Tales of Herding Gods

After the storm, Qin Mu crawled out from the tall sand dune and looked around. In his eyes was a silent and desolate desert. There were only sand dunes in the shape of scales left after the hurricane had swept past.

The huge Sun Ship was in pieces, completely broken down. It was clear that the power of True Heaven Old Mother’s last strike had been incredibly strong. She had the mentality of bringing Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor down with her when she had executed it. This had resulted in the Sun Ship being shattered as well.

The flames in the desert had vanished. Even though the sand was still red, the flames that burned the abandoned people of Great Ruins were no longer present.

Qin Mu looked into the distance, but didn’t see them anywhere.

The flaming desert had been extinguished.

He couldn’t help being stunned and hurriedly raised his hand. The flame markings on his skin had also vanished.

He took out a few mirrors and raised them up and down, but he still didn’t see any flame markings.

‘True Heaven Old Mother is dead!”

Qin Mu’s heart pounded furiously. True Heaven Old Mother had laid down flames that were specially targeted at the abandoned people of Great Ruins. Flame markings would appear on the faces of those who stepped into the desert, and the purer their bloodline, the more flame markings would appear.

For example, Qin Mu’s flame markings had crawled all over his body.

But True Heaven Old Mother had died, so the flames in the desert had vanished as well. The flame markings on the abandoned people also went away!

“Pfff, pfff!”

One of the sand dunes far away split open, and the dragon qilin crawled out from inside it while spitting out sand. Qin Mu greeted him from far away and hobbled over.

His injuries were very severe, but they weren’t from fighting against Pangong Tso. It was the terrifying impact from the last strike of True Heaven Old Mother that had heavily injured him.

The dragon qilin rushed in front of Qin Mu and lowered his tail. Qin Mu stepped on its tip, and the dragon qilin raised it for him to slide down to his back.

The dragon qilin sprinted to the side of Sun Ship.

Qin Mu sat down and shouted loudly, “Imperial Preceptor, are you still alive?”

“I’m over here.”

Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor’s voice came from nearby, and Qin Mu looked toward its source. He saw Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor under the shade of a huge rock. Qin Mu slid down from the back of the dragon qilin with a smile. “You’re injured again?”

“Not too serious. The damage is much lighter than the last time.” Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor closed his eyes as though he was nodding off to sleep. He then opened one eye to glance backward while saying weakly, “True Heaven Old Mother was indeed strong. By borrowing the power of Sun Ship, she surpassed the gods of High Heavens.”

Qin Mu looked in the same direction as him, but he didn’t see anything. Bewildered, he first focused on treating his own injuries. Afterward, he wanted to move Imperial Preceptor, but he realized he couldn’t do so.

“Cult Master, you can’t lift a god,” Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor said with a smile that was not a smile.

Qin Mu understood what he meant and came over to treat him. “Imperial Preceptor still plans to go to High Heavens?”

Eternal Peace Imperial preceptor shook his head. “True Heaven Old Mother had the advantage of land when we exchanged blows just now, and I almost lost. If I go to High Heavens, there will still be gods there, and it’s their territory. It would be even more dangerous than what I faced now. I need to wait a moment for the emperor and other cult master level existences to become gods as well.”

There were numerous strong practitioners on Divine Bridge Realm in Eternal Peace Empire who had been stuck on that realm for numerous years. The spread of the space algebra model of repairing the divine bridge by Qin Mu had given them hope to become gods.

“You let Grandmaster go?” Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor asked.

Qin Mu spoke seriously while checking on his injury. “I had a deal with him to not take his life, but it’s very hard for me to hold him back without harming his life. Grandmaster’s ability to escape is unmatched in this world; I have never seen such a slippery person before. However, I was lucky enough to get half of his leg.”

“Him going free will only cause more trouble in the future. Even I can’t defend against his soul worship shaman spell. Very few people know my real name, but if he went to River Tomb to check, he could find it. The emperor’s name can also be discovered,” Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor said solemnly.

Qin Mu took out a lot of silver needles and turned him into a huge porcupine. Stabbing the last needle at the heart of his brows, he smiled and said, “To me, Grandmaster is no longer a worry. The god behind him is called Shaman God Kui. He was lost to Grandmaster who tore his spirit and body apart. Grandmaster hid his corporeal body in Great Ruins’ Yang Mountain and his primordial spirit in Yin Mountain. As long as we wipe out the primordial spirit of Shaman God Kui, we will be able to break Grandmaster’s soul worship shaman spell.”

Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor took a glance at him with an indifferent expression. “What if Grandmaster is a step ahead of you and relocates the primordial spirit of Shaman God Kui?”

Qin Mu was stunned, then gave a slap to Imperial Preceptor’s thigh which made him tear up from pain. Qin Mu hurriedly pulled back his hand and quickly refined a couple furnaces of spirit pills. “Grandmaster’s medical expertise is great, only slightly inferior to mine He won’t die even if he lost half a leg. Stay here, I’ll make a trip to Yin Mountain! Remember to eat your medicine on time!”

Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor took out the Black Tortoise Bead and threw it to him. “Take it in case of anything!”

Qin Mu left a few bags of water and food before jumping onto the dragon qilin’s back and leaving quickly.

Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor leaned against the huge rock and thought to get to his feet, but he collapsed right after. Panting heavily, he smiled bitterly. “I’m injured to such a state again… Luckily, when Cult Master, this little scoundrel, stuffed the Black Tortoise Bead into True Heaven Old Mother’s hand, she didn’t make a move. Otherwise, I would have really been played to death by him…”

He couldn’t help feeling post-traumatic stress.

Qin Mu had pushed the Black Tortoise Bead and the Green Dragon Bead into the hands of True Heaven Old Mother time and again to test her. However, he didn’t consider that Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor might not be as strong as he expected.

That fellow was full of confidence in Imperial Preceptor, more than even Imperial Preceptor had in himself. When walking beside Qin Mu, the danger only kept on multiplying.

‘Luckily the brat is gone. Yin Mountain is dangerous, but being around him is even more dangerous.’

Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor laid down to recuperate. At that moment, behind the huge rock he was lying on, sand was swirling silently and slowly gathering to form a sand giant.

Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor seemed to not notice anything, and snores came from his throat. However, his eyes slowly opened.

He secretly raised his hand and pulled out the silver needle Qin Mu had stabbed in the heart of his brows.

It wasn’t a silver needle but a sword—Carefree Sword.

Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor held it with narrowed eyes, then suddenly stabbed into the rock behind him!

The sand giant was smiling at that moment, ready to pounce. Carefree Sword pierced its heart. With a bang, eight thousand sword lights shot out in all directions, bursting out from the sand giant’s body!

Carefree Sword trembled, and the eight thousand swords flew back while dripping with divine blood from their tips. They combined to form a sword pellet the size of a tangerine.

Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor leaned on the rock while the sword pellet went around the rock to come back to him.

“Thanks.”

Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor smiled and gave the pellet a flick. It whizzed away and vanished into the distance.

Behind the huge rock, the sand giant was slowly crumbling while divine blood poured out from it. More and more blood dyed the ground.

The dragon qilin was sprinting to the east when Qin Mu raised his hand and beckoned with it. The sword pellet whizzed over and landed in his hand. The dragon qilin suddenly sunk down and tumbled forward.

Qin Mu hid the sword pellet in the taotie sack and smiled. “True Heaven Old Mother is finally dead.”

Shocked, the dragon qilin cried out, “True Heaven Old Mother was still alive? Didn’t the flame markings on your body vanish and the flames of the desert go out? How could she still have been alive?”

“She’s cunning, and she did it for us to think that she’s already dead, so Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor also acted as though he thought she was dead. However, he threw me a glance in warning, so when I was treating him, I transformed Carefree Sword into a needle and stabbed it into the heart of his brows.”

Qin Mu smiled. “The reason Imperial Preceptor handed me Black Tortoise Bead was also because he was afraid it would land in the hands of True Heaven Old Mother, making her even harder to deal with. Now, she is really dead. If you don’t believe me, look back.”

The dragon qilin hurriedly looked back and saw a scarlet red sea slowly spreading out at a great speed. It was formed from divine blood and was swallowing the desert, rushing toward them. The sight was extremely frightening!

The dragon qilin sprinted away. After over a hundred miles, the red sea no longer expanded.

The dragon qilin asked, “True Heaven Old Mother bled so much?”

“Her divine blood transformed back to mortal blood, so there naturally was more of it.”

Qin Mu also looked back and saw multicolored sunlight above the red sea. On the seashore, dense vegetation grew frantically; after all, even a desolate place like the desert had numerous tenacious lifeforms.

“It’s the same for humans as well. No matter how harsh the environment is, they will always find a way to survive!”

He opened Cinnabar Heaven’s Eyes to look into the distance. The Sun Ship that was broken into pieces had become an island in the center of the red sea. Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor had climbed onto it and wasn’t drenched in blood.

“Remember to take your medicine on time.” Qin Mu waved his hand and had the dragon qilin quickly leave.

Pangong Tso stopped his bleeding while sitting on a bunch of cattail leaves that were rushing with a gale. When he came to Great Ruins, it was already three days later, and the sky was turning dark.

During the three days, he had treated his injuries. However, his right lower leg had been severed by Qin Mu, so his movement was impaired.

Pangong Tso looked around, and his eyes lit up. He followed a herd of strange beasts and arrived at a ruin before darkness descended.

Chii!

Pangong Tso raised his hand to sever a buck’s leg, and the strange beast growled, making threatening sounds.

Pangong Tso opened his taotie sack, and a swarm of soul bugs flew out. He sneered. “You guys also dare to bully me? A bunch of beasts. I can’t do anything to the Qin brat, but killing all of you is easy!”

The other strange beasts looked at the soul bugs flying around and didn’t dare to go forward recklessly,

“Grandmaster is truly assertive.” Suddenly, a voice came from the ruin, speaking in a leisurely manner. “For Grandmaster of Rolan’s Golden Palace to end up in a state of having to bully strange beasts, how laughable.”

“Who is it?”

Pangong Tso immediately connected the buck’s leg to his broken leg, not caring about doing it properly. He quickly stood up as a chest flew out from the depths of the ruin.

Bang.

The chest opened up, and two legs ran out from inside it. They were followed by two arms and a torso which slowly pieced together into a headless body.

It went through the chest and took out a head to place on its neck.

“Grandmaster, don’t you recognize your old friend?” The strange body turned around, and it was a youth with red lips and white teeth. There was a bewitching smile on his face.

Pangong Tso’s face turned ashen.