Tales of Herding Gods

“Ma ha ma ha!”

In Qin Mu’s dream realm, small Qin Mus shook their heads and spoke in a language no one understood. They arranged Celestial Venerable Ling’s letter, which allowed them to have their own comprehensions before they sat together arguing.

They fought on top of arguing, as they each used Celestial Venerable Ling’s divine art that they had comprehended. A bunch of them yelled and beat each other up.

The various small Qin Mus had their own strengths, but none of them could perfectly replicate Celestial Venerable Ling’s divine art. They could only replicate part of it at best.

Even so, Qin Mu’s dream world was made into a mess as dream realms were shattered.

When one dream realm was broken, another one was formed, causing them to remain stuck in Qin Mu’s dream realms.

Suddenly, a small Qin Mu waved his hand, and time seemingly stopped. However, time didn’t stop. What did stop, in fact, was substances. The particles that made them up stopped moving.

It seemed that even Qin Mu’s dream realm froze.

The small Qin Mus stopped moving. Even their eyes couldn’t move. The small Qin Mu who deployed the divine art that froze substances couldn’t move either.

“It has failed.”

A grand voice came, and Qin Mu woke up from his dream. The dream realm collapsed, and the little Qin Mus dissipated like light smoke.

Qin Mu stretched himself to pour tea for himself as many comprehensions he attained when he entered the dream flooded his mind.

He drank tea while arranging said comprehensions. Then, he yawned as he put down the teacup and returned to sleep.

The dream realm appeared again, and many more small Qin Mus poked their heads out from the dream realm before jumping out.

The small Qin Mus had the knowledge arranged by Qin Mu, so they had a deeper understanding of unchanging substance than the previous Qin Mus.

Many small Qin Mus sat together solemnly as they engaged in a discussion.

“Ma ha!”

“Ji Gu!”

Their discussion was heated, but after it, they had many differing opinions, which split them into factions.

None of the factions could convince the others, so they fought. Ultimately, the Ji Gu faction won against the Ma Ha faction and Ji Gu Ji Gu faction. After their total victory, they tied up the poor little guys into rows.

The small leader of the Ji Gu faction stretched his wings and cheered. The other little Qin Mus gathered beneath him and worked together to deploy unchanging substance divine arts.

Everything became still in the dream world, yet the little Qin Mus of the Ji Gu faction could still move, which made them very happy as they showed off to the little Qin Mus that were tied up.

Suddenly, their divine art seemed to change in a weird manner as the small Qin Mus seemingly became younger.

The small Qin Mus of the Ji Gu faction were perplexed. They were discussing the problem when they saw everyone becoming younger. Soon, they became naked toddlers that rattled on solemnly.

The grand voice spoke again. “Another failure.”

Before the voice settled, the dream realm collapsed again. The naked toddlers cried before the dream realm dissipated like smoke.

Although the tea in the pot lost its taste, Qin Mu poured another pot and drank while arranging his comprehensions.

He was the number one in creation divine arts, yet even he had a hard time comprehending Celestial Venerable Ling’s divine art.

Even if he comprehended according to teachings, he was afraid of errors that would cause those little guys in the dream to die a thousand times.

Luckily, he had Brahma Buddha’s Boundless Calamity Sutra and entered the path via dreams. Thus, he could use dreams to deduce and solve and find the only correct path from countless deaths.

He slept again, and in his dream, the knowledge accumulated by the little Qin Mus became even deeper.

Yet, this time, the divide between the little Qin Mus was more severe. It almost became one faction per person. No one recognized anyone else.

They slaughtered each other. It was clear that in his sleep, Qin Mu became more unrestrained. Since they couldn’t convince others, they just annihilated them, so the biggest devil would be in charge.

And it was a nest of them.

Qin Mu had no choice but to split the dream realms to prevent them from gathering. Yet they communicated through them, seeing each other as heretics to be annihilated.

They surprisingly broke through the dream realms to kill each other in another chaotic battle. Suddenly, small Qin Mus deployed the unchanging substance divine art that they comprehended themselves. Everyone became older at a visible rate.

Soon, they became less than a meter tall and had white hair and beards so long they reached the ground. They beat each other up with their walking sticks by hammering each other’s heads with them.

Qin Mu woke up and removed the dream realm. He fell back into the dream world with great perseverance after arranging things.

Soon, he woke up again, for he failed again.

The Boundless Calamity Sutra seemed to have met an unsolvable problem. The difficulty of Celestial Venerable Ling’s unchanging substance divine art was insane. It was almost undecipherable!

If Qin Mu comprehended by the rules, thousands of years would have passed by now. He probably would have died countless times too!

He would’ve died differently every time as well! How weird!

Qin Mu entered the dream again and again to find a strand of possibility from thousands of errors.

In this dream realm, a little Qin Mu suddenly deployed the divine art. A very mysterious Dao voice rang out, and fog flooded out.

The other little Qin Mus were stunned as they looked at the scene.

The fog enveloped a wider and wider area. They were shrouded too. Soon, the fog dissipated, and all that was left were piles of bones.

It was another failure.

Qin Mu dissipated the dream realm, but he was pleasantly surprised. He jumped up and walked around in visible excitement.

Although he had failed again, this failure allowed him to see the dawn of victory.

He finally felt the path of the unchanging substance divine art. Although he was at the start of said path, if he continued on it, he would certainly comprehend it!

He jumped out of the potted plant world and walked outside and out of the room. The outside world was filled with lush mountains and clear water. White clouds leisurely floated above as the dragon qilin laid underneath the tree while Yan’er fed him strawberries.

Qin Mu was stunned. Before he entered, the strawberries were just about to bloom. It was still spring then.

Now, they had matured. Didn’t that mean that half a year had gone by?

He looked out and saw fruits maturing everywhere in the mountains. No one harvested them.

‘I’m not the smartest person in the world. Without the Boundless Calamity Sutra, it would probably have taken a hundred thousand years for me to comprehend to this stage.”

Qin Mu breathed in the air, which was filled with the sweetness of fruits.

He didn’t alert Yan’er and the dragon qilin. Instead, he returned to the room and into the potted plant to continue comprehension.

The dragon qilin looked over and at the house before saying, “Cult Master entered that place a year and a half ago and hasn’t emerged yet. Is Celestial Venerable Ling’s divine art really that difficult?”

Yan’er’s figure had returned to normal by then. She fed him with a smile and said, “It’s good that Master spends more time there, for we can go on a tour together.”

A tiny Earth Count walked out of the forest while dragging a large white rhinoceros. It was as large as a small hill, yet it was beaten unconscious by him.

“Moo,” the tiny Earth Count solemnly said.

Yan’er spat out fire and roasted it. The little guy stood beside the grilled rhinoceros and tried his best to eat.

After more than a year, he had finally learned to take care of himself.