Tales of Herding Gods

Chapter 902: The Core of the Primordial Tree Reveals Its Abilities

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

The Primordial Tree was verdant and lush, and it enshrouded the vast territories of the Primordial Realm. The many heavens in the skies of the Primordial Realm revolved around this Primordial Tree. Looking at it from afar, one may not think much of it, but the closer one got to the Primordial Tree, the more one would realize how magnificent it was.

Even though Mother Earth was already dead, this Primordial Tree still possessed an astonishing amount of vitality.

The gods of the celestial heavens gathered divine metal from the heavens and built the grandest and most spectacular palace in the crown of the Primordial Tree. It was built according to the specifications of the celestial palace—it had the Jade Pool, Jade Capital, and the tens of thousands of halls and palaces within—and it was referred to as the Celestial Palace of the Primordial Realm.

The true body of the ancient Celestial Emperor was within the celestial heavens, while Celestial Venerable Yu, as the weapon used to suppress the Primordial Realm, remained in the Primordial Realm and lived in the Numinous Sky Hall of the Celestial Palace of the Primordial Realm.

The celestial palace was extravagant beyond compare, yet at the roots of the Primordial Tree, it was the darkest and most sinister place. The army of the celestial heavens had piled countless corpses of gods and devils of the Primordial Realm there, using them as nutrients for the Primordial Tree.

Within the mountains of corpses and sea of blood laid the prison of the Primordial Realm.

The prison was built on the most sinister and the filthiest land of the Primordial Realm, and the gods of the celestial heavens used white bones to build the walls and create the cage that would be used to imprison the most dangerous criminals of the realm. Here, neither the sky nor the sun could be seen, and a cold wind blew about in waves—it was extremely chilly and damp inside. Furthermore, there were too many bodies and bones of gods and devils, and the ground was covered in godly and devil blood that didn’t dry up. Because of this, when they fused together, it constantly resulted in the birth of demonic creatures from the filth, which would then roam about the prison.

It was rare for the heavenly gods of the celestial heavens to come down here, and only the jailers, prison guards, and judges of the celestial heavens would reside there.

The jailers, prison guards, and judges of the celestial heavens were devil gods of the Youdu bloodline, so while the filth of this place was unbearable to others, it was quite comfortable to them.

At this time, however, there were quite a few guests that had come to the prison. A woman dressed in exquisite court lady’s attire was furrowing her brows as she looked on while a guard held and washed a newborn demonic creature in the blood pool, covering it entirely in blood.

Even after it was cleaned in the pool by the guard, the demonic creature was still screeching noisily. The godly and devil blood on the creature’s body flew in all directions, and the guard then lifted it up high before opening his mouth wide to eat the creature.

The woman hurriedly turned her face away, not daring to look at the sight.

“Senior Sister Yun Huayan, the prison guards here are devil gods born of Youdu, so the demonic creatures that were born of this filth and darkness are their food. To you, these demonic creatures are extremely disgusting, but to them, they are incredibly delicious food.”

A youth standing beside the woman smiled warmly and said, “Especially the newborn demonic creatures, they are even more delicious.”

Yun Huayan covered her mouth and her nose, frowning. “This prison is too savage, it isn’t a place for people to be in. Why is that Overlord Body of Eternal Peace still not here? If we deal with him quickly, we can go back and report on our mission.”

The eyes of the prison guard from just now lit up, and he grabbed a demonic creature from the pools of blood. Holding it up, he chuckled at the youth, saying, “Young Master Tao Yu, this is fresh, do you want to eat it?”

The youth called Tao Yu frowned and hurriedly waved his hands.

The guard commented that it was a pity and then went to wash the creature in the blood pool again. Suddenly, a burly man wearing a black round-collared long robe walked over and smiled. “Such a delicacy, why aren’t you all eating? Prison guard high god, after you’re done washing it, give it to me, I like it.”

The guard washed the demonic creature clean and handed it over.

The burly man opened his mouth wide, his mouth resembling a blood pool, and swallowed the screeching creature.

Tao Yu and Yun Huayan frowned at this sight, and Yun Huayan shouted, “Wei Mojie, that’s enough!”

The burly Wei Mojie ate the creature, wiped away the dirty blood at the corners of his mouth, and then chuckled. “You are from the god race, while I am of the devil race, and this is exactly what I eat. As the saying goes, to do as the natives do. Both of you, come and have a taste of this too!”

Tao Yu’s expression changed dramatically, and he changed the subject. “That Overlord Body of Eternal Peace is Celestial Venerable Mu of the Nine Celestial Venerables. I’ve heard that back in the first year of the Dragon Han, he imparted skills on behalf of Celestial Venerable Yu that allowed the lifeforms in the world to be able to become gods. When the way to become a god emerged, only then could the lifeforms of the world be on par with the ancient gods and have long-lasting lifespans. Us eliminating him under orders, is it…”

Wei Mojie chuckled. “If he didn’t impart the way to become a god, Celestial Venerable Hao would have done it anyway. I heard from Master that this Celestial Venerable Mu merely stole Celestial Venerable Hao’s credit. A fame angling fellow like him who transmigrated to the Dragon Han Era through chance and coincidence… Celestial Emperor is so muddle-headed to actually let him fool his way into attaining the title of Celestial Venerable.”

“Keep your mouth shut!”

Yun Huayan looked around her surroundings vigilantly. There were a huge number of experts who had hurried down to the prison to wait for Qin Mu’s arrival after obtaining news of his whereabouts. At least four to five hundred people were there, and they were all young experts from the celestial heavens. It was a mix of good people and scumbags, and there were ears and eyes everywhere.

These young experts were all disciples from the various great celestial palaces of the celestial heavens. When the celestial heavens sent troops to suppress the Primordial Realm, they had also joined the army under orders and entered the Primordial Realm to kill and undergo training. If they had war achievements, then there would be hope for their promotions in the future.

“Criticizing Celestial Emperor, do you want to die?”

Yun Huayan lowered her voice and said, “If your words reach the celestial heavens, even Master won’t be able to protect you!”

Wei Mojie laughed. “In the celestial heavens, Master has always thought nothing of Celestial Emperor, so what harm is there in speaking my mind? If it were us who had transmigrated to the Dragon Han Era instead, heh heh, we may even be Celestial Emperor and not just a Celestial Venerable…” Even though he said this, he still lowered his voice.

“Western Celestial Palace, Northern Celestial Palace, Cloud Dispatching Celestial Palace, Sand Border Celestial Palace, Pancavidya Celestial Palace, Maitreya Celestial Palace, Radiant Light Celestial Palace, Myiowa Celestial Palace…”

Tao Yu continued in a low voice, “The various great celestial palaces of the celestial heavens have almost all sent out their most elite disciples. Our Jade Pure Palace of the Dao Sect may not be able to come out on top and eliminate Celestial Venerable Mu!”

“Celestial Venerable Mu enjoys an undeserved reputation. Rumor has it that he is already half-dead and is without a soul. Whoever makes the first move will be able to come out on top. If we are slow by a step, we won’t even be able to get anything out of this!”

Wei Mojie continued, “In my opinion, we should leave this prison and wait for the rabbit to come to us on its own. When that Celestial Venerable Mu comes, we will be able to take the credit for ourselves!”

Tao Yu hesitated for a moment. “I noticed that quite a few strong individuals from the various great celestial palaces already went outside. Evidently, they have a similar plan to ours. I fear that Celestial Venerable Mu may have already long been killed by one of them.”

Wei Mojie pressed him, saying, “If we stay here, we will definitely achieve nothing! Master already said that if we achieve this accomplishment, he’d recommend us to be under Celestial Venerable Hao’s tutelage and that Celestial Venerable Hao would guide us in cultivating for thirty years!”

Yun Huayan and Tao Yu grit their teeth, and the three of them immediately walked towards the outside of the prison. At the same time, another dozen or so people walked outside of the prison.

The three of them couldn’t help but feel anxious, and they increased their speed, being as swift as the wind and lightning as they sprinted outwards.

The three of them ran for almost a thousand miles, and only then did they shake off the dozen or so people from the other celestial palaces. They were about to speak when they suddenly saw a sea of red light up ahead, and from that area, the sounds of people fighting could be heard.

“Celestial Venerable Mu has arrived!”

The three were overjoyed. Wei Mojie made the first move to dash towards that area of red light, and he hurried the other two along. “Hurry! There are already people who have made their move! If we are late by one step, Celestial Venerable Mu will have been killed by someone else!”

His speed was incredibly fast. As he sprinted, his corporeal body was expanding, and within seconds, he transformed into a devil god and bellowed in rage.

Tao Yu and Yun Huayan fell behind by a step, and they were both astonished. ‘Senior Brother Wei Mojie’s cultivation and abilities have improved by leaps and bounds ever since he came to the lower bound! It is truly as Master said, only through killing can one grow speedily and comprehend even more profound paths, skills, and divine arts!’

The two of them tried their best to catch up. Suddenly, they saw a strange sight—the Wei Mojie up ahead suddenly had a hole in his head, and light could pass through from front to back.

The two of them jolted, and then they heard a voice. “Fatty Dragon, Sister Yan’er, I have discovered another use for the core of the Primordial Tree. Look, it can be transformed into an incredibly thin and small wooden needle. If I make use of the wooden needle to execute my sword skills, for example, the simplest technique, stab…”

Tao Yu’s eyes were sharp, and he immediately saw a wooden needle that was as thin as a strand of hair come to the front of his eyes!

Tao Yu cried out in rage, and runes flew around his body. He used the great algebra from the celestial heavens’ Dao Sect to construct defensive divine arts, and in an instant, there were a few hundred Black Tortoise Divine Shields in front of him!

The few hundred layers of Black Tortoise Divine Shields were broken through by the wooden needle, and the needle was so fast that it merely gave off a soft “pop” sound.

The wooden needle pierced through Tao Yu’s left eye and emerged from the back of his head.

Tao Yu felt his head exploding internally, and his primordial spirit disintegrating. He turned his head around with great difficulty and said to Yun Huayan, “Senior Sister, run…”

Within his left eyeball, a cloud of blood rays was spreading, and Yun Huayan’s figure was reflected on the surface of his pupil.

Yun Huayan was in the middle of activating her Dao Sword to slice towards an incomparably fine wooden needle. Immediately, a tiny pinhole appeared on the surface of the bright Dao Sword, and in the next instant, Yun Huayan grunted as a thin ray of blood exploded at the back of her beautiful head.

Tao Yu’s vision was cloudy, and at this time, he saw an enormous creature that was half-dragon and half-qilin walking over with fire clouds beneath its feet. On top of the head of this enormous creature, there was a youth with two fingers raised, and between his fingers rested a dainty wooden needle.

On the shoulder of the youth was a round, fat bird who was pecking a spirit pill to feed the dragon qilin.

“Celestial Venerable Mu…” Tao Yu’s vision turned completely dark, and his corpse fell over.

The dragon qilin calmly walked in the direction of the prison. He furrowed his brows and looked downwards, to where the devil and godly blood had turned into streams. It was extremely filthy. Within these rivers of blood, there were also many insect-like demonic creatures that were swimming around.

“So, this is where Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor and Emperor Yanfeng have been imprisoned?”

The dragon qilin mumbled, “Emperor Yanfeng should be alright, but Imperial Preceptor is a very clean person, how could he bear this?”

Qin Mu flicked his finger, and the wooden needle flew out soundlessly towards the more than a dozen experts of the celestial heavens who were dashing in their direction. He replied, “Emperor Yanfeng doesn’t care if it’s clean or not. He can even fall asleep in a pigpen. As for Imperial Preceptor, he does love cleanliness, so he probably can’t fall asleep here at all.”

The wooden needle flew back to him.

The dragon qilin continued to move forward. Beside him, countless corpses flailed their limbs as they fell from the air into the rivers of blood. It was as though the rivers of blood were overflowing from a pot, and countless demonic creatures were stirring up havoc as they fought aggressively amongst each other for the corpses within the rivers.

“If this core of the Primordial Tree could transform into a wooden sword, then it would be too powerful.”

Qin Mu sighed and suddenly gripped onto the wooden needle as he said, “Grow.”

The wooden needle remained just as thin, but in a split second, it grew to a length of a hundred miles, resembling an undetectable thin string.

Qin Mu gripped tightly onto the hundred-mile-long thin string and executed a sword technique. Several young celestial heavens’ experts who were a hundred miles away were still clueless as to what just happened when they were suddenly sliced into several pieces.

Even when executed from a hundred miles away, Qin Mu’s sword techniques remained extremely precise such that no one was able to avoid them in time!

Furthermore, the core of the Primordial Tree was really so thin that it was almost impossible to detect.

“This treasure that Mother Earth gave is really good to use.” Qin Mu couldn’t help himself and praised it again.

They finally reached the prison, and a prison guard stopped them in their tracks. The guard stood atop a city gate that was forged from an enormous skull and looked down at them from high above, shouting out, “Identify yourself!”

“Qin Mu of Eternal Peace.”

Qin Mu declared his name before saying, “I’m here to visit the prisoners.”

The prison guard was astonished and didn’t dare to neglect them, hurriedly opening the city gates. The skull that was almost a hundred yards in height opened up its mouth to let them enter. The guard then said, “Celestial Venerable Mu actually dares to come to the prison, your courage surpasses many! Celestial Venerable Mu, please enter. There are many good friends within the prison who are waiting for your arrival, and some have even waited for four to five months!”

Qin Mu walked into the city, and he saw the few hundred experts turning to look at him one after the other with sparkles in their gaze.

“Celestial Venerable Mu…” Someone was struggling to suppress his excitement, his body trembling while he mumbled.

Suddenly, a young god flew forwards and shouted out, “There is only one Celestial Venerable Mu, but there are a few hundred of us, so how should we split this?”

In an instant, there was a commotion as everyone started to discuss animatedly.

“Everyone! Everyone!”

Qin Mu waited for a moment. They were still unable to come up with any rules and regulations for the situation, so he yelled out, “You don’t have to discuss anymore. Look at what’s in my hand.”

The commotion stopped, and everyone looked towards his hand only to see Qin Mu pinching a tiny wooden needle.

Qin Mu laughed and said, “Enlarge.”

Boom—

A wooden pillar of a hundred miles in length and several hundred yards in diameter suddenly appeared. Qin Mu raised it up and crushed along the whole length of the prison. He flattened his surroundings with a single stick, and god knows how many were pulverized!

The wooden pillar vanished, and the celestial heavens experts who were lucky enough to survive flew up into the air. They were filled with extreme terror as they hurriedly tried to search for where the pillar could have disappeared to.

Qin Mu turned to the prison guard, who was dumbstruck, and asked, “Where is Jiang Baigui imprisoned?”

The prison guard felt a chill go down his spine, and he hurriedly replied, “Celestial Venerable, please follow me.”

He led the way, and suddenly, a corpse fell out of the sky and smashed down by his feet with a “pak” sound.

The prison guard was startled, and he hurriedly raised his head to look up. From the skies, corpses fell like rain. It was as though the many celestial heavens experts had met the formless Life Taking Impermanence spirits and then became corpses that fell out of the sky.