Tales of Herding Gods

Qi Jiuyi had a smile on his face, but his gaze was very cold. His aura reached its peak in that instant.

His fighting spirit overflowed into the sky.

For a very long time, for about two to three years, he had always been looking for a chance to be able to defeat Qin Mu perfectly!

He was a child favored by heaven, and he had the bloodline of Southern Heaven Red Deity. He was a young talent that possessed two Emperor’s Throne techniques, and he carried his dreams and ambitions to the lower bound. Yet when he had just arrived in the lower bound, he got beaten up by Qin Mu and Zhe Huali together!

Afterward, he was defeated by Qin Mu in a one on one match.

Suffering two defeats was extraordinary shameful and humiliating.

He had messed up Qin Mu’s Dao heart though, and it was a once in a lifetime opportunity!

He waited for the chance and created it!

“People who learn from me live. People who imitate me die.”

Qin Mu made the dragon qilin fall back and said seriously, “When experts fight, first aim for the heart. I’m skilled in striking on my opponent’s Dao heart after all. You, Zhe Huali, Xu Shenghua, and Grandmaster are all people who could live after experiencing my beat down. All of you are talents, and I’ve seen you guys grow. However, there’s one place where you’re wrong. When you didn’t make your move instantly and imitated the art of how I strike at the heart, you were doomed to lose. That’s because I’m even more skilled than you in this field.”

Flames poured out around Qi Jiuyi’s body and transformed into the apparition of a phoenix perching on an ancient parasol tree. He tried his best to not listen to his words and sneered. “Your techniques and divine arts will never be on par with the Emperor’s Throne technique of my Qi family. One great divine art of mine can fight three of your moves!”

The speed of his divine art execution became faster and faster, growing much quicker than before. It was obvious after Qin Mu defeated him that he had learned from his defeat and worked hard on cultivating, thus he had another astonishing improvement!

Emperor’s Throne technique was a profound mystery, and it was like the divine arts practitioners of Eternal Peace cultivating. The comprehension of every step required one to continuously grind and discern, entering the state of comprehension by opportunity and chance.

Even the saints that appeared once every five hundred years like Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor required dozens to a hundred years of his accumulation to comprehend his own Dao sword. He even needed the guidance from the previous Sword God Village Chief to enter the realm of the path in one go, achieving cultivation in the sword path that even Qin Mu had no hope of catching.

People who comprehended the realm of the path in Disabled Elderly Village like Butcher, Blind, and Deaf all had astonishing attainments in their own realm of the path.

That was something that they had worked on throughout their life, and they had experienced countless obstructions, torture, and setback. They were down on their luck their whole lives and only then could they reach the top in the realm of the path.

Even the setbacks faced by an ‘overlord body’ like Qin Mu were unimaginable when he was stepping into the gate of sword path.

First Ancestor Human Emperor shattered the bones in Hall of Human Emperors, destroying the ultimate arts of the past human emperors. He then beat Qin Mu up badly and beat him down in corporeal body, spirit, Dao heart, and skills and forced Qin Mu to kneel in the mud to look at Second Ancestor’s corpse being destroyed helplessly.

That fight had nearly crush Qin Mu entirely and only then was there teleporting to Supreme Emperor Heaven, fights on the battlefield, and comprehending the path in Li City. The blood, sweat, and tears behind his hard work were something others wouldn’t know.

Meanwhile, Qi Jiuyi who cultivated Emperor’s Throne technique lived in the celestial heavens and had the guidance of Southern Heaven Red Deity. He then learned under Mingdu Black Deity and cultivated two great Emperor’s Throne techniques.

Emperor’s Throne techniques were broad and deep, having an ability to allow people to comprehend the path and reach the top. There was no need for them to go through those kinds of hardships like Imperial Preceptor, Butcher and Blind had gone through. There was also no need to experience the setbacks they had experienced.

Qi Jiuyi’s cultivation was smooth sailing, but because of that, the kind of forcefully raised realm lacked very much.

Qi Jiuyi always thought he was invincible on the same realm and he could rank in the top ten. That was until he met Qin Mu, the country bumpkin that was rolling in the dirt of the lower bound.

After being defeated twice in the hands of Qin Mu, he realized he was lacking. The comprehension of the path that relied on an Emperor’s Throne technique wasn’t his, and it wasn’t as etched into his memory.

From that day onwards, he always walked on the path of his comprehension, and that was why he had improved so much.

On the ancient parasol tree behind him, a nine-headed phoenix flapped its wings to circle the parasol tree. In the phoenix’s nest, there was a phoenix egg that was breaking open. Another small nine-headed phoenix flapped its tender wings and started to drink the dew and absorb the phoenix flames to grow up quickly. It flapped its wings to fly up again.

Qin Mu raised his eyebrows, and in that short while, sixteen nine-headed phoenixes flew out of the nest. The phoenixes dragged along long and gorgeous feathers to fly around him. The nine-headed phoenixes cried out and gave off waves of clear Dao voices from their beaks.

He stood there, and in a radius of over ten miles, huge nine-headed phoenixes flew across one another and formed a marvelous formation.

In the formation, Qi Jiuyi stood opposite him with an ancient parasol tree behind him. The flaming tree behind him bloomed, and the flowers on the parasol tree were like small trumpets that were brightly colored. The clouds of flames that were floating among the branches were also bringing along a marvelous rhythm.

The youth below the tree had an aura that made people unable to approach him.

Qin Mu felt a slight regret. He shouldn’t have given Qi Jiuyi the time and chance to execute his great divine art. Qi Jiuyi was much much stronger than the previous time they had fought. By giving him that chance, he had landed into a passive situation.

It was obvious that Qi Jiuyi’s great divine art, Phoenix Perching on Parasol Tree, had entered another marvelous realm which had patched what he lacked.

Suddenly, the nine-headed phoenixes gave off incomparably sharp cries as they swooped towards Qin Mu!

At the same time, Qi Jiuyi slowly shifted under the tree, but his gaze always stared at Qin Mu who was being pounced on by the phoenixes.

Qin Mu stood on the original spot and didn’t move at all. Instead, he revealed a three-headed and six-armed form which defended against the nine-headed phoenixes that were swooping in all directions. What he had executed was First Ancestor Human Emperor’s Heaven and Earth Mudra Skills, and he blocked down the sixteen nine-headed phoenixes that were attacking him. He was unharmed.

Standing in between heaven and earth, First Ancestor Human Emperor’s mudra skills turned himself as the heart of heaven and earth, and it was the most effective method he had at that time.

Qi Jiuyi’s footsteps moved, and the mist behind him was vast. A nine-headed phoenix popped its head out from the mist and stared at Qin Mu to search for his opening.

The mudra skill in his hands was changing continuously and the divine art that had formed the ancient parasol tree was also having slight changes. He was calculating the opening in Qin Mu’s moves and divine art.

Suddenly, Qi Jiuyi’s eyes lit up, and he drew a circle with his right hand. The mudra on his left hand penetrated through the circle and smacked towards Qin Mu.

And at that moment, sixteen nine-headed phoenixes pounced at Qin Mu to drown him out!

How intense were the attacks from sixteen nine-headed phoenixes?

In an instant, the feathers of the nine phoenixes were like swords, the phoenix claws were like hooks, the phoenix beaks were like spears, and they were like tens of thousands of spirit weapons attacking Qin Mu at the same time. In addition to that, incomparably intense phoenix flames were incinerating everything. Where Qin Mu stood was like a sea of fire and also the center of a world-shaking explosion!

The terrifying air currents swept in all directions. Where the air currents flowed past, mountain rocks floated in the sky before shattering, melting and finally vaporizing. The flames formed a circular ring that gave off an incomparably bright light which flooded into the surroundings. It swept everything in its path, and its power only drop after expanding fifty miles!

In the explosion, incomparably bright sword lights suddenly appeared and pierced through the heads of the phoenixes, slashing across their necks, shaving off their wings, chopping off the phoenix feathers and hacking away the phoenix claws!

“Brother Qin, your great divine art is already released, you’re no longer my match!”

Qi Jiuyi laughed loudly, and his palm force pierced through the center of the explosion, going straight for the back of Qin Mu’s heart.

Qin Mu turned his head back and struck out with his palm. He was still a hundred yards away when both of their palm force exploded!

Qi Jiuyi’s palm force was like Bridge of Phoenix Feathers, and countless phoenix feathers that were like swords formed a bridge. The speed of the sword feathers stabbing forward was too fast and as a result, gave off the illusion of a flying bridge.

Qin Mu’s palm force formed a path of crystals which struck Qi Jiuyi’s palm force. The force spat out countless crystals which grew and expanded out in all directions. The structures of the crystals were as different as they could be, and the flames inside the crystals suddenly burst forth.

That was the heavenly fire and a divine art from the Great Dao of Heavenly Fire. It was a fire that was even more terrifying that phoenix fire and it just incinerated the terrifying power that was hidden inside Qi Jiuyi’s sword feathers as it rushed straight at Qi Jiuyi.

Qi Jiuyi’s expression changed drastically, and the ancient parasol tree behind him floated forward. Hugging the ancient parasol tree with both arms, he bellowed and used the ancient parasol tree as a weapon to smash down on the Great Dao of Heavenly Fire!

Boom—

The palm force of the two people collided with the ancient tree and even though its power wasn’t as terrifying, exploding in a small area caused its power to be a cut higher!

The mountain rock below their feet completely melted and the power of both their divine arts pressured down on them until they were incomparably heavy.

The dragon qilin looked at the battle from far away and carried a huge sword pellet on his back. He thought to himself, ‘Cult Master doesn’t have a spirit weapon on hand, he’s probably going to be at a disadvantage… This sword pellet is too heavy, should I put it down first?’

As he thought until there, a world-shattering explosion rang out, and the ground trembled continuously. Next, Qin Mu and Qi Jiuyi’s body vanished.

When the aftershock from their clash had dissipated, the dragon qilin immediately saw a huge pit. The huge hole roughly had a radius if three hundred yards, and it was so deep that he couldn’t see the bottom couldn’t.

The dragon qilin immediately ran over and popped his head over the hole to look down.

He saw that the huge hole didn’t look like it was blown out from their divine arts. Instead, the center of the underground was empty as though it had crumbled from their stomp.

‘This looks like the underground space of God Broken Mountain Range, there are still chains there, and a long knife sealed there…’

The dragon qilin pondered and he walked into the underground space unwillingly. When they were attacking High Heavens, Qin Mu and the rest had discovered all kinds of unbelievable sights in the underground space of God Broken Mountain Range.

The underground space of God Broken Mountain Range was peculiar and not only was there a long knife stretching across from south to north, but there was also a shrine and chains that were suppressing the long knife.

What was even weirder was there seemed to be a stone statue from Eternal Peace that had tunneled its way there, and in the end, its head got stuck under the long knife. Furthermore, Imperial Preceptor also used Earthquake Cauldron to shatter the space, and as a result, the vision of being connected with another devil world had appeared.

The strangest thing about the knife was that the line was exactly the line of separation between the Great Ruins and Eternal Peace.

‘This concerns my meals. I can’t not go, in case Cult Master meets danger.’

The dragon qilin jumped down, and qilin flames floated out from his feet to lift him up. He flew into the underground space.

In the space underground, incomparably thick and huge chains were locked onto that astonishing long knife. Looking down at the blade, the head of one majestic god was stuck on the blade.

Not far away, there was also a shrine floating under the blade.

The dragon qilin looked around, and he finally found both of them. They were standing on the surface of the knife and chasing after each other’s life.

The surface of the knife was as bright a mirror, and no flaws could be seen. Both of their figures reflected on the body of the knife, and they were extremely clean. It was like there were two Qin Mu and two Qi Jiuyu fighting.

The surface of the knife was so smooth, and both of them were like reflections in the water. Even though their battle was very intense, there was no ripple on the surface of the knife at all.

Qi Jiuyi revealed his body of the nine-headed phoenix. He had a human body and nine phoenix heads while Qin Mu had three heads and six arms. Each had their own unique points, and as they were fighting close quarters, their divine arts were different from the collision before. Each strike hit true to the corporeal body, and they were pounding each other up.

Suddenly, the dragon qilin noticed something strange. The knife no longer reflected their figures, and instead, it reflected a nine-headed phoenix and Qin Mu’s primordial spirit!

Qin Mu and Qi Jiuyi’s primordial spirits got sucked into the divine knife unknowingly, and they were fighting inside the knife!

‘I knew this place was extremely strange…’

The dragon qilin rushed forward and was planning to rescue Qin Mu. Suddenly, he lowered his head and saw the surface of the knife and was slightly stunned. There was another dragon qilin in the clear mirror, and it looked imposing and strong.

The dragon qilin’s felt his blood run cold because he was looking at the corporeal body through his primordial spirit!

‘My primordial spirit has also been pulled into the mirror!’

The four legs of the dragon qilin pushed around, and it felt as if he had stepped on the mirror surface, yet it also felt as if he wasn’t stepping on anything. He was filled with fear.

“It’s haunted—”

Before he could finish, both Qi Jiuyi coughed up blood and tumbled several rounds as he came crashing over, landing at the dragon qilin’s feet. One landed in front of the true body of the dragon qilin while another landed in front of the primordial spirit of the dragon qilin.

The dragon qilin raised his head and saw two Qin Mu that reflected each other walking over. He stopped in front of Qi Jiuyi who had collapsed and couldn’t get up.