Tales of Herding Gods

Gongsun Yan finally let go of Qin Mu, who felt relieved and immediately went to the capital to see Ling Yuxiu about this.

Ling Yuxiu smiled and said, “I paid my respects to the Celestial Venerables at the celestial heavens many times, so I know a lot about the formalities there. I’ll guide Yan’er so that she won’t make a fool of herself. Relax.”

She went to see Gongsun Yan with Qin Mu, asking along the way, “If Yan’er is conferred the title of Mother Earth as expected, what rank will she be?”

“She will be the biggest official of the Primordial Realm, on the level of the four deities, Black Deity, and White Deity. However, she’ll have less power.”

Qin Mu continued, “The ten Celestial Venerables might give her half of the Primordial Realm for her to go against Celestial Venerable Xiao.”

Ling Yuxiu shuddered. Eternal Peace was a small country not worthy of concern for the celestial heavens. She was a mere small emperor of some country. If she had no money or use, the Celestial Venerables wouldn’t even care about her.

Gongsun Yan would have a higher authority after being conferred with her new title. She would be equal to the four deities.

And if Gongsun Yan really was pushed to go against Celestial Venerable Xiao like Qin Mu said would happen, wouldn’t Gongsun Yan be in trouble?

In her heart, Gongsun Yan was a naive and innocent girl. How could she be the opponent of the cunning Celestial Venerable Xiao?

Be it in power or wisdom, Gongsun Yan paled greatly in comparison to Celestial Venerable Xiao.

Qin Mu looked at her and understood her concerns. He smiled and said, “Celestial Venerable Xiao will accept it no matter how much he dislikes it. After all, he needs me. Thus, he won’t strike against Gongsun Yan.”

Ling Yuxiu felt relieved and walked with him. Suddenly, she said, “Recently, people in the court keep asking me to marry.”

She stopped and vaguely said, “Imperial Preceptor, they say that I must have offspring as the Son of Heaven. Thus, they keep on repeating that.”

Qin Mu stopped, looked at her, and asked, “What did you reply, Emperor?”

“I told them that the imperial preceptor hasn’t formed a family to work hard for the nation. Can my understanding be worse than the imperial preceptor?”

Ling Yuxiu smiled and continued, “And then they shut up. However, every once in a while, a statesman will bring it up. Thus, I’d like to ask you, when are you getting married? Once you’re married, I’ll marry too.”

Qin Mu looked at her quietly. After a while, he said, “Who will you let me marry?”

“Gongsun Yan, Si Yunxiang, High Emperor Sword God, even Yan Jingjing!”

Ling Yuxiu said with a complex expression, “I’ll let you marry anyone you want. I don’t want to look at you running around alone. After you get married, I’ll be more relieved!”

Qin Mu shook his head and said, “I don’t want to marry anyone. I have no time now. Eternal Peace’s reform hasn’t succeeded, and I have no energy for such things.”

“You’re trying to delay me!”

Ling Yuxiu furiously said, “Herder of cows! I shouldn’t have met you then!”

All around, people looked at them. Ling Yuxiu adjusted herself and continued walking as she said begrudgingly, “How can I marry if you don’t? Am I your little mother cow to be chained forever? I met you in my best years, yet we’re both wasted now.”

Qin Mu caught up to her and said, “Can you throw away your throne? Can I throw away my position as the imperial preceptor? If we can’t, we have to be like this.”

Ling Yuxiu glanced at him and said, “If we win in the future and neither of us is married…”

Qin Mu said calmly, “By then, I won’t be the imperial preceptor.”

Ling Yuxiu said with red eyes, “I won’t be the emperor either.”

“I’ll marry you,” Qin Mu said.

“Yep,” Ling Yuxiu said while turning away.

Xuandu.

Mother Earth sat in the Primordial Tree’s core, while Heaven Duke gently dipped it in the Heavenly Pool. The pool was extraordinary. Although it wasn’t like the primordial liquid, it was the starlight chain of thousands of galaxies. One could see the light from afar.

The Primordial Tree core absorbed the star water of the Heavenly Pool. It slowly sprouted, and leaves slowly appeared.

After a while, a large tree appeared in the pool. After a couple of days, Mother Earth walked out of the tree naked.

Heaven Duke saw it and plucked down clouds to forge clothes for her.

Mother Earth smiled and said, “Heaven Duke, I didn’t know you were such a thoughtful person.”

Heaven Duke smiled and said, “Mother Earth, don’t joke around. I have no soil here, and I can only let you absorb the water. I can’t let you absorb the soil power, which is bad for your growth.”

Mother Earth said, “There is a lot of soil in the ancestral court for me to take…”

“Don’t you dare touch it!” Heaven Duke was furious.

After a while, he relaxed and said, “Never touch the ancestral court. There should be some growth soil with West Deity. I’ll sacrifice some of my face to beg for some for you.”

Mother Earth sat beside the pool and looked up at the vast Heaven Duke. She asked, “Dao Brother, are you really going to tolerate Celestial Venerable Mu like this? If he can kill me today, he can kill you and Earth Count in the future! We are leaders of ancient gods. Are you not saddened?”

Heaven Duke’s white eyebrows fluttered. They were long star belts. He leisurely said, “Mother Earth, you aren’t born from Dao but from the spirit energy of heaven and earth. You know not what I think. You, who has the desire to obtain power and accomplishments, have been corrupted for far too long from rooting the Primordial Realm. Ancient gods like us should stay away from worldly affairs and follow the Great Dao.”

“Hypocrite!”

Mother Earth coldly laughed. “Stay away from worldly affairs and follow the Great Dao? If you were really like that, why did you, Earth Count, Heavenly Yin, and the ladies of the Ruins of End strike out against the masters of creation then?”

Heaven Duke’s gaze fell on her. His voice was far and loud as he said, “The wars between the masters of creation endangered the universe. They controlled us to fight for them. We weren’t ourselves when under their control. If their wars continued, the ancestral court would have been destroyed, and the universe would have collapsed and stopped existing. I heard the voice from my Dao then telling me to eliminate the masters of creation. Mother Earth, have you heard it before?”

Mother Earth was stunned as she shook her head and said, “No.”

Heaven Duke said, “I heard it. I felt my Great Dao pushing me to eliminate the masters of creation and stop their destruction. I asked Earth Count, and he heard Youdu asking him to do so too. You aren’t an ancient god of Dao, so you’re naturally limited. Perhaps this is why you never heard its call.”

Mother Earth coldly smiled and said, “You’re making things up to distract me! My question was, are you going to let Celestial Venerable Mu act like this? He’s been more and more unrestrained!”

Heaven Duke gently smiled and said, “Mother Earth, you still fail to understand. We need him to fight the ten Celestial Venerables with us. Since we are allies, why don’t we respect him like one? Don’t forget how, without him, no one can revive you.”

“You!”

Heaven Duke smiled and said, “You see only the danger, not the opportunity. You see the ten Celestial Venerables exterminating us but fail to see how this is our chance to get out of our Great Dao restraints.”

Mother Earth laughed out of anger as she angrily said, “You intend to give up your noble ancient god body to become a normal person?”

Heaven Duke rebutted, “Who’s nobler and who’s lowlier under the Heaven Dao? Mother Earth, I didn’t save you just to hear you rant. I need your power for something. After that, you owe me nothing.”

Mother Earth gave a cold humph. “What?”

“Cleaning Xuandu!” Surprisingly, a shred of murderous intent came from his voice.

Mother Earth was shocked as she asked, “You plan to use me to get rid of the power that the celestial heavens have in Xuandu?”