Tales of Herding Gods

Qin Mu laughed heartily and stepped out of the treasure carriage. “Mu Qing has seen Sister South Deity before!”

“Mu Qing? Sister South Deity?”

The girl in the red dress was perplexed. Her voice was soft and gentle, though her expression seemed a little half-witted. “You may be Mu Qing, but I’m not your sister. You have mixed me up with another person, silly. I’m Que Feiyin, a disciple under Celestial Venerable Yue.”

Qin Mu had doubts in his heart. ‘Could it be that I’ve recognized the wrong person? This lady is dressed solely in bright red, similar to South Deity’s style. Also, the vermillion bird feather that’s in her hair is the vermillion bird feather of South Deity. I couldn’t have made a mistake! Moreover, the poem she was singing just now had an extraordinary air to it. With her breadth of mind, she sang with such gusto, and it felt like the gush of a hundred rivers running into the sea, as though all of the stars were shining at the same time. How could a half-witted person produce such a piece of art?’

He voiced his question when he was done thinking, and the girl in the red dress, Que Feiyin, answered, “This is Celestial Emperor Yun’s poem. It wasn’t written by me. I learned it when I heard him singing.”

The dragon qilin said, “Lady Feiyin, my cult master and Celestial Venerable Yue are good friends, and he’s here to visit her. May I trouble you to inform her?”

“Master isn’t in.”

Que Feiyin examined them and said, “My master and Celestial Venerable Yun are out and aren’t in the celestial heavens. Are you really a close friend of my master? I don’t recognize you.”

Qin Mu stepped out of the treasure carriage. The eyelids at the heart of his brows slowly opened to the sides, revealing his third eye. Instantly, he was able to see both the past and present lives of the lady called Que Feiyin clearly.

Since his god eye fused many pieces of the Grand Primordium Origin Stone, he possessed more of its marvels within.

He saw that thousands of years ago, a ball of flames descended from the starry sky in the south, where Vermillion Bird Palace was, and landed into the home of an ordinary family in the Primordial Realm.

Ten months later, the family’s mistress gave birth to a girl. When she was born, the sky was filled with a red tinge, which transformed into vermillion birds that circled the delivery room.

After she was born and became an adult, Celestial Venerable Yue came and accepted her as a disciple. She imparted to her the paths, skills, and divine arts, and she brought her to the Heaven Han Celestial Heavens.

However, in a battle with the Dragon Heaven Celestial Heavens, that girl encountered Son of Heaven Yin, who killed her on the spot by taking her soul away.

Celestial Venerable Yue was enraged and wounded Son of Heaven Yin severely, taking back the soul.

That night, Celestial Venerable Yue found Celestial Venerable You, who was going through the battlefield collecting souls. She gave the soul to him.

After another 10 months, a baby girl was born and was again accepted by Celestial Venerable Yue as a disciple. She had extraordinary intelligence and was able to master any divine art on the first try. However, she didn’t have any memory of her previous life and didn’t know who she was.

The good times didn’t last. During one of her travels, she was surrounded and killed by half-gods. This time, it was also Son of Heaven Yin who led the half-gods to invade the human territories.

Qin Mu continued with the third, fourth, and fifth reincarnation…

Every time she was reincarnated, she would somehow get killed. Every time, it would be by the hands of Son of Heaven Yin.

With each reincarnation, her intelligence and memory gradually decreased. Que Feiyin was her 100th lifetime.

Celestial Venerable Yue continued to accept her as her disciple, devoting all of her attention towards teaching her. However, Que Feiyin had become a little half-witted and was being referred to by some as Silly Lady Que.

‘Son of Heaven Yin did this on purpose. His Youdu Great Dao has already reached the highest attainments and is able to see where South Deity Zhu Que’s reincarnated soul will be. Hence, he’s able to find her accurately every time!’

Qin Mu was enraged. Using his third eye, he had watched South Deity Zhu Que’s reincarnations die 99 times. Every time, Son of Heaven Yin had a hand in it!

‘Son of Heaven Yin has very high attainments in the path of souls. He must have done something to South Deity’s soul, causing her to be muddle-headed during her reincarnations, forever not being able to realize that she was South Deity. This fellow has plotted against South Deity, Goddess of Heavenly Yin, and Di Yiyue. It’s as though he has a deep grudge against beautiful women!’

Qin Mu composed himself and tried his best to put on a kind expression. He extended his hand towards Que Feiyin and smiled. “Lady Feiyin, come over here. I have a good treasure to show you.”

Que Feiyin was skeptical. She leaped off the boat and boarded the treasure carriage, asking curiously, “What treasure?”

Qin Mu smiled ambiguously as he thought, ‘It’s indeed not easy for this silly girl to have survived for so long.”

Que Feiyin laughed. “You brute. Seeing how you look at me with your sneaky look, you are likely a lecher! Where’s the treasure? Take it out quickly, I won’t snatch it away from you!”

Qin Mu was about to carefully examine her soul to see what kind of underhand tricks Son of Heaven Yin had done when someone suddenly shouted, “Silly Lady Que, why have you gone onto someone else’s carriage?”

Yan’er and Que Feiyin gave a sound of acknowledgment at the same time. Yan’er lowered her head and felt a little vexed. ‘Why did I answer too?’

Que Feiyin hurriedly leaped out of the treasure carriage and said, “My senior sisters are calling me, I’ll see your treasure later!”

Qin Mu was examining her for the source of her muddle-headedness and faintly saw a gate, which looked vaguely like the Mingdu Heavenly Gate of Son of Heaven Yin. However, Que Feiyin had already run off to rejoin the youths on the boat.

Qin Mu groaned since he was about to see an unusual scene. Que Feiyin was the reincarnation of South Deity Zhu Que. However, every time she was reincarnated, she was killed by Son of Heaven Yin.

Every time she died, her soul would pass through the Mingdu Heavenly Gate of Son of Heaven Yin.

After going through the gate, the soul of South Deity had more heaven souls, earth souls, and the seven spirits—patching up her three souls and seven spirits.

‘In other words, South Deity is using the god soul of the three souls to reincarnate. For the 99 times she died, Son of Heaven Yin patched up her three souls and seven spirits 99 times, reducing her god nature.’

Qin Mu looked at the youths on the boat, who were likely the disciples of Celestial Venerable Yue and were guarded against him. They were in the midst of talking to Que Feiyin, probably warning her not to talk to strangers.

‘After going through 99 reincarnations, it’s as though South Deity has been sealed 99 times. Her god nature has become negligible. If she goes through another reincarnation, her god soul will completely lose its way and won’t be able to wake up anymore.’

Qin Mu couldn’t help but praise Son of Heaven Yin. ‘If the reincarnation of South Deity dies again, she’ll become a mortal. Son of Heaven Yin is indeed remarkable. He could create a soul spell that could deal with the ancient gods in this era. He’s worthy of the title Black Deity. His patience is frightening, fully focusing his energy on plotting against South Deity 99 times!’

He already had full confidence in breaking Son of Heaven Yin’s divine art.

However, the important question was how to ensure that the reincarnation of South Deity survived in this ancient era.

He only had four opportunities left to travel back to the ancient era. On his fifth time, he would be turned into an unchanging substance. He couldn’t keep on protecting this silly girl from Son of Heaven Yin’s attacks.

Son of Heaven Yin’s patience and persistence had caused him a great headache.

More importantly, this fellow was very good looking. Given his handsome appearance, it was difficult for ladies to maintain their guard.

“The man in the carriage is clearly a bad person. Bad people all say they have treasures so that they can fool ignorant girls!” On the boat, a pair of Celestial Venerable Yue’s female disciples were guiding Que Feiyin. After they finished talking, they glanced at Qin Mu.

Qin Mu thought for some time. He then cut out a piece of beautiful jade from an ancestral court jade mountain in the Qin word land, carefully carving it. After which, with a thought in his head, his primordial spirit transformed into the image of Earth Count.

His primordial spirit mouthed deep heavy-sounding Youdu language. For every syllable he produced, his Youdu devil qi transformed into Youdu characters, imprinting themselves onto the jade pendant.

The language of Youdu sounded deep and coarse, as though an ancient god who held souls was chanting.

Celestial Venerable Yue’s disciples on the boat were astonished. That pair of female disciples quickly grabbed Que Feiyin and pouted their lips towards the boat. “Silly Lady Que, look over there!”

Que Feiyin laid on the bow of the ship and looked down. She saw the Heavenly Dragon Treasure Carriage following their boat closely like a shadow.

At that moment, extremely thick Youdu devil qi emerged from the Heavenly Dragon Treasure Carriage, like giant black pythons. It crisscrossed and weaved around the carriage, looking incomparably frightening!

Que Feiyin got a fright and hurriedly retracted her head. “Senior Sister, the man in the carriage isn’t a good person!”

“Of course he’s not a good person!”

The people on the boat said, “Now it’s locked onto us! Master said before that you would be dogged by disasters and misfortunes from young and that you would one day perish from these encounters. Looks like your time has come!”

Que Feiyin was as anxious as ants on a hot pan. She paced around and said, “What should we do? Master isn’t in the celestial heavens. Senior Aunt Ling and Senior Uncle Yun aren’t around either. Who can resist this big devil?”

Everyone panicked. “Quiet! Be careful of being heard by the big devil!”

Below, there were faint whispers of devil language from the Heavenly Dragon Treasure Carriage, which sounded extremely sinister. The devil nature from the carriage became heavier and heavier, making everyone’s scalps numb.

“I’m afraid that it’s the great devil king of Youdu!”

In the carriage, Qin Mu changed a variety of runes in succession and finally refined the jade pendant. He called for Yan’er and said, “Give this jade pendant to Que Feiyin, and tell her it’s a meeting gift from me. Also, ask for the vermillion bird feather on her head.”

Yan’er took the jade pennant and probed, “Young Master, is that Que Feiyin my mother?”

Qin Mu nodded.

Yan’er didn’t look too happy. “She’s so silly, how can she be my mother?”

Qin Mu laughed. “Quick, be on your way!”

Yan’er flew aboard the boat, which was fleeing to the Heaven Han Celestial Heavens, intending to shake off the Heavenly Dragon Treasure Carriage. However, it was unable to do so.

Everyone was astonished when they saw Yan’er flying up, changing from a chubby green sparrow into a fat girl. ‘The devil king’s messenger has got on the boat. I’m afraid that the blood-shedding disaster of Junior Sister Que is coming!’

Yan’er walked up and said, “Mother… Lady, Young Master wanted you to have a look at this treasure.”

Que Feiyin wanted to step forward to take a look but was held back by everyone, so as to prevent this silly lady from getting ambushed.

Yan’er suddenly barged her way through the crowd and got close to Que Feiyin. She then placed the jade pendant in her hands and said, “This is for you from Young Master!”

Everyone was shocked and was about to execute their divine arts when their surroundings suddenly cracked open. The distance between them and Que Feiyin grew, causing them to be startled.

The divine art that Yan’er used was actually of the same school as theirs, which was passed down for generations. They were all divine arts of Celestial Venerable Yue!

Que Feiyin wasn’t alarmed at all. She curiously examined the jade pendant and could hardly contain her joy. “This is really a treasure. My senior sisters even said that the young master in the carriage is a bad person who specializes in cheating ignorant girls!”

She hung the jade pendant on her neck. Suddenly, it disappeared into her body with a whoosh!

“You lied to me!”

Que Feiyin was furious. She grabbed Yan’er and said, “The pretty jade pendant is gone!”

Qin Mu’s voice traveled over. “Lady Feiyin, look at your primordial spirit.”

Que Feiyin quickly looked at her primordial spirit and realized that her vermillion bird primordial spirit was wearing the jade pendant on its neck. Her anger then transformed into joy. “So, it’s here.”

Yan’er took the opportunity to pluck the vermillion bird feather from her head. Que Feiyin flew into a rage again, and she pursued as she cried, “That’s my treasure. I don’t want your treasure, return my treasure back to me!”

Yan’er hurriedly flew onto the treasure carriage and shouted, “Quick, let’s go!”

The dragon qilin cracked his whip, and the six dragons hurriedly pulled the Heavenly Dragon Treasure Carriage away. Que Feiyin chased after them, crying at the same time.

Her senior sisters quickly caught up with her. “Silly Lady Que, forget it. Luckily, he’s just a swindler, not a killer. Otherwise, you’d be dead!”

Que Feiyin wiped her tears and choked up. “The big fat girl lied to me. She better hope she isn’t found by me. If I find her, I’ll beat her bum until it swells!”

“You barely managed to keep your life, yet you’re bragging now? When Master comes back and learns of this, she’ll beat your bum until it swells!”

Just as they were speaking, humming sounds traveled over. On top of the celestial river, there were some mosquitoes that came out of nowhere. They were very tiny, flying towards the boat.

Everyone looked over and said, “This is a place with great winds and waves, so how did these mosquitoes manage to get here?”

They were chasing them away. Although the mosquitoes were small, they were ferocious with fangs and spikes in their mouths.

As they were chasing away the mosquitoes and feeling bewildered, Que Feiyin said, “I’m feeling a little drowsy.”

Everyone looked at her and got a fright. Within this short span of time, Que Feiyin had become nothing but skin and bones, and she had a look of death on her face. A huge mosquito was on her back, its mouth apparatus inserted into her heart, forcefully sucking the blood out. The belly of that mosquito was already fat and round.

In an instant, all of her blood was being sucked dry by this mosquito, killing her!

Everyone was panicking—crying and wailing miserably.