Tales of Herding Gods

Panda Novel

“Yue Tingge from the celestial heavens’ Dao Sect hereby pays his respects to Celestial Venerable Mu!”

That Daoist in the black robes had a bad temper. He knelt down and kowtowed several times before turning around angrily and returning to the bonfire. He remarked, “You’re but a small divine arts practitioner who has the title of Celestial Venerable. I pay my respects to that title, not you!”

Qin Mu didn’t take much offense as he said, “This Daoist’s temper really is bad.”

Luo Wushuang frowned slightly as he thought, ‘Yue Tingge, Yue Tingge, I seem to have heard that name somewhere before…’

That Daoist Yue Tingge only cared about indulging himself in food and drink without his previous wantonness. He cared little for Qin Mu, only glancing at him a couple of times.

Qin Mu waved his hands, and the banquet was dispersed. The delicacies, beautiful ladies, and fine wine were all dispersed after morphing into consciousness.

He clapped his hands again, and many beautiful ladies walked out of thin air. They looked like a long dragon when they set up the running banquet.

“Ma ha…”

Suddenly, a giant head stretched over. It was the divine dragon that Qin Mu had visualized, and it stared at the banquet excitedly, drooling. It swept its tail around and filled the air with smoke.

Expectedly, this divine dragon survived the explosion caused by Celestial Venerable Huo’s imprint. It even followed their tracks to this place.

‘Was I subconsciously thinking about Fatty Dragon when I visualized the divine dragon? Is that why the divine dragon I visualized acts like this?’

Qin Mu’s spirits were ruined by the dragon, and he put down his chopsticks and waved his hand. The divine dragon was happy, and it immediately jumped on the banquet to eat and drink to its heart’s delight.

Luo Wushuang looked at that Daoist and whispered, “Yue Tingge, celestial heavens’ Dao Sect… Who exactly is he?”

He thought about the name for a long time, as that name gave him a familiar feeling, but he couldn’t remember anything about it.

This Daoist had a mysterious origin. It was obvious that the celestial heavens had only sent them into the Great Void. Besides them, there were only Celestial Venerable Huo and Celestial Venerable Xu, so where did this Daoist come from then?

If it was a person sent by the celestial heavens in the past, then how did he survive in this treacherous place?

Suddenly, a voice sounded out. “As expected of Celestial Venerable Mu, being so unrestrained and merry. No matter where he goes, he’s surrounded by beautiful ladies that make people envious.”

Qin Mu looked in the direction of the voice and saw several gods that had been on the boat with him.

During the boat’s trip into the Great Void, over half of the people on it became casualties. Around 110 people fell out at various places in the Great Void. In the last city, dozens more died, including Celestial Venerable Hao’s disciples Xiu Yufang and Pan Chunjing.

Now, Qin Mu didn’t know exactly how many people were left in the Great Void.

The appearance of the Great Void’s monsters wasn’t unique to that city. Other places experienced the same thing, and in those places, few people survived.

Luo Wushuang rose, looked at them, and solemnly said, “Everyone, Celestial Venerable Mu’s merit is unrivaled. He imparted the way to become a god to the masses. Now that we are in the same bad situation where our survival is uncertain, we need to stay united and work together to deal with the peculiarities of the Great Void. It’s only then that we can hope to find Celestial Venerable Huo and Celestial Venerable Xu. What do you all think?”

One of them glanced at him and laughed coldly. “Divine Knife Luo, are you cozying up to Celestial Venerable Mu?”

The knife lights in Luo Wushuang’s eyes jumped, and he gave a cold humph. “My name is famous throughout the celestial heavens, and I was given the title of the number one divine knife. When have I ever cozied up to someone powerful?”

Another young man laughed. “Divine Knife Luo, Celestial Venerable Mu isn’t powerful. Be careful not to cozy up to the wrong person. Our journey here, in name, is to receive Celestial Venerable Huo and Celestial Venerable Xu, but in practice, this journey’s aim is to remove Celestial Venerable Mu. Divine Knife Luo, you’re a smart person, you should have figured that out by now.”

A lady said coldly, “The various Celestial Venerables ordered you here to help us remove Celestial Venerable Mu! Are you going to bite the hand that feeds you?”

Luo Wushuang was in a dilemma, and he looked at Qin Mu.

Qin Mu was surrounded by beautiful ladies, with one of them in his embrace. He told Luo Wushuang, “Relax, Divine Knife Luo, I knew about the purpose of this journey. I also know that you don’t intend to truly kill me, for you only wanted to challenge my sword skills with your knife skills. I understand your situation, you have to remove the devil in your heart at all cost…”

Luo Wushuang breathed a sigh of relief as he solemnly said to the other three people, “I saved you. Without me, you lot would have died on the boat. In exchange, I order you to eradicate your dislike, hostility, and antipathy towards Celestial Venerable Mu…”

“Alright, Alright.”

That woman was impatient, and she said, “Divine Knife Luo, if we give you face, we can’t go back to the celestial heavens! Remember, your duty is to protect us, and that includes saving us! You failed at protecting us to the point where we were left with only 100 people from the original 300. That’s already a great sin!”

“Divine Knife Luo, it’s the celestial heavens who gave you a way out.”

That young man continued, “Think carefully. If you help us take down Celestial Venerable Mu, you’ll be able to achieve meteoric success after you return. Considering your current cultivation and strength, you shouldn’t remain as a mere teacher in the Spirit Elite Guards. You can go out there and become a border commander with ease. Have you never thought about the reason you haven’t been promoted?”

Another person laughed. “It’s because you never cozied up to someone powerful before. This is a great opportunity. Don’t cozy up to the wrong person.”

Luo Wushuang looked as calm as still water.

Qin Mu rose and waved off the beauties beside him. He touched the divine dragon, whose tummy had become large and round from his feasting, before suddenly saying, “Divine Knife Luo, in my opinion, we shouldn’t test our blades anymore, there’s no need for it.”

Luo Wushuang looked downwards and asked as if he was an old monk, “Why do you say that, Overlord Body Qin?”

“I would rather break than bend.”

Qin Mu waved his hand, and the banquet and beauties disappeared. They dispersed after becoming consciousness as he leisurely said, “I respect you, your extraordinary dignity, and your ability to separate friend from foe. I was impressed by your resilience and perseverance when I saw that you waited for 40 thousand years to face off against me again. Yet, seeing you so cautious and scared of consequences, I can’t help but feel disappointed.”

Luo Wushuang’s eyes expanded slightly as he plainly said, “I’m overly cautious and scared of consequences?”

“I’m a Celestial Venerable, and you dare to challenge me, although it’s merely the exploitation of my weakness and youthful nature.”

Qin Mu continued, “Yet when facing these disciples of Celestial Venerables, you bow down to them and listen to whatever they say. When you were insulted, you didn’t dare to fight back. A person who bullies the weak and fears the strong like you do isn’t fitting to be my sword, let alone a divine knife.”

Luo Wushuang’s eyes opened widely as the knife lights within them flashed and were almost unleashed.

Qin Mu continued, “The knife god I saw was a wild, daring, and fearless person who dared to go against the heavens and the authorities. He wouldn’t back off because the opponent was too strong, nor would he bully the weak with his strength. He would dance with the knife and drink the blood of tyrants after taking monarchs’ heads. When facing the weak, he would lie low and hide, choosing to become a butcher of pigs instead. This is what it means to be a knife god. Yet you…”

He burst into laughter and said, “You are but a mere swordsmith who trained your knife skills well. You’re worse than Zhe Huali. You said that you defeated the devil in your heart, but I see that you still have many devils suppressed in your heart.”

Luo Wushuang was furious, and his aura suddenly exploded, cutting the sky into two as if it was a divine knife!

“High Emperor Overlord Body, how dare you look down on me!”

Luo Wushuang was extremely furious, and his vital qi, mixed with his blood and essence, beamed into the sky, forming a bloody knife light. The knife grew at least ten thousand yards long before it became shorter following the coalescing of his essence and blood.

As it became shorter, the knife grew stronger!

“Overlord Body Qin, the knife skill you saw in the past was the one I had after I became a god. The one you saw on the boat was the one I comprehended after all these years.”

Luo Wushuang’s gaze was cold as his essence and blood coalesced to form a long knife that he wielded with his only arm. His murderous aura was boundless as he said, “The me on the boat is different from the me now. The knife skill I had on the boat and the knife skill I have now are also different! I want you to see my knife skill now!”

Those three Celestial Venerable disciples looked at each other and smiled. That lady said, “If we have Divine Knife Luo to do the job for us, we can slack off. Besides, this Celestial Venerable Mu isn’t that weak, and the charge for killing him is also a heavy one…”

That young man saw a ferocious-looking Daoist not far away, and he frowned and whispered, “Who’s this Daoist? Why is he here?”

The three of them sized up this ferocious Daoist’s face and felt that they had met before, but they couldn’t recall the details.

Luo Wushuang’s aura was fully unleashed, and so was the power of the divine knife as he said, “Please teach me!”

The knife light rose as the color of blood covered the skies.

Before one of the three Celestial Venerable disciples could react, Luo Wushuang’s divine knife had already cleaved him in two!

The other two were surprised and furious. They hollered in unison, charging towards him and asking, “Are you rebelling, Luo Wushuang?”

Luo Wushuang pretended to have heard nothing as he showed off his own knife skill and knife path.

His knife skill was proper and regular. Each knife attack of his solicited precision, each one of them containing a special force. It was as if every attack and move of his was carefully measured by the best craftsmen.

Yet, at this moment, his knife skill contained unrestrained heroism, as it had a rebellious aura.

If the sword was a gentleman, then his knife was a king.

He leaped out of the shackles of his past knife skills, annihilated the devil in his heart, trampled every fear of his, and left behind only a pure Dao.

His knife rose, and its light formed heavens. Some had shining stars, while some had blue skies and white clouds. Some had pouring rain, while some had pleasant and sunny weather. Some had monstrous winds, while some had thunder and lightning. It was extremely powerful.

One heaven after another.

He was the knife god of the celestial heavens, the number one divine knife of it. The rise of his knife resembled a boundless sky, while the fall of it resembled an awe-inspiring wall. It perfectly fused intricacy with magnificence!

In the past, he studied the underlying principle of the knife path to acquire its ultimate wonders. Although it was powerful, it wasn’t scary.

Today, he merged what he knew and blended it to his frame of mind, fusing them into his body’s essence, blood, and spirit.

This Luo Wushuang, although one-armed, was the scariest!

The two Celestial Venerable disciples tried their best to defend against his knife, and behind them floated three celestial palaces, the Small Celestial Heavens techniques that they had cultivated.

As for Luo Wushuang, he could only use his cultivation to the point of a true god, for his injuries hadn’t fully healed.

To the Celestial Venerable disciples, Luo Wushuang was an unorthodox person, for the techniques and divine arts he cultivated were unorthodox.

The knife path was a Postcelestial Dao, while what they cultivated were Precelestial Daos that came from the ancient gods. The difference between them was like mud and clouds.

They cultivated the Emperor’s Throne techniques that their Celestial Venerables imparted to them, at most three of them, in order to enter the path and comprehend the best divine arts. They were supposed to supersede unorthodox people who didn’t enter the path like Luo Wushuang.

Yet, they were struggling despite outnumbering him two to one.

The battle started fast and ended fast.

From the knife light, blood light appeared.

Luo Wushuang pushed the knife in and killed that young god.

The lady was shocked, and she leaped into the air to flee. Luo Wushuang shouted and cleaved towards her. While her head fell to the ground, her corporeal body shot forward frantically and flew out of the city. It was only then that it fell.

Luo Wushuang sheathed his knife, and the long knife that his essence and blood created went into his body. He then turned around to look at Qin Mu, and the light of his eyes was like knife light, and it went straight into Qin Mu.

“How’s my knife skill, Overlord Body Qin? Am I qualified enough to challenge you?”

Seeing how his aura and knife skill had changed, Qin Mu couldn’t help but reveal a grateful smile as he said, “Sure. Please sit, Divine Knife Luo.”

Luo Wushuang strode forward, his clothes fluttering in the air. Beneath the fluttering, the air was stimulated by his aura as thousands of knife energies were colliding into one another.

His aura had recovered when he sat down in front of Qin Mu.

Not far away, that ferocious-looking Daoist turned around and praised, “One-armed one, your knife skill isn’t bad.”

Luo Wushuang’s gaze went towards him. Suddenly, his brain clicked, and he realized where he saw him before. His body shuddered, and he couldn’t help but exclaim, “You are Heavenly Master Yue!”

Qin Mu was stunned as he asked, “Heavenly Master Yue? Which Heavenly Master Yue?”

Suddenly, he too had a eureka moment when he thought about what Yun Chuxiu said on the boat.