Tales of Herding Gods

The waves of the celestial river turned as if the celestial river was the long river of time. Sometimes, the waves were violent and fast, while sometimes, they were calm and slow.

Celestial Venerable Yun’s boat went along the celestial river. He interacted quite a bit with the Great Void’s masters of creation and learned a lot of primordial history. His chest heaved like the celestial river.

Primordial history was too interesting, but it was also treacherous. Danger was everywhere. He couldn’t help but think too much about it.

He recalled the beautiful face of Lang Wo too. A blaze was ignited whenever he thought about her.

Lang Wo then was full of youth and mesmerizing energy. She was pure and innocent too. He was enthralled upon seeing her.

Unfortunately, he could only suppress his feelings, for humans were more important to him.

‘There won’t be peace unless the Grand Emperor and Celestial Emperor are eliminated.’

He looked calm, yet energy and passion filled his eyes. His deep wisdom was hidden beneath his calm exterior.

‘The Great Void will be a shelter for humans. If we fail, we need a place to hide. If Luo Xiao’s three prophecies come true, then I should think about how to deal with the Grand Emperor’s invasion of the Great Void.’

The torrent hidden in his gaze became faster and faster.

On the celestial river, high waves hit his boat and lifted it.

When the boat was on top of the wave, Celestial Venerable Yun’s clothes fluttered with the wind.

Beneath him was a vast empire filled with slow rainbow clouds that his eyes took in.

This was his era!

He was determined to be the trend-setter of this chaotic era, to be the one to lead humans to glory never seen before, to be the one that left behind the greatest mark in history!

He was going to bring forth the death of the Grand Emperor and Celestial Emperor. The era of the ancient gods would end at his hands. The Heaven Alliance would also fracture at his hands. Those that overthrew the ancient gods would replace them as the new rulers.

Yet, Celestial Venerable Yun knew none of that. He looked at the mountains surrounded by clouds, his chest filled with heroism.

A large wave fell, and the carriage left the fog and reappeared in the Dragon Han Era.

It was just that times had changed, and they didn’t know how far they were from the Heaven Han Celestial Heavens.

In that era, Celestial Venerable Mu’s shocking accomplishment started a revolution. However, not many people knew about what Celestial Venerable Mu did.

Qin Mu calmed himself and changed his appearance back to Mu Qing.

‘We don’t know which year of the Dragon Han Era we’re in. Unfortunate. Even Big Brother doesn’t know which year of the Dragon Han Era the ghost ship stopped at.’

Qin Mu stood up and said to Yan’er, “Yan’er, hang the lantern properly. The waves are big. Don’t let it be extinguished by the waves.”

Yan’er nodded and went to hang it properly, saying, “Master, can I see my mother this time?”

Qin Mu smiled and said, “As long as nothing goes wrong, we should be able to. Relax, once we see her, we can set up the trap. Even if Celestial Venerable Huo kills her, she won’t really die.”

He put his hands behind his back as he watched Yan’er hang the lantern. He was filled with confidence.

Yan’er cheered and went to feed the dragon qilin and the six dragons diligently. She also fished out the tiny Earth Count in the dragon qilin’s ears to feed him spirit pills.

The tiny Earth Count sat down and hugged a large spirit pill to chew on it.

The boats went around on the celestial river. They were bustling with activity. Qin Mu looked out after pushing open the windows and saw that there were way more boats on the celestial river than in the first year of the Dragon Han Era. Humans were enjoying more prosperity too. Qin Mu also saw many human gods driving ships on the celestial river.

‘It really is good for the people that Celestial Venerable Yun rules the world.’

Qin Mu smiled and thought, ‘He should be Celestial Emperor Yun by now, right? It’s unfortunate that I couldn’t see him when I went to the Dragon Han Era last time. I might be able to meet him this time. We only met once, at the Jade Pool Meeting of the first year of the Dragon Han Era, but we never talked in detail.’

He was suddenly stunned. It was weird that in his will for his family, he mentioned that Celestial Venerable Yun never met Celestial Venerable Mu after that. He could only use Brahma Buddha’s technique to disguise himself as Celestial Venerable Mu and use his identity to do things.

‘Could it really be that we never met each other after?’

Qin Mu shuddered. Could it really be true that the both of them could only look at one another from afar throughout history?

That would be a sorrowful reality.

“Dragon Pi, let’s go to the humans’ Heaven Han Celestial Heavens.”

Qin Mu’s voice came from within as it faintly said, “I want to see how my old human friends are doing.”

The dragon qilin responded and whispered to Yan’er, “Cult Master is weird. He always used to call me Fatty Dragon. Now, he calls me Dragon Pi instead, my real name. How weird…”

Yan’er couldn’t help but say, “How can you be so smart for important things but be so dumb for small things? Fatty Dragon is a childish nickname, while Dragon Pi is a proper name. He thought of you as small and immature previously, so he called you Fatty Dragon. Now that he feels that you’re mature and grown-up, he calls you by your proper name. That’s the same for parents and seniors. They will call you by your proper name once they feel that you’ve grown up.”

“Pooh pooh, nonsense! Cult Master isn’t raising me like I’m his son!”

“No? Who made you food? Who taught you techniques? Who doted on you?”

The dragon qilin was in a daze as the tiny Earth Count laughed.

The dragon qilin’s head drooped in a depressed manner. “My Human Rearing Scripture might be in vain. My Dao heart is going to collapse…”

The carriage moved towards the celestial river. The humans’ Heaven Han Celestial Heavens was built in front. Qin Mu was excited. ‘Maybe I can see Celestial Venerable Yun this time. Maybe he’ll be at the Heaven Han Celestial Heavens!’

The Heaven Han Celestial Heavens was way larger than before. When observed from afar, it appeared luxurious and glorious. The original celestial heavens was still there, but it was small. The human gods had built many palaces around it and attracted even more celestial river tributaries to lift them.

Qin Mu looked at it and saw many boats sailing out of the tributaries. It was bustling with activity. Gods flew up to the Heaven Han Celestial Heavens from below and left trails of light in the air.

‘Celestial Venerable Yun ruled very well, as expected.’

Qin Mu was filled with glee as he ordered the dragon qilin to stop. They halted a passing boat. It was loaded with cargo, and it was likely heading to the other heavens via the celestial river to sell goods.

Gods guarded the boat, and they came to inquire about why they were stopped. They saw how extraordinary the Heavenly Dragon Treasure Carriage was and didn’t dare to be slow.

Qin Mu walked out of the carriage and asked, “Brother, which year of the Dragon Han Era are we in?”

That god smiled and said, “I don’t know the specific year. However, I do know the year of the Heaven Han Celestial Heavens. This year is the hundred thousandth year since Celestial Emperor Yun ascended to the throne. If you were early, you could have seen the ceremony, but unfortunately, you’re late.”

‘It has been 100,000 years since Celestial Emperor Yun ascended the throne?’

Qin Mu was shocked. If Celestial Venerable Yun ascended to the throne in the year that the Heaven Han Celestial Heavens was built, then he would be late by 100,000 years!

“You seem to be from a faraway place, right? Judging by your travel-worn appearance, you should have been traveling for quite some time.”

That god said, “When the celebration was held, Celestial Emperor Yun announced something big, but unfortunately, you missed it.”

Qin Mu asked curiously, “What was it?”

“The first Emperor’s Throne Realm in the world!”

That god excitedly said, “Celestial Emperor Yun became the first being to cultivate to the Emperor’s Throne Realm! Even the ancient Celestial Emperor ordered people to send gifts! On that day, the Heaven Han Celestial Heavens was bustling with activity. Earth Count, Heaven Duke, Mother Earth, and even Celestial Empress sent gifts to congratulate our emperor on becoming an Emperor’s Throne being and opening the first Emperor’s Throne technique in the world!”

Qin Mu got excited as well and praised, “Good, that’s good! He was able to comprehend the Emperor’s Throne Realm before the gods in a mere 101,000 years. He’s truly an unrivaled genius!”

Yan’er was perplexed. Taking 101,000 years to cultivate to the Emperor’s Throne? Unrivaled genius?

‘Master seems to not know that people of the Founding Emperor Era took less than a thousand years to reach the Emperor’s Throne Realm. How can Celestial Venerable Yun be called a genius for taking more than 100,000 years to do the same?’ She was confused.

She didn’t know that the later generations had experience from countless people before them, so their cultivation was successful. In Celestial Venerable Yun’s era, although the realm existed, no one had reached it before.

Not only that, but there were no other techniques in this era for one to be inspired by.

Everyone, even the leaders of the half-gods, had to start from nothing and cultivate with trial and error. It was as if one was figuring out paths in the dark by touching.

What was even more horrifying was making mistakes.

If one made a mistake in one’s technique, sometimes, they had to restart the whole process.

If one cultivated to the Jade Capital Realm and was in the midst of entering the Numinous Sky Realm when they found that they had made a mistake when entering the true god realm, they would have to rework and modify all of their techniques from the true god realm to the Jade Capital Realm.

However, what if one found a mistake when opening divine treasures?

One had to completely overturn their previous techniques!

Thus, it was hard to improve on techniques in the Dragon Han Era. Everyone was searching in the dark. It was trial and error.

Hence, the corpses of people that died could probably fill an entire heaven!

It was such trial and error of the previous generations that allowed people of the later generations to not make mistakes in their cultivation and be more straightforward with it.

Being the first to open an Emperor’s Throne technique and cultivate to the Emperor’s Throne Realm was a monumental achievement by Celestial Venerable Yun that demonstrated his superiority!

“Guest, we still have trading to do and can’t stay for long.”

The god guarding the merchant ship commented, “It will probably take me a dozen years to return. By then, I will also be a guest that’s travel-worn.”

Qin Mu laughed and waved goodbye to him.

The carriage drove to the front of the Heaven Han Celestial Heavens, and the dragon qilin stopped it in front of the Southern Heavenly Gate. Yan’er took down the lantern and followed Qin Mu and the others into the Heaven Han Celestial Heavens.

It was very conspicuous of them to carry a lantern around during the day.

Qin Mu looked around. The people of this era already had a lot of attainments in the arts. The buildings were beautiful enough to enthrall people with their ancient beauty.

Qin Mu had done some research into this, so he slowed down to look around happily.

“Yun, why have you returned so soon?”

A familiar voice appeared, and Qin Mu looked towards it. He saw Celestial Venerable Yue, who had several gods walking with her. She grumbled, “Didn’t you say that you were heading to the Dragon Han Celestial Heavens to file a complaint to the ancient Celestial Emperor? Celestial Venerable Hao has been invading our land, and his half-gods ate many of our gods too. We have fought countless times on the frontlines. With this complaint, we must… Why did you morph into Celestial Venerable Mu again?”

She suddenly noticed Yan’er, the dragon qilin, and the weird people that the six heavenly dragons had morphed into around Qin Mu. She became stunned and looked at Qin Mu.

Qin Mu gently said with a smile, “It has been a long time, Yue. Our last separation feels like it was yesterday. Are you well?”

Celestial Venerable Yue had a hard time believing him while looking at him. Her footsteps became light as she walked towards him. She examined him again and again. He looked slightly haggard, but otherwise, he looked the same. It was as if the last time they had met was yesterday.

Yet, his gaze became more sunken, as if he had experienced many things. His aura also changed to become more reserved.

“It has been a hundred thousand years.”

She muttered gently, “It wasn’t yesterday. It has been a hundred thousand years since you left, Celestial Venerable Mu…”

“I know.”

Qin Mu smiled. “What was a hundred thousand years to you was a mere day for me.”

Celestial Venerable Yue forced herself to not stop as she pulled him towards the celestial heavens. She smiled and said, “After you left, someone discovered your secret! You know who it was? It was Sister Ling!”

She was very happy, and her voice became gentle and light. “Sister Ling said that someone brought her future hairpin to the era, so her hairpin disappeared. I couldn’t help telling her that it wasn’t Celestial Venerable Yun pretending to be you. She was excited and searched for you for a long time, but she couldn’t find you, which caused her to be disappointed for quite a while…”

Qin Mu’s heart was all fuzzy when she held his hand to find Celestial Venerable Ling.

Soon, Celestial Venerable Yue reached Celestial Venerable Ling’s residence. It was a mess, with papers containing all sorts of runes and words scattered all around.

Outside of those things, there were many ponies in the garden too. They rode bamboo rods without their feet touching the ground. They bounced around while checking the manuscripts on the ground.

“Be careful, don’t anger these little things. Sister Ling carelessly put them together while testing creation divine arts. These ponies grew on the bamboo rods, and Sister Ling has them check for errors in manuscripts. They don’t take their jobs seriously, so they just randomly take some and claim that there are errors. Sister Ling calls them rod spirits, and they are ferocious. Don’t bother using logic with them, as they just beat people up.”

Celestial Venerable Yue cheerfully said, “Sister Ling, quickly come out! See who’s here!”

Celestial Venerable Ling wasn’t in the garden. There were only ponies jumping around while riding the bamboo rods.

A heavenly dragon curiously asked, “Doesn’t it hurt for them to jump around like that?”

Another heavenly dragon asked, “Hurt? Where?”

Qin Mu took out Celestial Venerable Ling’s peachwood hairpin, and he heard Celestial Venerable Ling’s voice coming from a side room. She was furious. “Which d*mned being did this? Who stole my hairpin… Oh my god!”

The room suddenly flew open. Celestial Venerable Ling stood in it with her gaze firmly on Qin Mu.

“Ling, I have returned.”

Qin Mu calmly said, “Here’s your hairpin.”