and the root led them to the border of the underground space.

But, as they headed down, the height of the stone wall made him slightly dumbfounded.

They came from one root to another, but they still hadn’t reached the bottom.

Suddenly, the dragon qilin cried out and hid behind Qin Mu.

Qin Mu looked over and saw numerous incomparably ancient roots weaving around each other not far away, forming a knot.

In the center of that knot, there was a huge black coffin lying there quietly. Terrifying god might could be faintly felt coming from the stone coffin.

And in front of the stone coffin, there were six types of stone statues which were qilin, lion, camel, horse, white elephant, and xiezhi. Each of them was in a pair, and twelve stone statues were standing on the root in front of the coffin.

‘The specification of an imperial tomb?’

Qin Mu’s heart trembled slightly. “Could it be Mother Earth who is inside this stone coffin?”

The black stone coffin was fifty yards high, twenty-five yards wide, and a hundred and fifty yards long.

“That is the tomb of a High Emperor, inside is the first High Emperor.”

Gongsun Yan bowed respectfully to the stone coffin and whispered, “First High Emperor’s temper isn’t very good, let’s not disturb him and pass by quietly.”

The dragon qilin felt a shiver down his spine, and he tucked his huge dragon tail between his legs as he tiptoed forward. He muttered under his breath, “Not a very good temper, could he still jump out of the coffin…”

They passed by the stone coffin, and the stone statues suddenly turned their heads. They stared at them with their solemn and vicious gazes, moving their gazes as their bodies moved. Only when they had left did these stone statues turn their heads back to look at each other.

They walked another stretch and saw another huge stone coffin being coiled by the root. It hung at a place that wasn’t touching the sky or the ground.

There were also twelve stone statues in front of the stone coffin, and these stone statues had the heads of birds and bodies of humans. There were wings on their backs, and they stood with one leg. Some bird heads were vermillion birds, some were phoenixes, and some were even dragon heads with beaks. Furthermore, some bird heads had a different number of heads.

“This is the tomb of Second High Emperor.”

Gongsun Yan whispered, “He doesn’t have a good temper either, lower your voices.”

Those bird-headed statues stared at all of them as they tiptoed across.

Then, they saw the third black stone coffin and two rows of god statues again.

Qin Mu couldn’t resist asking, “Sister Yan, how many High Emperors were there in the High Emperor Era?”

“Fourteen.”

Gongsun Yan suppressed her voice and said, “There are nine laid to rest here, and the rest died outside. Their corpses got snatched away to be refined into treasures, so they couldn’t be retrieved.”

Qin Mu had a weird expression. After a moment, he tried to ask, “Do all of the High Emperors have a bad temper?”

“Yep.”

Gongsun Yan nodded her head. “It’s fine if they have a bad temper, even those guardian beasts have a bad temper. They see me as a thief every time I come here.”

Qin Mu could only continue to tiptoe forward. Finally, they walked past nine black coffins. The tombs of the High Emperors had all been chosen here. The coffins were all coiled by the roots, and they didn’t know what kind of tradition it was in the High Emperor Era.

“Aren’t gods supposed to be immortal? Why did these High Emperors pass away?” asked Qin Mu.

“They got beaten to death.”

Gongsun Yan whispered, “Lower your voice, they can hear. If they hear you, they will jump out to beat you! Their souls have been seized back from Youdu by Mother Earth, they are locked in the coffin now!”

Qin Mu felt apprehensive, and he asked with a low voice, “What kind of person could kill the past High Emperors?”

“Even Mother Earth was killed, much less them.”

Gongsun Yan said, “The High Emperor Era was very chaotic… We are here at Mother Earth’s palace!”

The light in front was dazzling, and a palace was being lifted in the air by roots from all directions. The palace was the one glowing.

When they arrived at the front of the palace, only then could they see how vast and majestic it was. The marble pillars of the palace were carved with stone dragons, and there were also stone statues of bird-headed gods. The ridge of the palace also had all kinds of stone statues of various strangely-shaped divine beasts. On top of the door was the sculpture of a water dragon, while on the window was the relief sculptures of phoenixes.

Qin Mu and Gongsun Yan walked in front, and suddenly they saw those stone dragons actually swirling around. Next, the stone dragons actually transformed into bodies of flesh and blood. Out of the blue, a huge dragon head hung in front of their faces!

That was an old dragon that had blurry eyes. His dragon whiskers floated, and he said with a muffled voice, “I smell strangers.”

“They are Mother Earth’s guests.”

Gongsun Yan hurriedly said, “May Dragon King please give way.”

Flapping sounds suddenly came from the windowsill as a phoenix flew out to land in front of Qin Mu and the rest. With flames flowing throughout its body, it was numerous yards tall. Folding back its wings, it stared attentively at Qin Mu and the rest. “Mother Earth’s guests? Could they be spies of Old Man Celestial Emperor?”

At this moment, a profound consciousness came from the inside of the palace. “He’s invited by me… Eh? Celestial Venerable Yu!”

That consciousness was astonished as though she saw a ghost.

Celestial Venerable Yu was at a loss.