Tales of Herding Gods

The dragon qilin untied the ropes on his body and glanced at Qin Mu, who returned his gaze with a fierce stare. The dragon qilin hurriedly said, “Cult Master, I didn’t say you have to pull the carriage!”

Divine King Lang Wo laughed. “Let’s get off the carriage and fly over.”

Qin Mu nodded and got off the carriage with her. He left the six dragon gods behind. “Guard this treasure carriage and wait for my return.”

The six dragon gods nodded. Qin Mu then led Divine King Lang Wo, the dragon qilin, and Yan’er towards the Green Dragon Celestial Palace.

They traversed above the sky. Below their feet, mountains were continuously rising and falling. Even the clouds were underneath them.

In the sky, there was a god city built by divine dragons. It was extraordinarily luxurious and vast, and the architecture was intricate and extravagant, astonishing enough to take one’s breath away.

“Yan’er hasn’t been here before?” Qin Mu asked.

Yan’er shook her head and flew around curiously, observing the scenery of this East Pole.

She was the daughter of South Deity Zhu Que and East Deity Qing Long and was sent to Celestial Venerable Yue when she was young. She had developed a habit of wanting to wait on people and was rarely out.

Celestial Venerable Yue had lived in seclusion in the peach forest. On ordinary days, Yan’er could only roam about within the forest. Only when Celestial Venerable Yue had given her to Qin Mu did she have the opportunity to experience the countless worlds.

Her father, East Deity Qing Long, was foreign to her. He had never interacted or visited her before. South Deity Zhu Que also seldom visited her. It was only during her last trip to the celestial heavens that she managed to spend a few days with South Deity Zhu Que.

‘I wonder where the Numinous Treasure Mountain is.’

Qin Mu looked around, wanting to find the rumored Numinous Treasure Mountain.

He was very curious about the Numinous Treasure Mountain. He had first heard of the mountain from Zhe Huali, who mentioned that there was a divine mountain in the East Pole named the Numinous Treasure Mountain. It was used by East Deity Qing Long to grind his teeth.

East Deity Qing Long’s lifeforce was strong, and his dragon teeth were continuously growing and had to be ground frequently. Hence, he used the Numinous Treasure Mountain to grind his teeth. As they fell on the mountain, they transformed into strange tooth-shaped creatures.

Many youths of the celestial heavens who were learning knives would head towards this Numinous Treasure Mountain looking for treasure, trying to get a piece of the dragon tooth knife. This was how Zhe Huali got his demon knife.

This demon knife had a strange and marvelous ability. When the Carefree Sword was in Qin Mu’s hands, it clashed with the demon knife several times. Although the knife suffered cracks, it was able to quickly regenerate itself back to its original state. It was simply remarkable.

Previously, when Qin Mu was opening and closing the doors of the three houses at the Void Bridge in the Land of the Great Void, he unintentionally saw East Deity Qing Long squinting his eyes as he held onto a divine mountain to grind his teeth.

Whether it was East Deity Qing Long’s dragon teeth or the Numinous Treasure Mountain, they were remarkable treasures, making him very envious.

In particular, since the Numinous Treasure Mountain was able to wear down East Deity’s dragon teeth, its quality would be far better than the dragon teeth, further arousing the enthusiasm in Qin Mu’s heart!

There were magnificent mountains everywhere in the East Pole. Every divine mountain was extremely tall and imposing. These were rarely seen in the Primordial Realm.

The vast and mighty celestial river gushed from the starry sky, right into the East Pole, flowing beside the Green Dragon Celestial Palace. Many divine dragons were swimming in the river. There were also plenty of fish dragons leaping up from the river, spitting out dragon pearls whose brilliance could compete with the sun and the moon in the sky.

‘That mountain should be the Numinous Treasure Mountain!’

Qin Mu saw that there was a magnificent mountain behind the Green Dragon Celestial Palace that looked like the king of mountains. Its height far surpassed other divine mountains, and it didn’t only have one peak but as many as nine.

This row of mountain ridges were adorned with brilliant jewels and pearls, looking extremely resplendent. It didn’t look smaller than Mount Meru, which had 20 heavens.

‘East Deity Qing Long coiled around the Numinous Treasure Mountain over there to grind his teeth?’

Qin Mu tried to imagine the scene of Qing Long grinding his teeth and exclaimed, “The size of East Deity is definitely not small!”

“Cult Master, there are people from the celestial heavens here!” the dragon qilin whispered as he looked at the god city in front of them.

Qin Mu’s heart turned cold as he looked at that god city. The gods in the city weren’t of the dragon race, they were gods and devils of the great army of the celestial heavens. They were practicing with their weaponry and drilling their formations. It looked like this army was garrisoned here by the celestial heavens.

However, this god city was built upon the palm of the divine weapon Celestial Venerable Yu. Or should he say, the divine weapon Celestial Venerable Yu was holding this god city on his palm!

Qin Mu looked up and inspected the divine weapon Celestial Venerable Yu. It was different from the one in the Primordial Realm. This Celestial Venerable Yu had eight arms. It sat upright in the sky and was still. Six of his arms were fanned out with their palms opened, each holding a god city.

The god city they saw previously was just one of the many.

The two arms at the center each had the form of a mudra. These mudras contained hidden profound theory, giving people a feeling that there was boundless energy waiting to explode.

Also, these two mudras faced the East Pole’s Green Dragon Celestial Palace directly!

The divine weapon Celestial Venerable Yu had four faces, and his eyes were closed.

‘I’m afraid that East Deity Qing Long would find it hard to sleep peacefully. This divine weapon Celestial Venerable Yu is bigger than the Numinous Treasure Mountain, and it’s not smaller than the body of East Deity. As for its power, that would be quite hard to determine.’

Qin Mu looked at the divine weapon Celestial Venerable Yu and thought, ‘I wonder which Celestial Venerable is controlling this divine weapon. If it suddenly launches an attack, I worry it would be difficult for East Deity to escape!’

Many idling gods, devils, and divine arts practitioners flew out from the six god cities. Most of them were either carrying a knife case or a long knife. They flew towards the Numinous Treasure Mountain, looking to be half-gods seeking treasures.

The voice of a half-god rang loud and clear. “East Deity is grinding his teeth again. Quick, let’s go pick up the treasures!”

From the six god cities, thousands of gods, devils, and divine arts practitioners flew out with a whoosh, bustling with activity as they gathered like clouds. It was a busy and lively scene.

Qin Mu was envious when he heard those words. He thought, ‘The dragon tooth knife is considered an outstanding specimen among knives. It’s very difficult to find a better divine knife than that in this world. If it was refined by Eternal Peace’s microscopic forging techniques, the power of this divine knife would surely be incomparably terrifying! It’s a pity I’m a Celestial Venerable, it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to be seeking treasures…’

He was in a dilemma. He wanted to run over to pick up the dragon teeth but was too embarrassed to do so. If East Deity knew about this, he would definitely mock him.

“Holy infant, this East Pole isn’t the ancestral court. Hence, I won’t be going to the Green Dragon Celestial Palace.”

Divine King Lang Wo’s eyes flickered as she looked at the divine weapon Celestial Venerable Yu. She said, “In the Primordial Realm, I didn’t have time to examine this divine weapon. I would like to inspect it here in great detail, studying whether this divine weapon has any weaknesses.”

Qin Mu nodded. “It’s also good that Divine King Sister doesn’t visit East Deity. If he discovers that you are a master of creation, he might create trouble. I may have a deep friendship with Earth Count, but I don’t have much of a relationship with East Deity. As to why he helped me in the celestial heavens, it was because of my status as Invincible Great Wizard.”

Divine King Lang Wo left, walking into one of the god cities on the divine weapon Celestial Venerable Yu’s palms.

Qin Mu led the dragon qilin and Yan’er forward. Seeing that Yan’er was a little nervous, the dragon qilin hurriedly checked on her. She answered sorrowfully, “Although I have met him before, I didn’t get to speak to him. Most likely, he doesn’t know that I’m his daughter.”

The dragon qilin smiled as he said, “East Deity probably has his reasons as to why he didn’t recognize you. He could be worried that your identity could place you in danger.”

Yan’er’s mood became slightly better.

Before they reached the Green Dragon Celestial Palace, an enormous green dragon suddenly descended from the sky. Its body was uncountable tens of thousands of miles long. It glided past, moving into the Numinous Treasure Mountain.

The body of that giant dragon coiled around the mountain peaks. Its two dragon claws clamped onto a divine mountain as it opened its mouth, grabbing onto that divine mountain as it ground its teeth. Within its mouth, there were flashes of lightning and rumbles of thunder, and flames flared and surged forth.

Qin Mu, the dragon qilin, and Yan’er were dumbstruck and speechless.

“It broke!”

Many gods, devils, and divine arts practitioners had already reached the Numinous Treasure Mountain. They didn’t dare to advance further but looked from a distance. They saw that a tooth in that divine dragon’s mouth had broken off, smashing into the mountain as it fell from the sky.

As the dragon tooth fell, it became smaller and grew a pair of eyes. Its knife qi filled the air as its knife light whizzed between the mountains like lightning.

Clanking noises traveled from the mountains. It appeared that this dragon tooth had transformed into a demonic lifeform. As the Numinous Treasure Mountain caused the tooth to be separated from East Deity, it was furious, chopping away at the Numinous Treasure Mountain ceaselessly, causing sparks to scatter around.

The eyes of those gods, devils, and divine arts practitioners lit up. They stared at that flying dragon tooth, itching to have a go at it.

There was one who couldn’t resist charging forward. Before he could get close, a strange creature born from dragon blood reached out from the mountain and grabbed him, swallowing him in one mouthful.

Qin Mu looked into the distance. He saw that East Deity Qing Long’s mouth was bleeding at the edges due to him grinding his teeth. As the dragon blood fell into the mountains, it transformed into demons. Therefore, getting the dragon tooth wasn’t easy.

“The lifeforce of East Deity is simply too strong. Anything that falls from his body will be turned into a demon with a life of its own!”

Qin Mu couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration. His gaze landed on the nine peaks of the Numinous Treasure Mountain. He thought, ‘But this Numinous Treasure Mountain is stronger! If I could take away this mountain and refine it into a treasure, it would be the number one divine weapon!’

That Green Dragon closed its eyes as it carefully ground the dragon teeth that had grown too long. Suddenly, Qin Mu’s consciousness flew over and said, “East Deity, Qin Mu is here to visit.”

East Deity Qing Long got a shock. He hurriedly opened his eyes and followed Qin Mu’s consciousness with his gaze. When he saw Qin Mu, he felt a little ashamed. His body rose into the air as he flew towards the Green Dragon Celestial Palace.

His body was getting smaller and disappeared into the celestial palace. His voice entered Qin Mu’s ears and said, “When Great Wizard came to visit, you didn’t let me know beforehand, causing me to make a fool out of myself in front of you. Great Wizard, please wait a moment, I will lead my people to welcome you!”

“This is a private visit, there’s no need for a grand welcome.”

Qin Mu’s consciousness followed him and said, “There are eyes and ears of the celestial heavens everywhere in the East Pole. It’s best we meet discreetly and not attract attention to ourselves.”

East Deity Qing Long flew into the Green Dragon Celestial Palace as Qin Mu walked towards it. After some time, he came to the front of the palace. There was also a Southern Heavenly Gate here, except that the celestial river traveled along the gate rather than through it.

The divine dragons that were playing in the celestial river emerged from the water and laid on the shore, looking curiously at Qin Mu and the rest who were walking over.

Beside the shore, there was a man in a green shirt. His brows were long and slender, beautiful like a dragon’s beard, looking very elegant. He came forward to greet them. “Did Celestial Venerable Mu travel here in the Heavenly Dragon Treasure Carriage? Why do I not see it? Instead, you are on foot.”

“I pay my respects to East Deity.”

Qin Mu greeted him, laughing as he said, “East Deity is the ancestor of all dragons. Wouldn’t I offend East Deity if I came to the East Pole using the bloodline of East Deity to pull my carriage?”

The man in the green shirt was East Deity Qing Long. He laughed heartily when he heard Qin Mu’s words. He extended his hand and said, “Great Wizard is being too serious. The ten Celestial Venerables gave you this treasure carriage so that you would end up offending all of the ancient gods. How could I not know their sinister intentions? I wouldn’t mind even if Great Wizard came in that treasure carriage. Please—”

Qin Mu walked beside him towards the inside of the Green Dragon Celestial Palace as he said, “This is Yan’er, the princess of South Deity’s family.”

East Deity glanced at Yan’er, who revealed a look of anticipation. However, she was disappointed that his gaze didn’t linger but slipped away.

Qin Mu was bewildered. Immediately, he understood why.

“Father.” The dragon god guarding the Southern Heavenly Gate bowed and paid his respects to East Deity.

“Father!”

“Father!”

As East Deity walked into the Green Dragon Celestial Palace, all sorts of dragon gods bowed and paid their respects to him, addressing him as their father. The offspring of this East Deity were indeed plentiful, making one’s hair stand on end!

Most likely, East Deity couldn’t remember he had a daughter with South Deity Zhu Que!

‘Could it be that all of the gods in the Green Dragon Celestial Palace are his descendants?’

Qin Mu became a little dizzy. There were at least a million dragon gods in the Green Dragon Celestial Palace, not counting the great army of dragon gods!

If these dragon gods were indeed his descendants, then this great deity was simply too full of indiscriminate love!

There was unspoken criticism in his heart, but he didn’t say anything. Instead, he smiled. “The celestial palace of East Deity could be described as impregnable. Although the celestial heavens could penetrate the East Pole, it can’t penetrate here.”

East Deity didn’t seem very happy as he shook his head. “Great Wizard, even Heaven Duke was betrayed by his own son, who is eager to replace him. Although I have a lot of descendants, it doesn’t necessarily mean I don’t have any worries. In this celestial palace of mine, there are many who wanted to replace the Green Dragon Crown Prince. We all have our burdens to bear, every family has its hardships.”

Qin Mu stopped walking and said, “May I ask, who is controlling the divine weapon Celestial Venerable Yu in the East Pole?”

“Four heads and eight arms, God Emperor Lang Xuan.”

East Deity said, “He was the first half-god in the world and can be considered as belonging to the same faction as Celestial Venerable Hao.”

“How much does East Deity know about God Emperor Lang Xuan?”

Qin Mu’s eyes flickered as he said, “He is the son of which two ancient gods?”

East Deity said puzzledly, “Who says that his parents are both ancient gods? His father is one, but his mother isn’t.”