Tales of Herding Gods

Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

‘Celestial Venerable Ling’s hairpin was actually left for me, but in the end, it was instead removed by Big Senior Brother.’

Qin Mu walked briskly to the area where Wei Suifeng vanished. The hairpin had disappeared with him, and Qin Mu couldn’t help but furrow his brows.

When he came to the realization that the hairpin was left for him by Celestial Venerable Ling, he was already one step too late. Wei Suifeng had already replaced him to travel to the ancient times.

‘Big Senior Brother will be in the Dragon Han Era of the ancient times, residing there for an unknown period of time and becoming the Right Commander of the Feathered Forest Guards of the Dragon Han Celestial Heavens. Only after Celestial Empress’ ambush event and the case of the ghost ship will he return.’

Qin Mu put the corpse of Celestial Empress’ sister back into the crystal coffin, waiting quietly as he thought to himself, ‘When he returns from the Dragon Han Celestial Heavens, he will probably still appear here. I can wait for his return. Perhaps Celestial Venerable Ling will have told him some things before he comes back here.’

On the other side, there was no movement in the dark flower world. The dragon qilin still hadn’t returned after he went off to look for Yan’er. The battle situation there was still unknown.

Qin Mu guarded beside the crystal coffin. He took out his mirror and continued to organize the ancient god runes, awaiting Wei Suifeng’s return.

He waited there for several days, but he still didn’t see the dragon qilin and Yan’er coming back. That was when he started to get worried and got up, deciding to go look for the two of them.

He came to the border of the dark flower world, and just as he was about to stride into the darkness, he suddenly stopped in his tracks, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

‘The world within the flowers in the abyss doesn’t have a cycle where day and night interchange, however, the red flower world and dark flower world actually have day and night!’

He gazed towards the dark flower world that had no trace of light. Taking out a piece of jade, light twirling about his fingertips, he carved the characters “wait for me” onto it, and then he threw the piece of jade into the dark flower world.

He watched as the piece of jade landed in the dark flower world and then suddenly vanished in the blink of an eye, without even the sound of it landing on the ground.

This type of disappearance was the complete disappearance from this era!

‘The red flower world belongs to the day, the dark flower world belongs to the night. Walking from day to night, the time-travel will then cease, and one will return to the original generation. Fatty Dragon and Sister Yan’er have both returned to the era that we came from, but since I didn’t enter the darkness, I remained here in Big Senior Brother’s era.’

Qin Mu retracted his steps and continued to sit beside the crystal coffin. As long as he didn’t step into the dark flower world, he wouldn’t return to the era he was in when they first arrived at the Ruins of End.

However, just to be on the safe side, he still took the lead in sorting out Great Sun Sovereign’s Great Dao runes, forming a sun with his vital qi and hanging it in the skies of the world within the flowers.

The days passed by one after the other, and Qin Mu had already recalculated the runes of the star gods of the ancient gods Great Dao runes using the Computational Canon of Supreme Molecule. The beard on his face was also growing sturdier.

The time he had spent in this era was already much longer than the time he had stayed in the Dragon Han Era.

During this period of time, there were a few more damaged planets that fell into the abyss, causing the undercurrents to spew out and the flowers of the abyss to bloom open. However, this place seemed to be completely deserted, so no one had entered it.

On this day, he was fully absorbed in his research and deduction, paying absolutely no attention to anything else. At this time, the female corpse within the crystal coffin had gradually opened her eyes.

The female corpse turned her head soundlessly, inspecting Qin Mu in secret.

The wound on the back of the head of this female corpse had actually unknowingly healed over the past few months.

Qin Mu suddenly sensed something, and he turned his head around to look. The female corpse remained still in her coffin, looking no different from how she was previously.

‘Strange, I clearly sensed a gaze looking at me.’

Qin Mu shook his head, continuing his research. However, he positioned his mirror upright, shining towards the crystal coffin behind him.

He controlled the calculation spirit weapons and calculated non-stop, intensively studying those runes until he was oblivious to his surroundings. After a long period of time, the female corpse within the coffin opened her eyes again.

The female corpse was lying in the coffin, yet at this moment, her head had twisted in his direction quietly—it was twisted at an alarming angle, and a sinister gaze landed on Qin Mu’s back.

The lid of the crystal coffin flew up soundlessly, and the female corpse also floated upwards just as quietly.

Qin Mu was in the middle of calculating, but the corners of his eyes suddenly twitched.

Behind his back, the female corpse had quietly floated down. Her body floated in mid-air as her beautiful head hung downwards, and her hair flowed down by her snow-white neck like a waterfall.

Her head was gradually getting closer to Qin Mu’s neck.

Qin Mu still didn’t seem to notice anything, yet there were beads of sweat rolling off his forehead. The sword pellet within his taotie sack at his waist seemed to have turned into mercury and was gradually flowing out, quietly reaching the back of the female corpse’s head. It slowly transformed into a sword tip to point at the wound on her head that had just healed not too long ago.

At this very moment, light swirled about ahead, and a middle-aged man who was only dressed in a white blouse and white pants walked out from the light.

The middle-aged man looked dignified, and as soon as he appeared, he immediately saw the female corpse floating behind Qin Mu. He glared in anger with widened eyes, and one by one, divine treasures leaped out from behind him. There was a loud rumbling, and a celestial palace appeared above the many divine treasures!

Within the celestial palace, there were apparitions of gods and devils atop the many palaces of varying sizes. They stood high up in great numbers, resembling a river of stars that appeared above the celestial palace!

His primordial spirit was like an ancient god that wielded the boundless power of the galaxy. He appeared in the Numinous Sky Hall before the Emperor’s Throne, reaching out a palm, which broke through the celestial palace with a loud rumble and attacked the female corpse behind Qin Mu!

“Mistress Yuanmu, since you are already dead, then why must you still try to cause trouble?”

Upon hearing him call out her real name, the female corpse behind Qin Mu let out a shrill whistling sound as her drooping hair flew up. Instantly, the Ruins of End Great Dao within her body seemed to have been revived, and the dark undercurrents within the dark flower world started to surge in their direction!

Qin Mu immediately sensed an immense pressure.

It was the power of the ancient gods awakening within the body of the female corpse. It was as though the horrifying power that could swallow up all living beings in the world had burst out behind him. However, the middle-aged man’s primordial spirit pressed a palm onto her forehead, his power exploding and forcing the surging darkness behind her back into the dark flower world!

The female corpse fell backwards involuntarily and landed in the crystal coffin with a bang. The crystal coffin closed, trapping the female corpse within it.

The female corpse struggled about in the coffin, screeching out loud, and her pretty face was now sinister looking. However, she still wasn’t able to break out of the middle-aged man’s entrapment.

The middle-aged man walked towards Qin Mu, bowing to greet him. “Second Junior Brother, it has been eight thousand years since we said our goodbyes. Having not seen you for eight thousand years, you have grown a beard. Mistress Yuanmu, have you reanimated?”

The female corpse was like a fish out of water, flopping about ceaselessly in the coffin.

Qin Mu returned his greetings, and he smiled. “The longing for an old friend made me forget about my beard. Senior Brother, you left for eight thousand years, yet I have been here for no more than six months. The letter you wrote in the fog, I have already seen it on the ghost ship. Big Senior Brother, have you found your path of the saint?”

This middle-aged man was indeed Wei Suifeng. Upon hearing what he said, he burst out laughing with high spirits. “Generally speaking, I did. However, I couldn’t achieve it in the Dragon Han Era, I have to return to my own era to achieve it. Sacred Teacher said before that one must fulfill three things to become a saint. The only thing I’m missing is establishing merit.”

Qin Mu couldn’t help himself. “Senior Brother, fulfilling three things to become a saint was merely a joke by Teacher. It must not be taken seriously. Although I don’t know what you want to do, Teacher told me that you have already walked off the right path. If you continue your search, it will be truly dangerous. In my era, I haven’t even seen you!”

Wei Suifeng was taken aback, then he smiled. “The words of Sacred Teacher wouldn’t be wrong. My entire life has revolved around the fulfillment of the three requirements to become a saint. The saint I want to be is one that Teacher wasn’t able to achieve in his entire lifetime. He assisted Founding Emperor and didn’t build up the achievements that he wanted for himself, and thus his Dao heart is ultimately imperfect. Junior Brother, I want to be a saint that surpasses Teacher and completely resolves the tragic fates of the people! You don’t have to persuade me anymore, my mind is set on it.”

Qin Mu didn’t say another word.

Wei Suifeng smiled. “You once said that you followed the geographical map that I left behind for you and found this place. If I hadn’t left the map for you, wouldn’t you then not be able to find this place? To me, me giving you the geographical map is a thing of the future. To you, it’s a thing of the past. Then, if in my future I don’t give you the geographical map, would it be able to change the future?”

Qin Mu was silent for a while. “Big Senior Brother, in my era, I have never met you. The geographical map was shown to me through your divine weapon. I don’t even know if the you at that time was alive or dead.”

Wei Suifeng laughed out loud. “I was definitely still alive, you can be assured of it! Us senior and junior brothers can still reunite with twenty thousand years between us, it’s truly wondrous. I have a way to let you stay in this era. What about this, both of us can go to the outside world together to search for the truths of history and achieve the meritorious exploits that even Teacher didn’t manage to achieve! Now I have sufficient power, I won’t have to be as cautious as I was before.”

Qin Mu shook his head. “I have to go back, I won’t stay here.”

Wei Suifeng furrowed his brows. “Why are you so stubborn?”

He suddenly laughed. “It seems that I am also stubborn. Oh, when I was returning here, I met Celestial Venerable Ling in the fog, and she asked me to pass this to you.”

He took out a peachwood hairpin, his gaze flickered, and he smiled. “This hairpin is a precious artifact of Celestial Venerable Ling. She seemed to have been trapped within the celestial river. She gave the hairpin to me and entrusted me to hand it over to you. Could you lend it to me to use?”

Qin Mu was waiting for this, and he raised a hand to grasp at the hairpin. Wei Suifeng moved his hand and gripped the hairpin in his palm. “Junior Brother, let me borrow this hairpin to use for some time.”

Qin Mu raged, stretching out his palm. “Give it to me! The last time, when Celestial Venerable Ling stuck the hairpin in the back of Mistress Yuanmu’s head, it was left behind for me, but it was grabbed off by you!”

Wei Suifeng hurriedly replied, “I really need this hairpin. Junior Brother, in the future, I will return it to you. I will put it here in the Ruins of End, rest assured, let me borrow it!”

Qin Mu intended to snatch it, yet at this moment, the undercurrent of the Ruins of End burst out.

Wei Suifeng dashed upwards into the sky, flying out when the flower blossomed, laughing. “Rest assured, in the future, I will put the hairpin here!”

“Wei Suifeng, d*mn your a**!”

Wei Suifeng vanished, laughing. “When you return to your own era, go to the palace and search for the hairpin, I will leave a geographical map behind for you!”

Qin Mu was stunned.

After some time, the spewing undercurrent came to a stop.

Qin Mu returned to his senses and immediately carried the crystal coffin and walked towards the dark flower world.

Within the crystal coffin, the corpse of Mistress Yuanmu giggled, looking on expectantly as the dark flower world was getting closer and closer to her.

Although she was a product of reanimation, the dark flower world was ultimately where she was born, and it was very attractive to her. Furthermore, as long as she entered the dark flower world, she would be able to direct the Great Dao of the dark flower world to break through Wei Suifeng’s seal and this crystal coffin.

Qin Mu stood before the dark flower world. Putting down the crystal coffin, he removed the willow leaf on the heart of his brows and said loudly, “Heaven Duke, help me look after this female corpse, don’t let brother eat her!” With that, he shoved the crystal coffin into the Qin word land.

The female corpse flew into a rage.

Qin Mu was unmoved, and he leaped into the dark flower world, vanishing in the darkness.

When his figure landed on the ground, and he opened his eyes, he saw that he was situated within the dark flower world. He could hear the dragon qilin’s voice coming from the red flower world, he was chiding Yan’er. “…told you not to eat it like that, don’t eat it like that! Yet you still ate it! Let’s see how you are going to answer to Cult Master!”

Qin Mu hurriedly rushed towards the two palaces that existed where the two worlds met. The dragon qilin spotted him and was equal parts surprised and elated, and he called out loudly, “Cult Master, we received the piece of jade that you carved, and we stayed here the whole time! Sister Yan’er has eaten up the snake belle, and now she is…”

“Shut up!” Yan’er’s voice rang out.

Qin Mu could indistinctly see a round green sparrow standing on the dragon qilin’s head. He couldn’t be bothered to look closer as he immediately rushed into the dark palace, searching furiously within the palace.

Suddenly, his gaze landed on an offering table in the dark palace.

Surrounding the offering table was flying star sand that transformed into a river of stars.

Qin Mu grumbled angrily, “Again?”

He calculated with great speed, deciphering where the loophole of the galaxy formation was, and he immediately barged into the formation. He reached out his hand to grab at the red cloth on the offering table. Beneath the red cloth was a single peachwood hairpin.

There was also a piece of goatskin parchment with a line of words written on it beneath the hairpin.

Qin Mu sighed out in relief and couldn’t bother looking at the writing on the parchment. He quickly grabbed the peachwood hairpin and thought to himself, ‘At least Big Senior Brother is still a man of his words. But… what was with that round green sparrow just now?’

At this moment, his gaze landed on the goatskin parchment. The writings on it were the handwriting of Wei Suifeng, and there were only six words on it, “Follow the map and save me!”