Tales of Herding Gods

Seeing the words on the stone tablet, Qin Mu felt his head getting dizzy.

Tomb of Celestial Venerable Ling.

Celestial Venerable Ling was dead?

His eyes were filled with bewilderment. In his perspective, even if the Celestial Emperors had died one after another, Celestial Venerable Ling would never die. Yet, there was a tomb for Celestial Venerable Ling here.

Qin Mu walked quickly to the stone tablet, but just as he wanted to examine it, he was suddenly stumped.

A simple stone coffin laid behind the stone tablet—it was placed there neatly—however, behind this simple tomb, there was another stone tablet, and behind that stone tablet, there lay yet another stone coffin.

Qin Mu looked further on. There were many more stone tablets and stone coffins, they were innumerable and densely packed, filling the whole of this ancient celestial heaven’s Jade Capital!

Qin Mu looked around, the whole of the Jade Capital was filled only with these stone coffins and tombstones—there were no other structures in this place!

Every stone tablet had the same words, “Tomb of Celestial Venerable Ling!”

Behind him, Yan Qiling, Mu Qiubai, Dragon King Tian, and ‘Celestial Venerable Yu’ approached with quick steps. They stared blankly at this sight.

There were way too many tombs for Celestial Venerable Ling here, it gave them goosebumps. There were innumerable coffins here, could it be that in each coffin there laid a Celestial Venerable Ling?

“The coffins here are most likely fakes. The real Celestial Venerable Ling should be buried in the Numinous Sky Hall!”

Mu Qiubai exclaimed suddenly, “As one of the Nine Celestial Venerables, she is qualified to be buried within the Numinous Sky Hall!”

Dragon King Tian took the first step, sprinting towards the hall. Yan Qiling and Mu Qiubai quickly followed behind as Xing An and ‘Celestial Venerable Yu’ too disappeared in a flash.

There was only Qin Mu left behind, with the dragon qilin at his side and Yan’er perched on his shoulder in the form of a green sparrow.

Qin Mu composed himself. Taking out a single incense stick and lighting it, he stuck it in front of the tombstone quietly.

After a brief moment, he went behind the tombstone, gripped at the coffin lid with both hands, and pulled it open.

There was no body in the coffin, only shallow, clear water. Qin Mu was stunned for a second before he closed the coffin.

He went towards another coffin, opening it to look inside—there was only clear water in it as well.

Qin Mu went around opening the coffins, and all he saw was clear water, there was no sight of Celestial Venerable Ling.

Qin Mu stubbornly opened the coffins one after another, yet all the while, he could only find clear water.

A violent tremble resonated from the Numinous Sky Hall, Dragon King Tian’s voice was extremely loud and clear, he snapped, “None of you should even think about taking Celestial Venerable Ling’s treasures! These treasures belong to Mother Earth!”

The dragon qilin looked from afar only to watch as Dragon King Tian transformed into an old dragon, his huge body coiling outside the Numinous Sky Hall. His dragon body had now encircled the whole Numinous Sky Hall, and the half-gods under him stood on his body, fighting with the maids who came with Yan Qiling.

The levels of cultivation of these maids were surprisingly formidable, and they managed to hold off Dragon King Tian.

Within the hall, figures darting around like flashes of lightning could be indistinctly seen—it was ‘Celestial Venerable Yu’, Yan Qiling, Xing An, and Mu Qiubai fighting each other, all scrambling to claim possession of Celestial Venerable Ling’s treasures.

“Cult Master.”

The dragon qilin whispered, “Shouldn’t we go over? It seems like they have found something.”

Qin Mu was shifting yet another stone lid, and inside the coffin was still clear water, which was very shallow and unclouded.

He fell into a daze. There were still countless stone coffins belonging to Celestial Venerable Ling within the Jade Capital. It was truly too much to check each and every coffin, it would take god knows how long.

Xing An, Yan Qiling, and the others had chosen to head straight to the Numinous Sky Hall, which was truly the best course of action. As a Celestial Venerable, Celestial Venerable Ling had a very high status, making it a matter of course that she would be buried there.

The coffins within the Jade Capital were most likely dummy tombs.

“Perhaps we should also head to the Numinous Sky Hall to take a look, she might really be buried there.”

Qin Mu straightened up, and at that instant, he heard a tapping sound.

He jolted up. The tapping sounds weren’t of divine arts, it instead seemed like the kind of noise a pitching chisel would make against stone.

At the Numinous Sky Hall, the fighting was still ongoing, but Qin Mu followed the sound instead, walking towards it. Shortly thereafter, he found himself outside the Jade Capital, only to see a white-haired elder taking apart the palace of this heaven. The elder retrieved the stone materials, using a pitching chisel to hack them, he made them into stone coffins.

Qin Mu stood behind the elder, watching him silently. The elder worked quickly, and it didn’t take long for him to build the stone coffin. He moved to work on the tablet, carving the characters “Tomb of Celestial Venerable Ling” onto the stone tablet.

The elder didn’t seem to notice Qin Mu’s appearance and continued working quietly. Many stone coffins and stone tablets surrounded him now.

After some time, the elder stopped to rest. Lifting his head and looking in Qin Mu’s direction, he asked, “Is it Celestial Venerable Mu?”

Qin Mu observed that the elder’s eyes were completely white. He didn’t have pupils, he was a blind man.

“Elder, how did you know it was me?” Qin Mu asked.

“Celestial Venerable Qin already came by before, it was about 30000 years ago. Too much time has passed, I can no longer remember it clearly.”

The elder put down his pitching chisel. “Celestial Venerable Qin came to pay his respects and then left. Celestial Venerable Ling had me set up this tomb such that only two people may enter, Celestial Venerable Qin and Celestial Venerable Mu. The two Celestial Venerables would be able to enter this place using their celestial venerable tokens. Since Celestial Venerable Qin already came by, you can only be Celestial Venerable Mu. However, it seems you brought uninvited guests.”

Qin Mu composed himself. “Elder, is Celestial Venerable Ling really dead?”

The blind elder replied, “She’s dead, yet still she’s alive. She died completing the divine arts that would allow substance to remain unchanged. Through that, she too obtained immortality.”

Qin Mu was stunned.

Getting up, the blind elder continued, “Celestial Venerable Qin came here to give her a proper burial and mourn for her. Since Celestial Venerable Mu has come by, then you might as well come over too.”

The elder dragged the coffins using chains and walked on. Qin Mu followed behind, only to see that the elder was walking towards the celestial river.

Shortly after, they arrived at the celestial river.

The blind elder put down the coffin and said, “She is coming soon.”

Qin Mu stood by the glistening river. After a while, a woman floated down from the celestial river.

Qin Mu suddenly felt a twitching in his heart—his heart ached.

The woman who floated down from the river was dressed in a leopard print skirt and straw shoes with a peachwood hairpin in her hair—it was Celestial Venerable Ling, and she was no longer breathing.

“Master, o soul come back, your disciple is here to give you a proper burial!”

The blind elder went into the river, stopping the corpse of Celestial Venerable Ling. Qin Mu, too, jumped into the celestial river, helping the elder to bring Celestial Venerable Ling’s corpse to the shore.

Together they placed Celestial Venerable Ling’s corpse into the stone coffin. Shortly after, Celestial Venerable Ling transformed into clear water.

Qin Mu was stunned.

The blind elder didn’t seem to take notice. He closed the lid of the stone coffin and continued to sit by the celestial river, waiting.

An unknown period of time passed by before another Celestial Venerable Ling floated down the river again in her leopard print skirt and straw shoes.

Qin Mu was stumped. The blind elder went into the river again, repeating, “Master, o soul come back, your disciple is here to give you a proper burial!”

Qin Mu hurriedly joined him. Celestial Venerable Ling’s corpse was placed into the coffin and transformed into clear water yet again.

“What is going on here?” He was confused now.

The blind elder sat in silence, another unknown period of time passed, and yet another Celestial Venerable Ling floated down. They buried her again, and the same thing happened—Celestial Venerable Ling transformed into clear water again. It was as though what they brought up from the river wasn’t Celestial Venerable Ling’s corporeal body but a portion of river water.

They waited there for an unknown period of time, and the stone coffins now each had a “Celestial Venerable Ling”. The blind elder began dragging the stone coffins towards the Jade Capital.

The capital was already filled with stone coffins and tombstones. The elder dragged the stone coffins out of the capital, lining them neatly and burying the tombstones deep into the ground vertically upright.

Qin Mu followed him, paying his respects to the empty coffins and returning back to the place where the elder retrieved his stone materials. The elder lifted his pitching chisel and continued to work noisily.

After a while, when Qin Mu could no longer restrain himself, he asked, “Elder, what exactly is going on here?”

The blind elder put down the pitching chisel, his eyes containing a dazed look. Shortly after, he said, “Master spent her entire life researching skills and divine arts. She was usually solitary and had very few friends. It is likely that she took me as a disciple out of loneliness and boredom. I am of the High Emperor Era, after becoming her disciple, I followed her in cultivating and observed that she didn’t have many friends. However, she constantly mentioned two people, the two people who had suddenly appeared in the first year of the Dragon Han Era, the two people who had helped her.”

Qin Mu felt warmth in his heart.

The two people mentioned were Founding Emperor and himself.

“Celestial Venerable Qin and Celestial Venerable Mu were the two she constantly brought up. She wanted to find them, yet she was ultimately unsuccessful in her attempts.”

The blind elder lifted his pitching chisel again and continued to hammer away. “The High Emperor Era was very long. She wasn’t able to find these two Celestial Venerables during the High Emperor Era, and she couldn’t hold herself back anymore. Her divine art was about to be completed, and the High Emperor Celestial Heavens that was supported by the Heaven Alliance had also gained victory. I still remember that very day, it was right after the death of Mother Earth, she had taken a chunk of the celestial river and demonstrated her divine art. On that day…”

The hammering sound stopped.

Qin Mu felt his hairs stand on end.

The High Emperor Celestial Heavens supported by the Heaven Alliance had gained victory?

What kind of victory?

Was it the eradication of the North High Emperor Celestial Heavens?

The Celestial Heavens supported by the Heaven Alliance, was it the South High Emperor Celestial Heavens?

“On that day, the celestial river was cut off. Master stood on the heavens, and using her divine art, she made the substances in the celestial river come to a still. She even reverted it to its state during the ancient times and then evolved it into its future state. I still remember I was standing beside the river, watching as a fog suddenly rose from the celestial river. Master was standing amidst the fog, and then she fused with it.”

On that day, the Primordial Realm underwent a dramatic change.

The boundless celestial river was suddenly cut off, a huge chunk of the floating river went missing, completely disappearing from the world.

Due to this, the South High Emperor Celestial Heavens became unstable and was subjected to an attack by the extraterritorial celestial heavens. That attack completely wiped them out.

“This heaven that we are in now, is it the South High Emperor Celestial Heavens?”

Qin Mu interrupted him suddenly and asked, “Then, who is the one buried within the Numinous Sky Hall?”

“Naturally, he is the Celestial Emperor of the High Emperor Era. He died in battle while trying to protect Celestial Venerable Ling. I buried him within the Numinous Sky Hall.”

The blind elder continued, “The Celestial Emperor of the High Emperor Era was also a member of the Heaven Alliance. He was the disciple of another Celestial Venerable. The past High Emperors were all disciples of Celestial Venerables. However, the collapse of the South High Emperor Celestial Heavens wasn’t actually due to master’s divine art, it was due to the betrayal of the Heaven Alliance.”

At the same instant that Celestial Venerable Ling had demonstrated her divine art and fused with the fog, the betrayal of the Heaven Alliance had allowed the South High Emperor Celestial Heavens to be invaded. As darkness fell, Celestial Venerable Ling reappeared amidst the fog.

At that moment, a terrifying power had suddenly emerged, and an imposing figure dashed into the fog and straight to Celestial Venerable Ling.

The South High Emperor Celestial Heavens had fallen, leaving behind only ruins.

“Later, I saw Master’s corpse floating down the river surface.”

The blind elder took out a token, it was the token belonging to Celestial Venerable Ling. Then, he continued, “I built this tomb, leaving behind a mechanism that only Celestial Venerable Qin and Celestial Venerable Mu would be able to unlock.”

Qin Mu looked towards Celestial Venerable Ling’s token. The token was of the same size as his own token, meaning the blind elder had designed the mechanism based on this token.

“Then, why do you say that she is still alive?” Qin Mu questioned suddenly.

The blind elder put down the pitching chisel and used the chains to drag the coffin towards the riverside. As he did this, he replied, “Celestial Venerable Qin came here and told me that he saw Celestial Venerable Ling. Celestial Venerable Ling had found him and told him many things.”

Qin Mu was stunned for a while. He quickly followed after the elder and asked, “Where did the extraterritorial celestial heavens originate from? Who is the Celestial Emperor of the extraterritorial celestial heavens? If no one else knew it, Celestial Venerable Ling definitely knew!”

“The Celestial Emperor of the extraterritorial celestial heavens is…”

The blind elder turned around, his wrinkly old face revealing an expression that was a smile yet not a smile, a cry yet not a cry. “Heaven Alliance. Celestial Venerable Mu, it is the Heaven Alliance that you built…”