Tales of Herding Gods

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Crimson Emperor, Brahma Buddha, and Heaven Duke were still speechless. The aura was terrifyingly solemn.

Great Sun Sovereign pulled his head back, though he would examine everyone from time to time. He thought to himself, ‘I feel like the things I know are increasing. I was shot in the back by an arrow when I was alive because I knew too much. Now that I know even more, will I be eliminated again?’

“Celestial Empress is Jue Wuchen, Jue Wuchen is Celestial Empress, what a great scheme.”

Old Buddha sighed and said righteously, “Let me sort out the cause and effect of this incident. Celestial Empress returned to her hometown and came to the Ruins of End, where Dragon Count Country rebelled. Celestial Empress was assaulted. The Feathered Forest Guards came to rescue her and investigate the incident where Celestial Empress was assaulted. The Feathered Forest Guards quelled the rebellion, and then Celestial Empress was attacked a second time, in which she faked her death to escape. The Feathered Forest Guards time-traveled. Jue Wuchen was born, and Celestial Empress entered Jue Wuchen’s body to seduce Celestial Emperor.”

“Celestial Emperor reincarnated, and so Celestial Venerable Yun, Celestial Venerable Hao, and Jue Wuchen assassinated him. The two celestial venerables then rushed to the celestial heavens to seize Celestial Emperor’s corporeal body, while Celestial Empress abandoned Jue Wuchen’s corporeal body to bury this body with her true body, placing them on the ship where the Feathered Forest Guards had time-traveled.

“This is my current guess of the truth. Heaven Duke, Earth Count, Crimson Emperor, Sun Sovereign, is there anything you guys want to add?”

Everyone shook their heads.

Old Buddha said calmly, “Now here comes the problem. Celestial Empress must have determined the plan to kill Celestial Emperor before heading to the Ruins of End, so why did Dragon Count Country rebel? Why did they rebel right as she returned to the Ruins of End? It was an utterly dumb move of Dragon Count Country to take Celestial Empress as a hostage to threaten Celestial Emperor, as it was easy for Celestial Emperor to wipe out Dragon Count Country. In that case, was Dragon Count a pawn of Celestial Empress? This is one.”

“Secondly, Celestial Empress once came onto this ghost ship to bury Jue Wuchen and put her body together with her own corporeal body. So how did she leave this ghost ship? If she didn’t come personally and sent someone else instead, is this person still on the ship?”

“Thirdly, if both the corporeal bodies of Celestial Empress and Jue Wuchen are here, where would she go without these two bodies? And who is that celestial empress in the celestial heavens?”

He voiced out his suspicions, and everyone frowned.

Old Buddha had asked important questions, but no one could solve his doubts.

Heaven Duke said to Earth Count, “It’s interesting to hide in the heart of his brows, right? We can see and listen to many things we didn’t know in the past.”

Earth Count nodded. “However, knowing so much also makes me tremble with fear.”

Old Buddha stretched his back, and his body gradually rose upwards. “I shall take a nap in the sky first, take care.”

Crimson Emperor instantly sensed something bad, and he hurriedly turned his head back only to see the big-headed baby, Qin Fengqing, looking at them maliciously while dragging his Slaughter Cauldron.

The devil nature in the Slaughter Cauldron became fiercer and fiercer. Faces without any thickness appeared in the devil qi and swirled around the big-headed baby.

“Ah Chou,” they called out at Qin Fengqing.

“Old Buddha, come down!”

Heaven Duke said loudly, “We can still suppress this chubby kid if we work together!”

Brahma Buddha yawned, and he laid down while saying leisurely, “We can’t beat him now. I shall take a nap first, good luck to you.”

On the outside, Qin Mu’s gaze twinkled. What Village Chief had thought was also what he had thought. Jue Wuchen was Celestial Empress.

As the empress of Celestial Emperor, she knew Celestial Emperor’s nature well, even more than Celestial Emperor himself did. Only then was she able to lay out this trap for Celestial Emperor.

“Since the Heaven Alliance’s Celestial Venerable Yun participated, what about Celestial Venerable Ling?”

Qin Mu was still in a daze. Jue Wuchen’s beauty was unmatched, and in order to create such a body, one would probably need to have extraordinary comprehension in the art of creation.

The only one in the Dragon Han Era to possess such a profound art of creation was probably Celestial Venerable Ling.

Furthermore, the time travel incident of the Feathered Forest Guards was also because they had encountered Celestial Venerable Ling casting her spell during their journey, turning them into a ghost ship that could travel through time.

This was also the reason why the Feathered Forest Guards didn’t manage to bring Celestial Empress’ corporeal body back. The evidence of this ship had just completely vanished.

Celestial Venerable Ling’s appearance on the Celestial River was simply too much of a coincidence, so he couldn’t help connecting the dots.

‘Maybe Celestial Venerable Ling imparted her divine art to Celestial Venerable Yun. After all, he is still the leader of Heaven Alliance…’

He consoled himself and said, “Maybe things aren’t as bad as I’ve imagined them to be…”

Village Chief’s injuries were slightly better, and he forced himself to get up. “When you summoned the soul, Celestial Empress should have sensed you, so she can most likely find you. We can’t stay here for long…”

He frowned once again. Now that they were trapped on this ghost ship, there was no way for them to leave.

“Village Chief, don’t worry. Celestial Empress can’t find her way here.”

Qin Mu took out some spirit pills and started to refine spirit pills on the spot to treat his injuries. He said with a smile, “Celestial Empress has remarkable abilities, but the Feathered Forest Ghost Ship can time travel. When she finds her way here, this ship will be in some other year already.”

Village Chief was stunned, and he relaxed. “This ship is so peculiar and filled with dangers. How are we supposed to leave here?”

“Village Chief doesn’t have to worry.”

Qin Mu finished refining his spirit pills and let him consume them to catalyze the medicinal energy. “It isn’t impossible to solve the Feathered Forest Ghost Ship. This ship must be located in a strange divine art, and this divine art is most likely a divine art that I created with Celestial Venerable Ling when I was Celestial Venerable Mu. However, it was only in the fledgling stage then. I need to find more clues in order to solve this divine art.”

Village Chief said with a smile, “In our village, the one who is the most knowledgeable now is you, you have not failed our teachings. Since it’s a divine art that you created with that Celestial Venerable Ling or something, it shouldn’t be too difficult… Wait a minute, what did you just say? Celestial Venerable Mu? What Celestial Venerable Mu?”

Qin Mu smiled, and he told Village Chief about how he had traveled back in time with Founding Emperor to the ancient Dragon Han Era.

Village Chief’s mind was blown, and he had an empty gaze. He couldn’t come back to his senses even after a long time.

Suddenly, this old man tried to pull out his sword, but he had completely forgotten that his sword had already shattered.

Qin Mu asked curiously, “What is Village Chief doing?”

“Killing Dragon Rearing Sovereign!”

Village Chief overflowed with killing intent and said, “This incident is of utmost importance, and now that Dragon Rearing Sovereign knows, we naturally have to silence him!”

Dragon Rearing Sovereign’s face turned ashen.

Qin Mu said with a smile, “Dragon Rearing Sovereign has also worked hard, so how can we kill him just because he knows a little secret of mine? Village Chief, don’t worry, he has already made a Pact of Big and Little Earth Counts with me, so he won’t dare to turn against me.”

Dragon Rearing Sovereign hurriedly nodded his head.

Village Chief could only leave it at that, and he said, “Do you have any confidence in solving this peculiar divine art?”

Qin Mu stretched his body and walked out. “Someone has solved this divine art from Celestial Venerable Ling before, and that is the four deities!”

Village Chief came to a realization and followed after him. “That’s right, the four deities have been on this ship. Their seals are all around the deck to seal those black coffins, which means that Vermillion Bird, Black Tortoise, Green Dragon, and White Tiger have all been here. They solved the divine art here and left this place!”

Qin Mu nodded his head and said, “At this moment, Celestial Venerable Ling’s divine art shouldn’t be perfect, and as a result, the substance of this ship isn’t stable. Every time this ghost ship time travels, the substance is reconstructed. Since there’s a flaw which could be discovered by the four deities, I can find it too!”

They left the main hall, and the lantern flew up and down around them. The light from the lantern shone brightly in all directions.

Miserable cries from that old dragon in the distance could be heard once again. “Heaven and earth changes, the unchanging constant of thirty-six people! The unchanging constant, thirty-six, what’s the meaning…”

Qin Mu frowned slightly.

‘Is that old dragon Dragon Count or Dragon Rearing Sovereign? Or maybe it’s Ancestral Dragon King who would go crazy in the future?’

He had a bad feeling in his heart. If it was Dragon Rearing Sovereign or Ancestral Dragon King, would there be the two of them as well?

‘There must be more clues on the ship!’

He suddenly remembered something and hurriedly stopped the lantern. “Lin Xiao, where are the rest of the Feathered Forest Guards? Why is there only you on this ship? Where have the rest gone?”

The tiny bird-headed human sitting on the door sill of the lantern said, “Has Commander forgotten? Please follow me.”

He flapped his wings, and the lanterns flew forward.

Qin Mu quickly followed up, and he was getting a little excited. ‘I have the commander’s seal of the Feathered Forest Guards, and they only recognize the seal and not the person. If I can gather the strongest army of the Dragon Han Celestial Heavens to assist me, I can get rid of everyone else on the ship and borrow their power to solve Celestial Venerable Ling’s divine art!’

The ship was extremely huge. In front were the buildings and halls, while behind was the field where soldiers trained. The field was extremely wide and flat, which was enough to hold thousands of gods to train their battle formations.

When Qin Mu arrived there, he sensed something was wrong. He could clearly sense hundreds to thousands of abnormally strong auras, but he couldn’t see anyone!

Village Chief and Dragon Rearing Sovereign also frowned. They had also sensed it, the auras of thousands of gods. Every aura was incomparably terrifying!

Yet when they looked around, they couldn’t see any gods.

“Commander, you guys turn around,” said the tiny human in the lantern.

Qin Mu and the rest turned around according to his words.

The tiny human in the lantern said, “Slowly turn back.”

Qin Mu and the rest slowly turned back, and from the corner of their eyes, they could see majestic gods standing on the training field. Yet when their gazes touched the gods, those terrifying gods instantly disintegrated and turned into nothing!

Qin Mu quickly turned around, and he could vaguely see thousands of gods standing upright on the training field. They were majestic and formidable, yet these gods had crumbled in the next instant and vanished.

Qin Mu turned around once more to sense those gods, but when they turned back the next instant, he could only see the apparitions of those gods disintegrating!

“When the fog attacked, their corporeal bodies and primordial spirits were broken down, and they were turned into the state where they can’t be seen. As long as one observes them, they would disintegrate and vanish.”

The tiny human had a sorrowful expression, and he said, “No vision can touch them, and they can’t be touched either. I’m the only lucky one, I didn’t get shrouded by the divine art in the fog. Back then, Old Commander extinguished the sun in the lantern, and so I escaped this fate.”

Qin Mu was slightly in a daze, and a cold sweat broke out on his forehead. “This ghost ship will travel through time and space thirty-six times, and thirty-six times is a cycle?”

The tiny human in the lantern nodded his head.

More cold sweat broke out on Qin Mu’s forehead. “In that case, the first time travel will return us to the time when the fog burst out?”

The tiny human nodded his head again.

Qin Mu’s voice trembled slightly. “Which also means that we will get hit by that divine art and turn into the same state as the Feathered Forest Guards, becoming a substance that can’t be seen?”

The tiny human shook his head. “Commander survived, and you even lived for a very long time on this ship until your death.”