Tales of Herding Gods

“In the five years since I left Eternal Peace for the celestial heavens, I haven’t had any results of the reform.”

Qin Mu sighed and said, “This trend becomes more obvious when we return to the past.”

Ever since he left the Primordial Realm for the celestial heavens, his pioneering of paths, skills, and divine arts had become less and less. Every time he returned to Eternal Peace, he would learn something new.

This was the effect of the soil.

Eternal Peace’s reform was still ongoing, but he had left the soil of reform. Every time he returned was to obtain nutrients.

It was the way of the celestial heavens. If he stayed in the past era, which was obscure and unknown to him, and where paths, skills, and divine arts were still being developed, any divine art he brought there would be shocking to the people. What would Qin Mu rely on for growth then?

His goal was to be better than people of the past, not become one of them.

The celestial heavens got closer and closer again.

The 27 ancient gods took the God Execution Stage and God Execution Mysterious Knife to the heaven Ah Chou was at. Wood Wolf of Kui said, “It’s not good for us to reveal our identities this time. Bring this divine knife and execute him. We will hide and watch over you. If you do well, the crown prince will reward you greatly!”

In that heaven, Ah Chou had already reached a dead end. Many half-gods stood on a high cliff, carrying his kids and saying to Ah Chou below, “Kneel down!”

Meanwhile, in the celestial heavens’ imperial garden, Celestial Venerable Yun walked behind the ancient Celestial Emperor. His trip there was to complain about Celestial Venerable Hao officially. After the court session, Celestial Emperor got him to stay and walk with him through the imperial gardens so that they could talk intimately.

“Yun, you are in charge of the humans, and you should know that it isn’t easy to be an emperor. I’m in charge of the entire universe and all the worlds.”

Celestial Emperor felt his head ache, so he rubbed his temple before sighing. “Humans are but one of the countless races of the worlds, and you all have already caused turmoil. Just now, you quarreled so badly with Hao’er in court. I’m facing a dilemma. I have to care about the old brothers’ will, the loyalty of the half-gods, and also the troubles of Postcelestial lifeforms like you. It isn’t easy being the celestial emperor.”

Celestial Venerable Yun smiled. “I know that it’s hard on you, Emperor. Celestial Venerable Hao is after all…”

Celestial Emperor glanced at him. Celestial Venerable Yun understood it and shut up.

Suddenly, Great Sun Sovereign came quickly, bowed, and reported, “Emperor, this is bad!”

Celestial Emperor frowned and lectured, “What’s bad? The heavens now are prosperous and peaceful. Everyone is living happily. How could there be bad things?”

Great Sun Sovereign frantically said, “The 28 star ancient gods came and borrowed the God Execution Stage from the celestial heavens. They are likely going to cause big trouble! I was observing the heavens under your order, and today, I found the half-gods doing something strange. They seem to have a secret deal with the 28 gods. This… This…”

He clenched his teeth and said with guts, “This probably involves the Crown Prince Qi too!”

Celestial Emperor’s face sunk, and Great Sun Sovereign shivered and felt the murderous intent of Celestial Emperor.

“You entrusted me with such a great responsibility, so I had to say it, Emperor. Please forgive me!”

Great Sun Sovereign continued, “Earth Count has reincarnated, and I suspect that Crown Prince Qi is in cahoots with the 28 gods and a bunch of other old half-gods to kill Earth Count and take over Youdu for himself! Crown Prince Qi is ruthless. If he succeeds, he won’t be able to hold back his ambition, and one day, he might aspire for the throne and threaten you, Emperor!”

“How dare you!”

Celestial Emperor hollered, “Great Sun Sovereign, isn’t it too unrestrained of you to sow discord between my son and me!”

Great Sun Sovereign trembled and protested, “I was merely thinking for your empire, Emperor! Earth Count contributed greatly to your empire, Emperor! Crown Prince Qi attempting to get rid of him is an attempt to cut off your wings, Emperor!”

“Scram!”

Celestial Emperor lifted his finger and coldly said, “Scram! Yun, you will withdraw too!”

Celestial Venerable Yun bowed and withdrew with Great Sun Sovereign.

Great Sun Sovereign was angry, and he said, “If he doesn’t trust me, there will probably be trouble brewing in the chambers of concubines soon!”

Celestial Venerable Yun looked at him and said, “How could the emperor not trust you? Star Sovereign, the emperor was angry at you because you knew too much.”

Great Sun Sovereign didn’t understand him, so he humbly asked for an explanation, “Could Celestial Venerable Yun please enlighten me?”

Celestial Venerable Yun said, “You are in charge of monitoring and reporting big things in the heavens to Celestial Emperor. You are only supposed to report things without making your own theories. If you only observe and don’t theorize, you can still live. If you conjecture, I’m afraid that you might die mysteriously.”

He walked towards him and said, “In this celestial heavens, the more you know, the more danger you find yourself in. You are in the most dangerous position. Be careful.”

Great Sun Sovereign was stunned. He lifted his bird leg and caressed his chin. ‘This Celestial Venerable Yun is a b*stard with illogical speech. I’m loyal to the emperor, who dares to scheme against me?’

The carriage finally reached the Southern Heavenly Gate. At that moment, a shocking wave came, and instantly, darkness shrouded the Primordial Realm’s sky.

Qin Mu’s heart pounded as he looked back quickly. A heaven had split open, and a giant with the head of a cow and the face of a tiger roared in anger.

On that day, Youdu’s Great Dao invaded the Primordial Realm as chains, locking that giant in place, as well as the destroyed heaven.

At the same time, the great green bird flew towards Youdu with the palace.

The man strapped on the pole laughed. “That’s right. We’ll go to Youdu and try to take Earth Count’s corporeal body! Once we have him, we can have control over the lives of all Postcelestial lifeforms and half-gods!”

“Shut up! Speak again, and I’ll rip you apart.”

The carriage rushed towards the Southern Heavenly Gate, and the army of the celestial heavens guarding it didn’t bother to block them as even more gods and devils flooded the celestial heavens. There was panic and crying everywhere.

The army of the celestial heavens looked at the Primordial Realm, stunned.

Their gazes rose as they looked at Earth Count’s body, which was stepping on a gargantuan heaven while rising and becoming bigger.

A giant cauldron rotated beneath him. It was a cauldron forged from the celestial heavens’ God Execution Stage and countless lives.

It had a name, it was called Slaughter.

Countless half-gods scampered towards the celestial heavens while crying out loud.

The 27 ancient gods had to show up and receive Earth Count. They called out, saying, “Earth Count, they are merely fooling around. Why be angry?”

Wood Wolf of Kui said to the scampering half-gods, “Are you lot not coming to apologize?”

On that day, the 28 ancient gods in the four poles that the ancient gods guarded became the faces of the Slaughter Cauldron.

Ah Chou came to the celestial heavens’ Southern Heavenly Gate with endless fury.

The army of the celestial heavens was deployed, and they rushed towards this growing yet sorrowful devil god. At the same time, Qin Mu’s carriage rushed into the celestial heavens amidst the chaos and went straight to South Deity Vermillion Bird’s celestial palace.

He looked back as the army of the celestial heavens became corpses before even approaching Ah Chou.

That day was like the doomsday of the gods. Even powerful ancient gods and half-gods had their souls dispersed when they came into contact with Ah Chou’s power!

The celestial heavens’ power was almost fatally decimated.

The ugly man shackled by the Great Dao dragged a dark heaven world into the celestial heavens. Magma and devilish aura mixed in the world beneath him to form floating lava everywhere.

Qin Mu briefly saw Ah Chou’s giant punch heading towards the Southern Heavenly Gate. The Southern Heavenly Gate collapsed as the punch went through it.

In front, countless soldiers of the army of the celestial heavens flooded towards the Southern Heavenly Gate, making it hard for the carriage to go forward. Yet, in the next moment, Earth Count’s punch caused a space storm that lifted them with countless palaces!

Countless people were ripped apart in the storm, their primordial spirits dissolved. Their souls went down towards the fiercest weapon in the world.

The power of the Slaughter Cauldron became more and more terrifying!

The carriage was lifted up too as they flew above the Vermillion Bird Celestial Palace towards the Jade Capital.

Yan’er hollered and utilized her divine art to protect the carriage. The heavenly dragons did the same to fend for their lives. They saw that the lantern hung on the carriage was on the verge of being extinguished.

Qin Mu immediately went to protect it with his hand.

Endless darkness flooded into the celestial heavens like a dark tide, engulfing everything that it went past. Even the lanterns forged from suns and luminous pearls forged from moons of the celestial heavens were extinguished by this dark devilish aura.

It was too ferocious, and everyone submerged in it was instantly hit and assimilated before being swallowed by the Slaughter Cauldron to become one of its faces.

Qin Mu also heard a roar of endless anger. It was Ah Chou.

The carriage crashed into the Jade Capital, and it took them hundreds of miles before they managed to come to a stop.

Qin Mu was about to go back to the Vermillion Bird Celestial Palace when he saw that the darkness had engulfed it. He shivered. If he rushed into the darkness then, Wei Suifeng’s lantern would probably not be able to withstand Ah Chou and extinguish.

Then, he wouldn’t be able to see South Deity Vermillion Bird at all!

The darkness swept through like a furious ocean, engulfing everything. It was outside of the Jade Capital, colliding with it.

The capital of the celestial heavens radiated brightly, and surprisingly, it blocked Youdu’s devilish aura.

Qin Mu gave a sigh of relief and ran towards Celestial Emperor’s chambers of concubines with the gods of the Jade Capital.

This was because the Slaughter Cauldron was spinning and heading towards them from Ah Chou’s hands. It crushed the gates of the Jade Capital!

From the cauldron, countless faces flew out and released bitter cries. They flew everywhere before rushing towards the fleeing people.

Qin Mu rammed around with the carriage. Some royals even jumped onto it, wanting him to help them escape. Qin Mu raised his sword and cleaved many royals.

At the back, the violent space storm came again. It was another strike from Ah Chou!

The Heavenly Dragon Treasure Carriage was lifted by the storm again as countless palaces behind them were torn apart by the storm.

When the Heavenly Dragon Treasure Carriage landed, everything suddenly became calm. Qin Mu looked back and saw the Numinous Sky Hall behind them. There, imposing ancient gods stood up to block the storm that Ah Chou stirred.

Qin Mu’s pupils contracted as he saw the ancient Celestial Emperor’s figure.

The ancient Celestial Emperor was radiating brightness that was glaring. Even Ah Chou’s Youdu devilish aura couldn’t enter.

‘That’s great. Soon, Ah Chou will be forced into Youdu, and I can sneak into the Vermillion Bird Celestial Palace to see South Deity amidst the chaos.’

Qin Mu relaxed and thought, ‘However, I probably can’t use this carriage again. It’s too eye-catching. It’s hard to act with Mu Qing’s face too. I have to change my face.’

He jumped out of the carriage, took the lantern, and said, “Yan’er, Fatty Dragon, this is the celestial heavens, and it will be hard to do things with too many people. I’ll collect you all into the heart of my brows!”

Before they could respond, the eye in the heart of his brows opened, and a light shot out and shone on the Heavenly Dragon Treasure Carriage.

The dragon qilin, Yan’er, the dragons, and the carriage disappeared. They were kept in the Qin word land.

Qin Mu groaned and utilized the Writings of Creation. His appearance changed to Luo Xiao’s as he thought, ‘You wouldn’t blame me for using your appearance, right, Third Brother?’

At that moment, he suddenly saw Celestial Venerable Hao.

Qin Mu was stunned as he sneakily hurried towards the chambers of concubines.

‘Why is he sneaking around in his own home?’

Qin Mu was confused when he saw Celestial Venerable Yun too.

Qin Mu was pleasantly surprised. Celestial Venerable Yun was sneaking around too as he followed Celestial Venerable Hao into Celestial Emperor’s chambers of concubines too.

Qin Mu’s heart fluttered as he followed them sneakily too.

In front, Celestial Venerable Hao met palace maids that were guarding the palace. Suddenly, his figure expanded as he pulverized them. He soon took out a white banner, waved it around, and took their souls.

‘Son of Heaven Yin’s treasure!’ Qin Mu thought while observing the scene.

Celestial Venerable Yun, following Celestial Venerable Hao, took out a yellow joss paper, which he pasted on himself. His appearance changed immediately.

Qin Mu blinked. ‘Celestial Venerable You’s treasure! They expected Ah Chou to cause havoc here and were prepared. It seems they want some treasure from the celestial heavens! What do they want to steal?’