Tales of Herding Gods

Qin Mu’s Life and Death Book had been taken from Shaman God Kui, and those who knew that it was in his hands were Xing An, Pangong Tso, as well as the demon monks of Thunderclap Monastery.

Shaman God Kui should have been the Heavenly Official or Earthly Official, a god that managed souls.

It was unlikely that he had made it himself, but that it had been gifted to him. There was little doubt that celestial heavens wouldn’t have many such treasures, and each one would have an owner. Because of that, Elder Messenger of Death was certain that Qin Mu would be tracked rather quickly.

Tracking the whereabouts of Life and Death Book was much simpler than tracking Qin Mu.

“The name that appeared on the Life and Death Book just now was Jue Huang.” Qin Mu flipped the yellow talisman up and revealed half of his face. “What god is Jue Huang?”

“He’s a god in the Yellow Springs. After he inhales or exhales, floods rise in the worlds and reap the souls there. He is one of the four great commanders that the celestial heavens have stationed in Youdu,” Elder Messenger of Death said.

“He’s not the only one looking for you though. There are three other great commanders: Xuan Ming who manages the souls, Han Lei who manages fate, and Lu Li who manages the prison. You shouldn’t have taken out the Life and Death Book. With it, it won’t be hard for them to track you down.”

Qin Mu grew solemn. After a moment, he frowned and spoke in a troubled voice, “If I give the Life and Death Book to Grandmaster or Xing An, pushing everything on them, I should remain unknown…”

Elder Messenger of Death looked at him. “You’re just eighteen years old, so you can only sabotage youths of your age; the two people you mentioned are not suitable. Besides, after the four great commanders reap the soul of whoever you’d chosen to throw at them, they would discover your ruse, so it’s not as simple to sabotage others as you think… Bah! Why am I helping you look for crooked ideas?”

Qin Mu released the yellow talisman, and it covered his face once more. He said while blushing, “A just cause attracts much support, while an unjust one finds little. Official Sovereign must have found me honest, which is why you shared your wisdom. Since we can’t sabotage, can the four gods leave Youdu and enter Supreme Emperor Heaven or Eternal Peace?”

The small boat sailed leisurely toward Supreme Emperor Heaven. Elder Messenger of Death placed his lantern on the pole and sat down. “Their abilities are too powerful, so it’s not easy for them to enter other worlds. However, they will find a way to capture you. Once you cultivate to Life and Death Realm and open the divine treasure, they could enter through there after locating you.”

Qin Mu shuddered. Entering from his Life and Death Divine Treasure?

Wouldn’t all the divine arts practitioners of Life and Death Realm be in extreme danger?

“However, Youdu has its own rules. Entering a Life and Death Divine Treasure to seize another’s life is against Youdu’s rules, so they won’t be able to do it easily.”

Elder Messenger of Death had already share a lot of information, so he felt like he might as well say everything. “However, even though their true body can’t leave, they can send their disciples to Supreme Emperor Heaven or Eternal Peace, or they could find other people to act as their hands to kill you.

“Or when Supreme Emperor Heaven gets sacrificed by the devils to connect their world to Eternal Peace, the world barrier will cease to exist. At that time, they’ll be able to enter Eternal Peace at leisure.”

Qin Mu relaxed and said with a smile, “It’s not easy to kill me, and it’s also not easy to attack Supreme Emperor Heaven. It has tolled through twenty thousand years, and now with the backing of Eternal Peace Empire and endless reinforcements, it’ll be easy to last another twenty thousand years.”

Elder Messenger of Death sneered at him. “You underestimate the devils. It’s hard to say how long Supreme Emperor Heaven will last… We’re here, you can take off the yellow talisman and return.”

Qin Mu looked over in a hurry and saw that they were already in the battlefield from before. It seemed that they were exactly from where he had been taken, and so he just jumped out of the boat.

“Return me my yellow talisman!” Elder Messenger of Death shouted.

Qin Mu fled with the yellow talisman on his face as though he was a thief that got discovered.

“Damn it!”

As Elder Messenger of Death saw him slipping away, he couldn’t help seething with rage. He was about to give chase, but he suddenly stopped and burst out laughing. “It’s just a yellow talisman. I shall gift it to him so he doesn’t cause any trouble.” The small boat turned back and vanished into the darkness.

Qin Mu covered over ten miles before daring to look back. Only when he saw that Elder Messenger of Death really didn’t give chase that he let out a sigh of relief. He plucked the yellow talisman from his face and examined it before putting it away.

‘This yellow talisman is a good thing. Even gods and devils wouldn’t be able to recognize me if I stick it on my face. At least I’ve gotten some good things from this trip to Youdu.’

He raised his head up and was slightly stunned. He saw flying ships sailing toward Li City, and they were only several hundred miles away from him. The pill furnaces of the flying ship spewed out intense light for them to remain airborne.

“I’ve left Supreme Emperor Heaven for quite a long time, some six hours, at least, so how did the flying ships only cover several hundred miles? According to their speed, it should’ve been thousands of miles. It looks as if only fifteen minutes have passed…’

Qin Mu sprinted with all his strength to catch up. First, he caught up with the army traveling on land, and not long later, he caught up to the fleet of the flying ships. He came to the main ship.

Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor and the black tiger god were looking at each other in horror, and so were everyone else in the surroundings. They were still discussing how Qin Mu had been invited into Youdu by the messenger of death, and what would happen next. Qin Mu chose that moment to ran out from behind them.

“I’m back. How long have I been away?” he asked with a smile.

“N-not even an hour,” Sang Hua stuttered in astonishment. “You were taken by the messenger of death and returned from Youdu already?”

“The messenger of death was the official sovereign of Youdu. He even brought me to another world and found a strong practitioner of Divine Bridge Realm named Han Zhen. He said he would reap his soul after three days. He then brought me to Earth Count and talked about the cause and effect of my actions. Earth Count said he would deal with me after I die, then shooed me back. On the way, we also met some gods and devils who wanted to take me.”

Qin Mu shared everything, finding it quite weird as well to have done so many things in such a short while. It would have taken three to five days in the world of living to accomplish all that.

It was much shorter in Youdu, and even less time had passed in the world of the living in the meantime.

“Youdu is like a dream. Your trip to Youdu is equivalent to a dream.” Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor’s eyes flashed, and he said, “As long as you returned alive, it doesn’t matter. Is Earth Count very scary?”

Qin Mu shook his head. “Earth Count is easy to talk to. It’s the same for the messenger of death.”

Everyone’s faces grew weird. Earth Count and the messenger of death were easy to talk to? Only Qin Mu could say something like that!

Anyone, no matter if they were gods or devils, would change their act when talking about Earth Count. They were even more tight-lipped about the messengers of death.

“Ma ha…”

The young dragon on Qin Yu’s body quickly slithered down and ran to Qin Mu to rub against him. Feeling somewhat resentful, Qin Yu thought to himself, ‘I haven’t even felt its warmth yet, and it’s lured away by him again…”

Qin Mu caressed the little dragon and moved it to his ear. Its head hung down while its dragon’s whiskers swayed in the air.

Jealousy took root in Qin Yu’s heart.

“Junior Brother Qin, lend me your little dragon for a period of time. I might even need to bring him to Great Ruins. I will return him to you after I come back, and you will definitely be surprised!” Qin Mu said with a smile. “I was captured by Fu Riluo and struggled for my life. After going to Youdu, I’m truly tired, so I shall take a rest first.”

Qin Yu looked at him bringing the little dragon away and thought to himself, ‘I wonder if my little dragon will really be mine after a few days? Its soul was already lured away by him…’

…

Elder Messenger of Death returned to Manor of Benevolent Saintly King Equal to Heaven and flipped open a thick book. It was the book he had handed to the magma Earth Count.

Qin Mu had wanted to read it as well, but magma Earth Count was too tall. He also needed to act obediently, so he didn’t get to see the contents of the book.

Elder Messenger of Death turned the first page and saw flowing pictures. There was a piece of dark land on which a pregnant woman was giving birth. Boundless devil qi and grievances of the broken souls flowed furiously toward the small delivery room.

That place seemed to contain a terrifying devil king that was swallowing the evil devil nature and devil qi of Youdu like a whale.

Meanwhile, outside that piece of land, countless devil gods were alarmed and hid in the darkness, looking nervously at the first lifeform that was born from the womb in the history of Youdu.

“The descent of the Son of God!” a devil god said in the corner of the page.

In the sky above the delivery room, scarlet red eyes opened. There was one, two, no, three of them.

Elder Messenger of Death flipped to the second page, and the picture changed. A big fat boy jumped down from the embrace of the woman, his three-eyed formed catching the messenger of death’s attention. The boy was wreaking havoc on a dark land, his two chubby fists holding tight the two devil gods that had come to assassinate him. His three eyes opened up, and three beams shot out. They scorched the land, burning numerous monsters into oblivion.

All ghosts there, big and small, were fleeing for their lives. Even ghost kings didn’t look back on their way out. Their malicious faces were filled with terror, creating a surreal sight.

The baby brought the devil god to his mouth and bit off half a head. It was a bloody event.

Elder Messenger of Death shook his head and continued to browse. The next page was about how after the baby had swallowed countless souls and ate two devil gods, he became ridiculously huge and terrified everyone who saw his ferocious appearance. He crushed numerous levels of hells, killing all of the devil gods that came after his mother and clansmen. He made them all piss their pants and flee for their lives.

However, the baby seemed to contain incomparably evil thoughts in nature. It didn’t matter to him if before him were devils who were chasing after them or ghosts who were simply residing in Youdu. He killed and ate all of them.

Elder Messenger of Death saw panic and fear on the mother’s face. She was looked afraid of her own son, his devil nature.

Elder Messenger of Death flipped to the next page, and it was another picture of the baby slaughtering everyone. In the picture, he was standing on a huge devil dragon while slitting open its belly. His three eyes revealed a murderous glint.

Yet at the end of the painting, when the baby finished eating, he changed back into a small form and asked his mother to carry him.

Elder Messenger of Death flipped page after page, watching things that were harder and harder to see. The baby crushed waves and waves of devil gods chasing after them, and this massacre alarmed the big shots hiding in Youdu.

They crusaded against the baby and fought with him until heaven fell and earth rent.

Near the end of the book, the baby had relied on his evil nature and ruthlessness to become one of the powers in Youdu. One day, he came to the borders of Youdu and used his huge scarlet eyes to peep into the world of the living with an excited gaze.

On the other side of the picture, the big shots of Youdu were talking about something to Earth Count. The mother was also there, appealing to the lord.

The Earth Count picked a broken piece of jade from the corner of his horn and refined it into a jade pendant. The mother held back her tears as he put down a seal on it. She then called her son over and put the jade pendant around his neck.

The devil nature within him was suppressed along with his god nature. His body returned to normal, changing back into the most ordinary baby, a really tiny thing. He lay in his swaddling clothes and raised his arms and legs while crying ee ee aa aa. He then sucked his toe very seriously.

The mother carried him up and gave him a few kisses before reluctantly putting him into a basket. Some woman picked it up and took a paper boat to leave into the distance.

At the back, ghost kings, other ghosts of all sizes, as well as the devil gods that were faintly discernible beat drums and gongs to celebrate the baby’s departure.

Elder Messenger of Death flipped to the last page which was of Qin Mu in the ominous land. With his long hair draped over his shoulders, he cast a spell with his sword raised and opened Gate of Heaven Influence to summon the souls from the world of the dead.

At that time, the jade pendant on his neck had floated up.

“Eighteen years.” Elder Messenger of Death closed the book and hid it properly. He then exhaled deeply. “It’s completely impossible to see what this brat had been like before. I truly hope his devil nature will never awaken and control him again… Luckily Earth Count sealed and exiled him to the world of the living; otherwise, what would Youdu have become by today? Yet if he’d been left in Youdu, he probably wouldn’t have lived to eighteen years old. He probably would have been eaten by Earth Count long ago for doing too much evil…”

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