Tales of Herding Gods

“Why do we need to run?”

Shu Yao, Yu He, and the rest had no idea why he’d said that. The black tiger god’s ears suddenly rose, and he looked at the sacrificial altar that was still being constructed.

Around it, the devil soldiers had heard Qin Mu’s shout and looked over with suspicion. The devil general of Celestial Being Realm immediately gave two shouts and sent a few devils to check.

They flew over, and one of them opened a black jar. Numerous wasps came flying out and grew to the size of two feet.

The black tiger god’s ears folded back down again, and he asked in bewilderment, “Run why These devils aren’t difficult for you to deal with. That general of Celestial Being Realm is slightly trickier, but it’s not like he can’t fight him at all.”

Qin Mu’s forehead broke out in cold sweat, and he felt the mirror in his hands becoming heavier and heavier. It was like carrying a huge mountain from which Fu Riluo was about to walk out!

“It’s Fu Riluo! He is over at that sacrificial altar!” His voice was hoarse. “Don’t you guys see him? He’s striding toward us!”

Everyone was astonished and hurriedly looked around. Yu He was puzzled. “Where’s Fu Riluo?”

The black tiger god looked around, and his ears flickered as he tried to hear anything, but he still shook his head in the end. “There’s no sign of Fu Riluo. Are you muddle-headed? Fu Riluo is the commander-in-chief of the devil race, so what would he be doing here instead of overseeing the main camp?”

The mirror in Qin Mu’s hands was incomparably heavy and crashed onto the ground. “Didn’t you guys see Fu Riluo in the mirror? Just now he walked out from the sacrificial altar, and I saw him in the mirror!”

Everyone hurriedly looked at the mirror, then shook their heads. “Cult Master, there’s nothing in the mirror. Are your eyes blurry?”

“The enemies are about to reach us. Prepare to face them!” Shu Yao hurriedly said.

The black tiger god looked at the clear mirror with a solemn face. He couldn’t see any Fu Riluo, but he sensed that something was wrong.

Qin Mu’s strength might not be comparable to that of Yu He, Shu Yao, and Sang Hua, but it wasn’t to the extent that he couldn’t hold onto a mirror!

It’s fall to the ground meant that it had grown too heavy, surpassing the limits of Qin Mu’s strength!

This was something that was impossible!

The black tiger god walked toward the mirror and said solemnly, “There are really no signs of Fu Riluo beside the altar. Did you really see him in the mirror?”

Qin Mu’s eyes were still staring at that mirror as if he couldn’t shift his gaze away. Beads of cold sweat rolled down his forehead. Even though the mirror had dropped on the ground, it hadn’t shattered. It stood upright in front of him as though an indescribable force held it there.

The black tiger good looked into the mirror, but there was still no Fu Riluo inside, only Qin Mu’s reflection.

The black tiger god’s heart trembled, and he hurriedly went to the other side and looked into Qin Mu’s eyes.

The youth was still staring at the mirror and with terror. In each of his eyes, there was a figure that was gradually growing bigger and bigger, filling his pupils!

In a bit, the black tiger god saw the appearance of that figure which had three faces. It was none other than the True Devil Commander of the devil race, Fu Riluo!

“Crap! Fu Riluo isn’t in the mirror, but in your eyes! You crossed gazes with him before!” The black tiger god’s expression changed drastically, and he hurriedly moved to smash the mirror. With the other hand, he grabbed Qin Mu. “Don’t look at the mirror! He’s borrowing your eyes and the reflection in the mirror to show himself!”

At this moment, a pair of black hands suddenly popped out from the mirror in front of Qin Mu and grabbed his shoulders. The youth instantly turned into a paper man and was dragged into the mirror.

The black tiger god had wanted to shatter the mirror, but stopped himself. He looked at his hand that was holding onto thin air.

He hurriedly turned the mirror around, but it was empty. Only the pair of black hands and Qin Mu were rapidly moving away, becoming smaller and smaller.

The black tiger god jumped toward the mirror, but just as he was about to enter, he heard a loud noise—the mirror had been shattered by him.

The black tiger god climbed up in a daze.

Yu He, Shu Yao, and the rest had been readying to face the enemies, but now they were too stunned by what had just happened. Yet they didn’t have the time to think and had to fight their enemy.

‘Fu Riluo had long wanted to seize junior brother. In Li City, he crossed gazes with Junior Brother Qin and planted the divine art of the devil path in his eyes…’

Cold sweat started rolling down the black tiger god’s forehead. Fu Riluo’s divine art of the devil path had to hide from terrifying existences like Saint Woodcutter and True God Pang Yu, so it should have had no power.

This meany that Fu Riluo had only imprinted his shadow in the depths of Qin Mu’s eyes. This shadow didn’t have any power, since it was the only way to hide it from the gods like Saint Woodcutter.

Only when Qin Mu stepped into the territory of the devils and absorbed devil qi would the shadow gain strength. It would grow, but it would still not be enough to capture the youth.

That was because the shadow was only an imprint in Qin Mu’s eyes, and Fu Riluo’s body within it was reversed. It was flipped horizontally when compared to the Fu Riluo in the real world and that included his five viscera and six bowels, the imprint of the divine arts, and even the smallest atom in his body.

Only when Qin Mu raised a mirror and looked at it that Fu Riluo in his eyes righted itself. He was then able to execute his divine arts and kidnap Qin Mu.

The moment the youth entered the devils’ territory and raised a mirror, he had activated Fu Riluo’s divine art.

‘If only I had realized it earlier…’ The sweat rolled down like rain over the tiger god’s forehead, and his eyelids were like two water screens. ‘It isn’t Junior Brother Qin that created trouble this time, but me… Now that I’ve lost Junior Brother Qin, how am I supposed to answer to my lord… I’m finished!’

Qin Mu looked around his new surroundings. He had appeared in a place that was desolate beyond imagination. There were several huge planets in the sky, but they were tattered, desolate, and lonely.

He was located in a huge swamp, standing on water. Flames floated in the distance, burning above the swamp’s ground layer.

He didn’t know where he was, but devil qi was lingering everywhere like fog.

“Fu Riluo!” Qin Mu shouted. “You are a senior that has captured me, so why aren’t you showing yourself?”

There was no sound in the surroundings as if he was the only living being around.

Qin Mu frowned and walked forward. A crisp sound rang out under his feet, and he lowered his head to look. He had stepped on a rotting corpse. From the clothing and body size, it should have been a devil that had died quite some time ago.

Somewhat stunned, Qin Mu looked at the swamp around himself. There were corpses floating everywhere, and they were all of the devils. There was no end to them, and they were even piled up in hills. Devil Fire burned, burning them as well as pieces of wood and straw huts. The latter probably came from collapsed houses.

There was no sun in the sky, only the broken planets.

Suddenly, fire snakes streaked through the air. Hundreds of them swarmed down. They were fragments of the broken planets the size of mountains fell straight at him!

Qin Mu wanted to dodge, but it was too late.

Boom!

Loud explosions rang out as terrifying flames pounced at his face like huge waves sweeping over with incomparably terrifying tornadoes, swallowing him up.

Qin Mu stood in the flames and the tornadoes, but he was not hurt at all. The terrifying waves washed over him again and again, but when they reached his body, they were stopped by a strange power.

The corpses in the swamp, however, had no such protection. They disintegrated in the devastating collision. The warped bodies turned into ashes and were blown away by the wind.

The swamp dried up in an instant, but before Qin Mu could even come back to his senses, he went into a daze. A broken planet had moved above his head and raised a terrifying tsunami.

Thunder-like explosions rang out in the sky, and a wave that was even higher than Mount Meru crashed toward him. The ground split open, and volcanoes rose up. They erupted and spewed out pillars of magma that connected heaven and earth.

Lightning flashed in the sky, and Qin Mu saw thousands of volcanoes and flaming pillars getting swept away by a huge wave. Even thunder and lightning were swallowed. The huge wave came crashing over, and it was a mighty force of heaven and earth that he could not defend against.

Qin Mu stood still and awaited his fate, but when the terrifying wave reached him, it was once again blocked by a strange power which tore it apart. He wasn’t injured at all.

The planet in the sky shifted back, and everything returned back to normal. Another vast swamp was formed, and who knew from where, broken bodies floated on the water surface once again.

‘Strange place…’

Qin Mu composed himself and walked forward. He knew that he had been taken away by Fu Riluo, but the devil god hadn’t killed him. Instead, he’d thrown him into this place.

He had to be planning something.

The youth’s speed was extremely fast, and he walked forward faster that he had never done before. During the journey, he experienced the terrifying meteorological phenomenon a few more times. There were floods, earthquakes, thunderstorms, volcanoes, fragments of planets recklessly destroying the world.

“Respectable king!” Suddenly, a devil god descended from the sky and bowed. “Respectable king, the sacrificial altar is built. Please give your command.”

Qin Mu was astonished by the devil god being extremely respectful to him. He didn’t seem able to see that he was a human.

“Okay,” Qin Mu replied vaguely. “Lead the way.”

The devil god did so, and not long later, they came to a huge community of cities. There were thousands of sacrificial altars that were like golden pyramids. Devil gods stood upright on them while countless devils knelt at the bottom of the stone steps, waiting to be sacrificed.

“Respectable king, our world can’t last much longer. Please give your command!”

The devil gods looked at him with fervent gazes, and Qin Mu nodded in a daze.

The countless devils kneeling on the stone steps raised their knives and cut their throats. Fresh blood instantly poured over the sacrificial altar.

Resounding voices rang out, speaking in the devil language. Qin Mu had learned it before and could understand what everyone was saying.

They were sacrificing and worshiping themselves to find a way for the later generations to survive. Their world was about to be destroyed, and they needed a new one to live in.

The towering pyramids became incomparably bright as pillars of light rushed into the sky and split it apart. They tore open the barrier of their world and another one, burning through the sky like a thin membrane.

It was shedding irregularly, and the other world gradually showed its true appearance.

Qin Mu raised his head to look and saw that it was… Supreme Emperor Heaven.

He lowered his head and looked at the water beneath his feet. In it, he could the reflection of his face.

The water showed three faces and sharps ears behind his head.

He was the ruler of this world about to die, the respectable king of the devil race—Fu Riluo.

Qin Mu raised his head and watched the incomparably magnificent yet sorrowful sight which was like a painting turning yellow and burning up.

The illusion was fading away.

Fu Riluo walked toward him while bathed in flames.