Tales of Herding Gods

Chapter 912: The Mystery Behind the Masters of Creation

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Qin Mu raised his head to observe it while mumbling away. He was mumbling algebraic terminologies as algebra runes flew about his surroundings. The runes were transforming continuously, and it was a sight to behold.

Qi Jiuyi felt a slight tremble in his heart. He knew that Qin Mu was trying to determine the course of the stars to solve the difficult problem that his big senior brother had left behind for him.

On Crimson Light’s God Execution Stage of Abnormal Star, Qi Jiuyi had seen a similar set-up before.

Back then, Wei Suifeng had left a small case behind in an astronomical phenomenon formation. Within the case was the God Execution Mysterious Knife, and it had been taken by Qin Mu. It was also due to this item that Qin Mu was able to allow Eternal Peace to contact the remaining survivors of Crimson Light, thereafter returning to the floating world with God Chi Xi and allowing Eternal Peace to form an alliance with the floating world.

‘If I could solve the problem left behind by Wei Suifeng before Cult Master Qin does, would I then be able to obtain the precious artifact that he left behind?’

Qi Jiuyi immediately shook his head at the thought. At the God Execution Stage of Abnormal Star, both he and Zhe Huali were calculating the problem left by Wei Suifeng, but Qin Mu had still managed to solve it first.

‘Back then, this brat’s attainments in algebra were already greater than mine. After all these years, he is probably even more adept,’ Qi Jiuyi thought to himself.

Qin Mu released a sigh, and with a smile on his face, he reached a finger out to gently tap towards the sky. The stars in the sky started to spin, and the paths of the stars started to change.

Some stars had a set course, while others darted about like headless flies in complete chaos.

Finally, the stars stopped spinning about, and the countless stars formed an image in the shape of a flower bud.

Qin Mu bent a finger and gently flicked it. The stars in the sky started to shift again, and the flower bud made up of starlight started to bloom slowly.

‘What exceptional abilities!’ At that moment, that was all everyone could think.

This phrase was to praise Qin Mu, but similarly, it was also to praise Wei Suifeng, who had left this piece of starry sky behind.

This pair of senior and junior brother, Wei Suifeng and Qin Mu, had displayed to them the beauty of the algebra of great starry skies. It was truly a display of exceptional abilities, and it was extraordinarily magnificent!

The flower bloomed, and a ray of blood-colored light descended from within the flower.

Qin Mu opened up his palm, and that blood-colored ray of light landed squarely in his hand. The light dissipated, revealing a hexagon-shaped crystal that was roughly half an inch in length.

Qin Mu pinched this piece of unique looking hexagon-shaped crystal and raised his head to inspect the path of the starlights. Although waves of shock were stirring within him, his expression remained calm and composed as he smiled and said, “Brother Qi, do you think that this piece of crystal resembles the one that was embedded in the heart of the brows of the leader of the masters of creation from the relief sculptures?”

Qi Jiuyi was a little taken aback. He inspected this piece of red creation divine stone and asked in puzzlement, “Cult Master Qin, what are you trying to suggest?”

“Nothing much.”

Qin Mu put away the piece of blood-colored crystal and smiled. “It’s probably not the same piece. Big Senior Brother has been active from twenty thousand years ago up until a few thousand years ago, and he likes to collect some things to leave behind for me. There are thousands or even twenty thousand years between me and the him from that era, but we have already known each other from a very long time ago. It’s likely that he just found this jewel to be very beautiful and thus decided to hide it here for me.”

Qi Jiuyi really wanted to strangle his neck and shake him vigorously so that he would spit out his guess.

He forced himself to not act on this impulse. As for Yan’er, she couldn’t help herself, and she shoved a spirit pill at Qin Mu and asked, “Young Master, why don’t you explain it in detail?”

Qin Mu shoved the spirit pill at the dragon qilin, then glanced at the nine gods that Qi Jiuyi had brought along and smiled. “There are many people here, and tongues are loose. I think it’s not necessary to explain further.”

Qi Jiuyi waved his hand and said to the nine gods, “Retreat first and return to the ship. We will come soon.”

Although the nine gods were also very curious about what Qin Mu was going to share, since their young master had already given the order, they could only retreat first.

Qi Jiuyi’s gaze flickered. “Cult Master Qin can share with us now, right?”

Qin Mu replied, “The reason my big senior brother left behind this piece of creation divine stone was to tell me that he suspects that the owner of the creation divine stone is still alive.”

Qi Jiuyi felt a chill down his spine. “Your point being?”

With a grave expression, Qin Mu replied, “The owner of the creation divine stone was a master of creation from prehistory with remarkable abilities. There’s most likely some relation between him and the extinction of the prehistory masters of creation. He could be one of the extremely powerful existences in history. This existence should still be in this world. In the past, he might have been one of the strongest beings amongst the ancient gods, while at present, he might be one of the masterminds of the celestial heavens.”

Feathers popped out from Qi Jiuyi’s body, and his mind went blank.

Yan’er looked at him curiously to confirm that he was also a bird.

The point of focus was different for Yan’er and Qi Jiuyi. Qin Mu had resolved her doubts, so Yan’er just listened to it without further care. However, Qi Jiuyi was giving what he said a lot more thought, and thus he felt so terrified that his blood ran cold.

Try imagining that such a terrifying existence had hidden himself in the era of the ancient gods, and now, he was hiding in anonymity within the current celestial heavens. Qi Jiuyi couldn’t help but associate this with the end of the era of the ancient gods and the unrest during the eras of Dragon Han, Crimson Light, High Emperor, and Founding Emperor.

If there was such a terrifying existence, who had hidden in the various eras to seek revenge on the ancient gods and cause chaos, how terrifying would this be?

Qi Jiuyi was out of his wits. He paced back and forth and wished he could immediately forget what he had just heard.

Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks and stared intently at Qin Mu. “Cult Master Qin, who do you suppose this person might be?”

Celestial Emperor’s image floated into Qin Mu’s head, but after a short while, he shook his head.

Some attributes and actions of Celestial Emperor did tick some of Qin Mu’s boxes. For example, Celestial Emperor’s origin was from a very ancient time, and he was born even before Earth Count and Heaven Duke.

Furthermore, Celestial Emperor was actually involved with the end of the era of the ancient gods. He had formed the ancient gods’ celestial heavens, crushed those who opposed him, supported the half-gods and the lifeforms after the beginning, and then provoked the war between the half-gods and the lifeforms after the beginning.

It was just that he had played beyond his limits and was ambushed by Celestial Venerable Hao, Celestial Venerable Yun, and the others, having his corporeal body taken away in the process.

Even with that, he still didn’t die and had merely gone dark, even going on to become a leader of the Heaven Alliance and one of the overlords of the present-day celestial heavens!

It was also likely that Celestial Emperor was somehow involved with the end of the various eras—Crimson Light Era, High Emperor Era, Founding Emperor Era—throughout history.

However, if Celestial Emperor was the leader of the prehistory masters of creation, then, the era of these prehistory masters of creation should be before the era of the ancient gods, which would mean that it was them who created the ancient gods of the world.

For this, Qin Mu was unable to be completely certain.

This was because the ancient gods were truly too ancient. Mother Earth’s age was, at the very least, millions of years old.

Furthermore, Qi Jiuyi had said one thing right. The prehistory masters of creation had used their consciousnesses to create things, but it was uncertain if they were able to create souls.

But ancient gods did have souls.

For this, more research had to be done.

In addition, in the rumor that Qi Jiuyi had heard, the prehistory masters of creation had been annihilated by the ancient gods. However, Celestial Emperor was the leader of the ancient gods, and even Earth Count, Heaven Duke, and Mother Earth were full of admiration for him although they despised his conduct.

If Celestial Emperor was the leader of the prehistory masters of creation, why would he lead the ancient gods to go against his own race?

However, Wei Suifeng had been arrested and suppressed by Celestial Emperor.

Could it be that when Wei Suifeng got hold of the creation divine stone, he had found out that the ancient Celestial Emperor was actually that leader of the masters of creation and was thus suppressed for this knowledge?

“I can’t think of who this master of creation might be.”

Qin Mu’s eyes flashed as he walked outwards and smiled. “However, I can be certain that he is within the celestial heavens. This trip to the celestial heavens is getting more interesting. Brother Qi, Fatty Dragon, we should return now!”

Yan’er perched on his shoulder, and the dragon qilin and Qi Jiuyi hurriedly followed after him.

Qin Mu stopped before the row of relief sculptures again and closely inspected the image of the masters of creation creating another world with their powerful consciousnesses.

Qi Jiuyi hurried him. “The Heaven Duke on the sacrificial altar may coagulate and take form at any time, we should leave quickly!”

Qin Mu agreed, but his gaze was still on that section of relief sculpture.

The secret that the relief sculpture was revealing was truly astonishing—using consciousness that was powerful beyond comparison to create a world out of nothing, restructuring heaven and earth. If it was really successful, wouldn’t these masters of creation have been able to survive in the war against the ancient gods?

Was it possible that beyond this world, there existed another world where these powerful masters of creations lived? With mystical hexagon-shaped crystals embedded in the hearts of their brows, they could cultivate nothingness, produce stars, and let starlight shine brilliantly.

Would these masters of creation return to this world again?

The Carefree Village of Founding Emperor that the celestial heavens hadn’t been able to find, could it be related to the world created by those masters of creation?

Whether it was Scholar Zi Xi Heavenly Teacher or Princess Consort Zhen and the others from Carefree Village, they were all initially reluctant for Qin Mu to return to Carefree Village, as they found it to be extremely dangerous.

If Carefree Village was built in the world that the masters of creation had created, could these masters of creation be the reason Carefree Village was dangerous?

“Cult Master Qin, we have to go now!” Without further ado, Qi Jiuyi dragged Qin Mu and ran outwards.

Qin Mu retracted his gaze and followed him, sprinting outwards. The dragon qilin dashed to the front and said, “Cult Master, Third Brother, get onto my back. I will take both of you out of here.”

The two of them landed on his back, and the dragon qilin immediately increased his speed. Very soon, they reached the side of the sacrificial altar, and he quickly sprinted by it.

In the depressed center of the sacrificial altar, there was a lot more coagulating liquid light than there was before. In the foreheads of the skeletons that circled the sacrificial altar, the crystals were giving out faint light.

Qin Mu was startled. “Fatty Dragon, move faster!”

The dragon qilin rushed into the sky and flew towards the phoenix ship in mid-air.

Qin Mu and Qi Jiuyi turned around to look. Beneath them, the light from the crystals in the foreheads of the skeletons was growing stronger at a great speed. Suddenly, with a loud buzz, the rays of light shone towards the center of the sacrificial altar!

In the depressed center, the liquid light churned, and rings of light, layer by layer and round by round, expanded outwards and burst out!

Following that, bright lights rushed upwards into the sky, and a colossal creature burst through the layers and rounds of light. The shattered rays transformed into extremely bright streamers, while the rings of light that didn’t shatter transformed into countless circular rings that stood upright at the back of the creature’s head.

Heaven Duke!

The Heaven Duke weapon that was created by the gathered consciousnesses of the prehistory masters of creation!

Heaven Duke raised his head, growing taller and taller. He then raised a hand and grabbed towards the dragon qilin, who was flying towards the phoenix ship with all his might.

On Qin Mu’s shoulder, Yan’er’s feathers suddenly inflated outwards, and her wings fluttered. In a split second, she transformed into an enormous dragon sparrow, carrying Qin Mu, Qi Jiuyi, and the dragon qilin on her back as she flew upwards in a shaky manner. She barely dodged Heaven Duke’s palm as she dashed towards the phoenix ship!

Qi Jiuyi grabbed onto Yan’er’s feathers with all his might, and he yelled out to the soldiers on the phoenix ship, “Start the ship!”

On the phoenix ship, the more than six thousand gods immediately activated their magic power, causing the phoenix to flap its wings. The giant wings unfolded, and the ship was started up.

Yan’er flew over and landed on the ship, taking a few extra steps before she could come to a stop.

Qin Mu, Qi Jiuyi, and the dragon qilin immediately slid down her back. When the dragon qilin landed on the deck, he suddenly realized that on his dragon tail, there was a small creature that was grabbing on to him tightly. He stared at it. It was the palm-sized Earth Count that Qin Mu had created.

The dragon qilin picked up the tiny thing, intending to ask Qin Mu how to deal with it. However, Qin Mu and Qi Jiuyi were with the others, releasing their vital qi to activate the phoenix ship, so he was too busy for the dragon qilin to bring it to his attention.

‘If I leave this tiny thing here, he definitely won’t survive more than a day. I should just let him follow me.’

At this thought, the dragon qilin put down the tiny Earth Count. The little thing was very fierce, and it mooed at him viciously.

The dragon qilin thought for a moment and glanced around. Upon realizing that neither Qin Mu nor Yan’er was looking in his direction, he took out a spirit pill and stuffed it into the arms of the vicious little fellow, saying in a low voice, “Stop making noises, I don’t want Cult Master and Sister Yan’er to find out that I have hidden many spirit pills…”

The tiny Earth Count hugged the spirit pill, which was a little big for him and strenuous for him to keep carrying. He was a little confused, not knowing what he was supposed to do with this round thing.

“It’s for eating.” The dragon qilin slowly guided him, taking out another spirit pill and stuffing it into his own mouth.

The tiny Earth Count followed his actions, hugging the spirit pill as he took a bite out of it. It was just that the spirit pill was too big and his mouth too small, so he could only bite off a tiny bit of it.

The dragon qilin beamed with joy, “How is it? It tastes pretty good, doesn’t it?”

The tiny Earth Count sat down on the ground, hugging the spirit pill and working hard to eat it in a serious manner. However, his appetite was too small. He had only eaten about half of it, but his tummy was already stuffed until it was round, and he couldn’t eat anymore. That being said, he still held on to the remaining half of the spirit pill, unwilling to let go.

The dragon qilin lifted him up and stuffed him into his ear. “Don’t make noise, or someone may discover you. Be good and take a nap to digest your food.”

Suddenly, Qin Mu’s voice traveled over as he yelled loudly, “Be careful of the Heaven Bell!”

The dragon qilin hurriedly looked back, only to see the Heaven Duke with layers of halos at the back of his head raising both of his hands to make a hugging action. On the top of Heaven Duke’s head, a huge bell made of light appeared.

The bell was massive, and it revolved mid-air above the ground. The mouth of the bell was initially facing downwards, but at this moment, it had already turned around and was now facing the phoenix ship.

The thirty-sixth Heavenly Dao, Heaven Bell!

The bell rang suddenly, and the space behind the phoenix ship trembled violently. It was as though everyone on the ship had been struck by lightning—their bodies trembled and cracked apart, their limbs flailed around from the impact of the pulses, and they flew in all directions!