Tales of Herding Gods

Gu Xiao and Da Hong relaxed slightly. ‘This idea of Celestial Venerable Mu is elusive. He was a determined bully when he caused a huge ruckus at the Jade Pool, yet now he’s quirky and bizarre…’

Qin Mu excitedly lifted his hands, his right hand pressing against the back of his left hand, and said with a voice like thunder, “Today, as Mu Qing!”

Luo Xiao solemnly said, “Today, as Luo Xiao!”

Gu Xiao had to follow up and say, “Today, as Gu Xiao!”

Da Hong forced himself to say, “Today, as Da Hong!”

They said in unison, “I swear to become sworn brothers with three other brothers. I swear to be loyal and fearless. I swear that we will face difficulties together, die together, and never be separated! We don’t ask to be born on the same day, month, and year, but we beg to die on the same day, month, and year!”

As they finished, they saw their words become four incenses under the effects of their vital essences. They burned, releasing aroma everywhere.

Their vital essences were powerful. As soon as they finished, their words materialized despite them not swearing to Earth Count or Heaven Duke.

Qin Mu thought, ‘Mu Qing is my fake name. This swearing doesn’t have a bit of restraint on me…’

Gu Xiao’s gaze flashed as he thought, ‘Haha, this is merely for show. My name isn’t Gu Xiao anyway. This means little.’

Da Hong’s face was red as he thought, ‘Since nobody knows my roots, swearing is just like drinking water for me.’

Only Luo Xiao was genuine and happy about it.

Qin Mu shouted outside the carriage, “Pi, get your little buddy from your ear to witness this!”

Outside the carriage, the dragon qilin heard it. Although he was unwilling, he followed Qin Mu’s words and took out a tiny Earth Count from his ear.

This tiny Earth Count was a small life that Qin Mu visualized and created using the creation divine stone he obtained from the Blood Rust Zone.

After he visualized him, he ignored him. Meanwhile, the dragon qilin brought him along, cared for him, and even shared spirit pills with him.

Yan’er would occasionally feed him too. The tiny Earth Count was now round and lacked any of the awe that the real Earth Count carried.

“You have to be careful.”

The dragon qilin retrieved the tiny Earth Count and ordered quietly, “The people inside aren’t good people. They are ruthless.”

The tiny Earth Count landed and solemnly said, “Moo!”

“When you’re there, don’t say anything, for if you do, you will fall for their tricks,” the dragon qilin ordered.

“Xia?” The tiny Earth Count blinked, slightly scared.

Inside, Qin Mu hastened him again, so the dragon qilin had to let him go. The tiny Earth Count had short legs and arms, so he walked by swinging his tail. The steps beneath the curtains were a little high, so he struggled to climb up with his arms. Afterward, he jumped down the steps to enter the carriage.

Everyone except for Qin Mu watched on in shock as this tiny Earth Count walked between them. The brother coming in to witness their swearing was a little monster that ate so much he became round!

Yet, the little monster bore some resemblances to Youdu’s Earth Count!

“Earth Count with a large body is terrifying. I didn’t expect him to be so cute when shrunk down to this magnitude.” Da Hong couldn’t help but laugh.

The tiny Earth Count moved to their side and opened his mouth. Qin Mu stuck the incense that his words became into his mouth. The tiny Earth Count swallowed the incense and walked in front of Luo Xiao.

Luo Xiao examined it and said with shock, “This is consciousness visualization and creation?”

After he finished, he put the incense that his words became into the tiny Earth Count’s mouth.

He swallowed it and went to Da Hong.

Da Hong was hesitant as he examined him several times to ensure that he was unrelated to Youdu’s Earth Count. He wanted to be sure that he wasn’t Earth Count’s clone or reincarnation. After that, he was relieved enough to put the incense his words made into his mouth.

Tiny Earth Count swallowed it and went to Gu Xiao. Gu Xiao also examined him several times before passing him the incense.

The tiny Earth Count swallowed the four incenses and walked to the front seat, then jumped up.

They stared at him and saw how he could only jump up to a height of five to six inches as he failed to reach the White Tiger treasure seat. He was about a foot off.

The tiny Earth Count landed, squatted, and jumped up again. That time, he reached a higher height, but he was still about six to seven inches off.

He tried to jump several times, but he failed to reach the seat, so he climbed up the legs of the seat.

They watched as he struggled to reach the top of the seat’s leg. He extended a leg and used his tail to hook onto the seat before he reached it, huffing and puffing.

They watched him panting on the White Tiger treasure seat. He sat down and spat. The aroma dispersed while their incenses burnt fully in his stomach.

The aroma coalesced in front of them to form a written oath.

The tiny Earth Count flipped it open solemnly as Youdu’s devil language came from his mouth. He wasn’t loud, but he was solemn.

Luo Xiao, Gu Xiao, and Da Hong were shocked. Gu Xiao smiled and asked, “This little thing understands Youdu’s devil language and can produce written oaths. That’s strange. Celestial Venerable Mu, where did you get him?”

Qin Mu was shocked too. He visualized him and ignored him after. He didn’t know that the dragon qilin would teach him.

The tiny Earth Count read the oath and swallowed it. He then stood up and kicked, but he couldn’t reach the ground with his leg.

Cold sweat burst from his forehead as he put down another leg. It didn’t reach the ground either.

He looked down and felt dizzy. Cold sweat covered his body as he shouted, “Xia, Xia!”

The seat was too high for him, so he would probably be severely injured if he fell.

Qin Mu extended his palm beneath him, and the tiny Earth Count landed on him. He hurriedly hugged one of his fingers and didn’t dare to let go.

Qin Mu put his hand down before the tiny Earth Count felt daring enough to step out. He still didn’t dare to let go of Qin Mu’s finger, though.

Only when both of his feet were on the ground, and he had tested the ground, did he dare to let go of Qin Mu’s fingers and walk out of his palm.

No one spoke inside the carriage as they looked at him. The tiny Earth Count moved to the steps with his round cow butt, then climbed on the steps, went through the curtains, and jumped off.

Only then did they retract their gazes.

Outside the carriage, the tiny Earth Count went to the dragon qilin’s side, who whispered, “The bad guys in the carriage didn’t do anything to you, right?”

He shook his head and replied, “Xia.”

The dragon qilin relaxed, placed him in his ear, and said, “Nobody among the four of them is a good person. They are all very cunning. Don’t come into contact with them.”

In the carriage, they returned to their seats. Qin Mu smiled and thought, ‘The tiny Earth Count’s written oath is very useful. Although it doesn’t limit us, I can use it in the future to determine the true identities of Celestial Venerable Xiao and Celestial Venerable Hong. No matter how much they try to hide their identities, they can’t hide from me.’

The tiny Earth Count he visualized was weak, but his written oath was useful.

‘Their fake names and identities are useless in the face of the written oath.’

Qin Mu’s gaze shifted away from Gu Xiao and Da Hong and landed on Luo Xiao. He was confused. ‘The only one who used his real name was probably this brother from the Great Void…’

He couldn’t help but be frustrated at Luo Xiao’s naivete.

Gu Xiao and Da Hong’s time of appearance was very odd. Qin Mu killed the five elements ancient gods, Luo Xiao exposed his identity as a master of creation, and then the two of them appeared.

It was clear that they came for those two things.

Qin Mu squinted and thought, ‘One could see that Da Hong cared more about my killing of the five elements ancient gods from his words. Thus, his goal isn’t the master of creation, Luo Xiao. Instead, his goal is to find out how I killed the ancient gods. One could see that Gu Xiao cared more about the masters of creation from his words, which means that his goal is to find out where Luo Xiao came from. His ultimate goal is to find out where the rest of the masters of creation are hiding.’

He thought about that, and suddenly, Luo Xiao solemnly said, “Brothers, truth be told, I’m a master of creation. I’m wandering outside to find out if there are still any masters of creation left here and to find the location of the ancestral court…”

Qin Mu frowned and coughed heavily twice.

Luo Xiao sent him a perplexed look as he continued, “I can’t go to the celestial heavens, and I don’t know whether there are still masters of creation. However, Celestial Venerable Mu has already calculated the location of the ancestral court. Our motive is to find it. Since we are sworn brothers, I can’t hide that anymore.”

Qin Mu quietly sighed. ‘Why did the Great Void’s masters of creation send him out? One’s sworn brother isn’t one’s real brother… No wonder Luo Xiao will die. I can’t save him…’

Gu Xiao and Da Hong’s gazes flashed as they looked at Qin Mu. Da Hong smiled. “I didn’t know that Celestial Venerable Mu knew the location of the masters of creation’s ancestral court. Could you be a master of creation instead of a human, Celestial Venerable Mu?”

“I’m not. It’s just a coincidence that I managed to calculate its coordinates.”

Qin Mu suppressed his impulse to beat up Luo Xiao as he smiled and said, “Da Hong, you seem to care a lot about it as well.”

Da Hong smiled and said, “I’m well-informed and have heard that many great figures of the ancient gods got many important treasures from the masters of creation’s ancestral court, which made me envious. I was once a guest of North Deity. Deity Wu and Deity Xuan invited me to their treasury, and I was stunned by it despite being an experienced figure!”

He couldn’t stop praising it, saying, “The treasury of North Deity was stuffed with treasure. My eyes turned blurry from it. I just knew that it came from the masters of creation’s ancestral court, so I want to go there myself.”

Gu Xiao solemnly said, “I didn’t know you had such responsibilities. I admire the masters of creation, but I heard that you guys were exterminated by the ancient gods. They even erased that ugly part of their history! How despicable! It’s a relief to hear that you guys still exist. After he finds the ancestral court and you finish your mission, can we go and visit your people?”

Luo Xiao was extremely delighted as he said, “With your help, I can finally finish the task the chiefs gave to me!”

Qin Mu coughed again, but the fact that Luo Xiao already agreed to it made him frantic.

“Pi! To Youdu!” Qin Mu hollered.

The people in the carriage were shocked. They didn’t understand why. By that time, the dragon qilin had already driven the carriage through Youdu and the Primordial Realm’s world barrier and into the dark Youdu.

The Heavenly Dragon Treasure Carriage was a strange treasure from a million years in the future. It could go between Youdu and the world of the living. He used it once to escape the consciousness that the Grand Emperor projected from the Ultimate Void. At that time, people like Shu Jun and Lang Wo were inside.

Qin Mu looked at the pitch-black darkness outside and was visibly unsettled.

He chose to escape the Primordial Realm via Youdu instead of the celestial river to shake off the Celestial River Navy and the Southern Sect Army chasing them.

Luo Xiao thought that the two armies were there to kill Da Hong and Gu Xiao, but Qin Mu knew that they commanded the armies. They weren’t there to chase the two of them. They were there to chase and kill the master of creation from the Great Void!

Gu Xiao coughed and reminded Qin Mu, “Brother Mu Qing, According to my knowledge, Earth Count has a grudge with the masters of creation…”

Luo Xiao became very nervous as he looked at Qin Mu.

Da Hong sighed and said, “Brother Mu Qing, it isn’t easy to shake the two armies off. The celestial river passes through all of the worlds and becomes the ghost river in Youdu. The ghost river circles Earth Count and falls into the Ruins of End. The Celestial River Navy and Southern Sect Army will chase us through the ghost river.”

Qin Mu opened the windows and looked out. He saw how the celestial river was never cut off.

The celestial river flowed into Youdu from the Primordial Realm’s void and became the ghost river. It flowed down while circling Earth Count’s giant body.

This ghost river was held by Earth Count like a long winding whip. It eventually flowed downward and reached Earth Count’s feet.

Far away, paper boats with lamps on them sailed towards them. Celestial Venerable You probably felt someone barging into Youdu, so he sent his clones to check. It was just that his cultivation was currently too weak to catch up to the carriage.

This was something that wouldn’t happen a million years later!

Qin Mu was worried about Celestial Venerable You’s safety, so he ordered the dragon qilin to leave quickly. After all, two terrifying giants of extraordinary origins were in the carriage.

The carriage sped on. Qin Mu looked outside and saw battleships coming from the source of the ghost river. The Celestial River Navy and Southern Sect Army had entered Youdu!

Qin Mu swiped his hand, and a Gate of Heaven Influence appeared in front of the carriage. The carriage rushed into the gate, and they appeared outside of the Primordial Realm again.

“Earth Count really is resourceful.”

Qin Mu praised, then humbly asked for teachings, “Brothers, do you three know where the ancient gods come from? I’ve seen many ancient gods. Some are strong, while some are weak, so I’m curious about them.”

Gu Xiao smiled and said, “I’m a human. How could I know the origins of these ancient beings?”

Da Hong smiled. “I heard that the ancient gods were weapons created by the masters of creation. They rebelled and killed the masters of creation before proclaiming that they were born from the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth to cover up their dirty past.”

Luo Xiao shook his head. “That isn’t always the case. According to knowledge passed down, there are four types of origins for ancient gods. Egg, Dao, sacrifice, and heaven and earth.”

Qin Mu’s interest was instantly piqued, and he asked, “There are these origins too? Why don’t you explain, Brother?”