Tales of Herding Gods

There was a compass in the Daoist's hands, and he seemed to be chanting while the compass was clacking as it turned, transforming into runes.

The monk held a string of prayer beads, and the beads turned continuously. When two prayer beads collided, they gave off a soft tap. The other hand lifted up a black-colored alms bowl and inside the bowl were a few spirit pills. He didn't know if they were obtained from begging.

Both of their clothes were tattered. The Daoist's clothes were turning white from washing repeatedly, and there were even a few patches; however, it could be considered clean. On the other hand, the monk's clothes didn't seem to be patched, and wind was leaking out from all places.

From the looks of it, both of them weren't having an easy life.

Qin Mu couldn't help falling in doubt. 'There are already Daoists and monks in this era?'

Founding Emperor was also stunned when he noticed the monk and the Daoist.

Qin Mu and Founding Emperor both went forward only to hear the monk talking to the Daoist. "The Jade Pool Meeting is still better, I've managed to beg for a few spirit pills, at least I can have food, clothing, and expenses."

Qin Mu looked at him with a weird expression.

The Daoist said, "Don't speak first, I've just thought of an algebra question. Wait for me to finish calculating."

The monk said with a smile, "What is the use of you calculating? Why don't you follow me? Once my dream enters the path, there will be everything in my dream. The transformations in the boundless worlds, one will be able to find the true essence of Dao from there."

The Daoist didn't even raise his head and continued to move the compass. "Dreams are still illusions, after all, only algebra is the true great Dao. I feel everything in the universe is built on the basis of algebra. As long as I master algebra, I will be able to understand all the marvels in this universe. Algebra will definitely shine in the future!"

As the monk was waiting to speak, he saw Qin Mu and Founding Emperor walking over and hurriedly moved the black alms bowl to their faces and shook it. The few spirit pills inside the alms bowl rattled.

"Brought together by fate or not, can you spare me some, we brothers have been starving for a few days," said the monk.

Founding Emperor had a weird expression. He rummaged through his traveling bag and took out a few spirit pills to put inside the alms bowl.

"Kindness begets kindness." The monk smiled and looked at Qin Mu.

Qin Mu also took out some spirit pills to fill the metal alms bowl.

The monk shook his head. "There's no need for so much. My begging is for cultivation, I just need rations for a day, giving me more just means I will be delaying my cultivation for the next few days." After saying that, he took out the excess spirit pills and returned them to Qin Mu.

Qin Mu didn't take them back, and he said with a smile, "Venerable, this is what you deserve. We are very fated, in the future, when you meet a person called Mu, you will naturally understand."

The monk looked at him and said, "Why doesn't benefactor make yourself clear?"

Qin Mu shook his head and said, "Grand dreams, how do you know you are not in a dream now? Why do I need to make myself clear? There are boundless worlds in a dream, and the dream transforms into all living things. Venerable will be clear in the future."

The monk was puzzled, and he smiled. "Grand dreams? That has quite the samadhi of my Dao."

Qin Mu looked at the Daoist who was studying diligently, and the compass of the Daoist was very complicated. The change in mathematical sciences had already involved the core problem in Computation Canon of Supreme Mystery; however, if he wanted to create a computation canon out of nothing, it was naturally incomparably difficult.

It was the hardest to start from scratch, and furthermore, there was no one who could deduce a complete book of algebra.

Qin Mu stretched his hand and plucked on the compass.

That Daoist had planned to smack his hand away when he got stunned when he saw the compass. He became overjoyed. "Yeah, this problem that had plagued me for days is actually solved just like this! Excellent, excellent! This senior brother, how did you think of this solution?"

He had a fervent gaze and looked at Qin Mu. He was waiting excitedly for Qin Mu to explain his line of thought.

Qin Mu said righteously, "I've received advice from Daoist and only then was I able to think of such a solution. Much thanks!"

He bowed and expressed his thanks.

Daoist hurried said, "Why are you thanking me for helping me to solve my problem?"

Qin Mu said with a smile, "You will know in the future. Daoist, when you meet a person call Mu in the future, he will mention about this to you."

Daoist was stunned.

Qin Mu smiled slightly and pushed them aside to head to the palaces in front.

Founding Emperor hesitated for a moment and followed after Qin Mu. He said softly, "Your intentions are crooked and aren't you currying favor too much? That monk and that Daoist just now should be those two existences in the future, right? Now you are giving them a few spirit pills and plucking his compass because you want to borrow their power in the future. If you use these intentions on your..."

Qin Mu intercepted his words and said, "If you didn't use these thoughts on guessing my intention and use it on your future, maybe you wouldn't..."

Founding Emperor was slightly stunned. "Wouldn't what?"

Qin Mu had a sorrowful expression and shook his head. "Nothing much. I just guessed that they are the future Brahma and Dao Master of Dao Sect. You should go and befriend them, they will return this good karma in the future."

Founding Emperor seemed to ponder and probed. "You know me? You know what would happen to me in the future? You are from an era after mine?"

He was smarter than normal people. Even though Qin Mu had said a sentence or two that seemed to be unimportant, he could deduce even more information from these few words.

Qin Mu shook his head and said, "I don't know which is the real you. I've never met you before. Go back and find both of them."

Founding Emperor hesitated and shook his head. "I'm not like you, I won't purposely do it. If I purposely do it, I might change the future, when the future changes, I might not even be born and cease to exist. I've said before, I'm just a passerby here to witness history. I would like to meet the founders of the future civilization very much."

The old bull followed behind them and frowned when he heard their conversation. Just a moment ago, these two looked like they couldn't wait to beat each other to death and now they were talking intimately.

'The heart of a man is like the weather in the sixth month, it changes at whim.'

The old bull hesitated and looked at that monk and Daoist. He thought to himself, 'Should I go befriend them? I might be able to get some benefits in the future...'

Qin Mu and Founding Emperor had already walked away so he couldn't care about befriending the monk and the Daoist. He hurriedly caught up to Qin Mu while thinking to himself, 'We have a few months anyway, once both of their emotions have stabilized, I will then make friends with these ancient predecessors and reap the benefits! Hehe, when that time comes, even old master will see me in a different light...'

The monk and the Daoist saw them off, and they shook their heads. The Daoist said, "Truly a weird man. However, this person's algebra seems to be better than mine, but his heart doesn't lie here. Senior brother, after his guidance, I feel I'm almost finding my Dao!"

The monk nodded and said with a smile, "I'm also about to find my Dao."

Both of them looked at each other and laughed loudly.

Qin Mu, Founding Emperor, and the old bull entered the palace in this Jade Pool Secret Territory, and they saw people walking to and fro. The place was bustling with activity, but they couldn't find Son of Heaven Yin at all. He must have gone to find Celestial Venerable Yu.

Celestial Venerable Yu had invited him for the meeting so their relationship shouldn't be shallow.

There was an extremely high number of people who had come to attend the meeting, and most of them were discussing what Celestial Venerable Yu was going to announce. Some said Celestial Venerable Yu had created the eighth divine treasure while some said Celestial Venerable had found a way for primordial spirit to not die. Some even said Celestial Venerable was planning to get married, there were all kinds of guesses.

Qin Mu looked around and saw numerous divine arts practitioners gathering together in groups. They talked excitedly about what they had comprehended and learned, showing off the paths, skills, and divine arts they had just comprehended.

He and Founding Emperor listened for a moment. The paths, skills, and divine arts were very rough and simple. It was far from being as intricate as the paths, skills, and divine arts from the future, so it wasn't really a big deal to them.

However, to this era, that wasn't a small deal.

'If we talked about the techniques and divine arts of the future civilization, it would probably invoke huge astonishment.'

Qin Mu shook his head. The paths, skills, and divine arts of the future civilization were too intricate. If he told the people of this era, it was a small matter if he shocked the world. However, the change to the future would be too terrifying.

He couldn't risk this danger.

He looked at Founding Emperor, and Founding Emperor had also guessed he was a person from the future; thus, he told him not to try and change the past. Thinking about it, Founding Emperor's words had their own logic.

Everyone who had attended the meeting was entranced, and they would always be someone explaining their own path, skills, and divine arts. It was truly a hundred schools of thought contending against one another.

Some of these marvelous thoughts also suddenly stunned Qin Mu and Founding Emperor. They couldn't help listening in detail because those were shapes of divine arts that they had never thought about.

Because the people of the future generations were already located in a fixed cultivation system of divine treasures, they didn't have to work their brains and just cultivated accordingly to how their predecessor had done. They could also reach very high achievements, but it lacked creativity instead.

However, there weren't so many rules in this era, so it was very easy to jump out of the cultivation system of divine treasures, thus having paths, skills, and divine arts that were inconceivable to Qin Mu and Founding Emperor.

However, the reason why the future generations couldn't see these paths, skills, and divine arts wasn't because these divine arts that had died out weren't good enough, it was just because they had failed when trying to compete with the cultivation system of divine treasures; thus, they had died out.

The cultivation system of divine treasures was the easiest to learn and the easiest to be accepted by everyone; it had stood through the test of time. When most people cultivated the divine treasures, people who cultivate other paths would drop in number, and their inheritance would become harder and harder to be passed down, eventually dying out.

Qin Mu and Founding Emperor squeezed around in the crowd, wanting to listen to some more useful ideas when they heard a voice. "Celestial Venerable Ling! Celestial Venerable Ling! When you said time doesn't exist earlier, what is the principle?"

Qin Mu and Founding Emperor looked over at literally the same time and saw numerous divine arts practitioners surrounding a woman. That woman was dressed simply, and there was a peachwood hairpin on her head. She wore straw shoes on her feet, a leopard skirt, and a short unlined garment.

Even though she didn't care about her appearance, she had another kind of beauty to her that looked wild.

'Celestial Venerable Ling that opened up Six Directions Divine Treasure is a woman?' Qin Mu and Founding Emperor were slightly stunned.

That woman was explaining her logic, and she said calmly, "Anything, including space, are substances. Divine art, that is also the arrangement of substances, to use particles of vital qi to form different combinations that expound the principle of the great Dao, forming power. Is time a substance? It isn't, you can't touch time, thus, time doesn't exist."

Everyone fell into deep thought. Some people shook their heads, and yet they couldn't think of a rebuttal.

Qin Mu walked forward and said, "Celestial Venerable Ling, so why would we grow old? The people of the world would grow old and die, aren't they growing old with the passage of time?"

Celestial Venerable Ling saw him walking over, and she suddenly took out her hairpin. That peachwood had already withered.

"This senior brother, look at this hairpin, had it already died from old age?" she asked.

Qin Mu nodded.

Celestial Venerable Ling executed her divine art, and that peachwood slowly turned green before turning red. The peachwood suddenly germinated, and tender flower buds grew out. Peach flowers bloomed from the withered branch that had revived and soft shoots sprouted out from a few peach leaves.

"Have I reversed time?" Celestial Venerable Ling asked with a smile.

Qin Mu was stunned, and he shook his head. "You are only using creation divine art to change the structure of the withered wood, reviving it from the dead... Wait a minute, I understand what you mean!"

He let out a look of disbelief and cried out, "What you mean is time is our illusion! When we grow old and die, it's just the structure in our corporeal body changing. Time doesn't exist, it's an illusion that's being created from substances changing!"

<div align="center" id="LightnovelwCelestial Venerable Ling looked at him with surprise and delight. She said happily, "I've finally met someone that understands me! When I told Celestial Venerable Yu and the rest about my idea, they said I was just playing around! You are my Dao friend! That's right, time doesn't exist, if it does, there would be time divine arts in the world! However, there's no time divine art, there's only the illusion formed by the change in substances! Did you refer to my divine art as creation divine art? Creation, well named! How nice!"

Her thoughts were pure, and when she said how nice, she had expressed it from the depths of her heart. She didn't have to exaggerate.

Qin Mu's mind trembled violently, and he stood there dumbstruck. He muttered, "In that case, could someone return to the past?"

"The past doesn't exist, what exists is the changing substances."

Celestial Venerable Ling's eyes sparkled. "If there's a substance that could return to its form in the past, then one would be able to return to the ancient times. That's what I think. Can you understand me?"

Everyone in the surroundings still found it difficult to understand her, and discussions broke out with most of them being criticisms. Someone said, "Celestial Venerable Ling has gone crazy..."

Celestial Venerable Ling was furious, and she retorted, "In the future, I will definitely create a kind of divine art that would solidify substances for eternity. As long as one step onto this substance, they will be able to see the past and future of this entire universe!"