Tales of Herding Gods

Qi Jiuyi slid down the wall, and the astonishment on his face still couldn’t be wiped off. He stared at the huge head that had popped out from the door.

It was a head that had a human face and yet two strange mountain goat’s horns. There was a tuff of mountain goat bead under his chin, and his mouth reeked of alcohol. He burped and looked at them curiously.

Qin Mu said courteously, “Senior, we are from Eternal Peace and have entered this place by mistake, alarming senior. May I ask senior, how can we get out of this place?”

The goat-horned man covered up his shirt and walked out from the door. He was much taller than Qin Mu and Qi Jiuyi, and even taller than the dragon qilin. With a solemn expression, he lowered his head and examined them. His gaze fell on the dragon qilin, and he swallowed his saliva. “It’s been so long since I’ve eaten meat, it’s a pity you guys are primordial spirits and there’s no flesh… You’re from Eternal Peace? What kind of place is Eternal Peace?”

From his outfit, he wasn’t someone from the current times. He wore the outfit of an ancient era.

The vein lines of his lean muscles weren’t as sturdy as the green bull, but it gave people a feeling that he was capable and experienced—a terrifying feeling of threat.

Furthermore, he wasn’t a mountain goat that had turned intelligent. From the swirly markings of all sizes on his body, he should have been a primordial spirit of a god. However, his primordial spirit had already cultivated into a physical state. They didn’t know if he was the primordial spirit that was guarding the knife.

Cultivating one’s primordial spirit to a physical state was no ordinary feat, and it was obvious his cultivation was extremely high.

Qin Mu asked suspiciously, “Is senior a person from Founding Emperor Era? In that case, do you know about the Great Ruins?”

“The Great Ruins? Of course, I know. Founding Emperor ordered me to use the divine knife to slash one corner of Youdu and used it to construct. Founding Emperor said to cleave out a small Fengdu world that is about the size of the Great Ruins.”

That goat-horned man let out a breath reeking of alcohol and asked, “Where is Eternal Peace? What year is it?”

“Senior is the creator of Fengdu?”

Qin Mu’s mind trembled violently, and he hurriedly said, “Eternal Peace is on the east of the Great Ruins, and Founding Emperor Era already ended twenty thousand years ago. Eight hundred years ago, Eternal Peace was founded, and now we are in the midst of reform. Senior is a god under…”

The goat-horned man seemed to be slightly intoxicated, and he muttered, “Founding Emperor Era already ended twenty thousand years ago? Hehe, it’s no wonder too, I think I’ve already been here for seven to eight million years… I’m under Founding Emperor, Heavenly Emperor Stars Left Assistant Minister, my surname is Tian, and my name is Shu. However, you wouldn’t know me anyway.”

He turned around and returned to his room to take out a big wine jar. He raised his head and started gulping down the wine.

Only then did Qin Mu notice that his legs weren’t human legs as well. Instead, they were bent goat legs that grew a pair of hooves. Because his stature was very tall, his hooves were very big as well.

“Founding Emperor Celestial Heavens? Heavenly Emperor Stars Left Assistant Minister?”

Qi Jiuyi’s expression changed slightly, and he thought to himself, ‘A remaining survivor of the fake dynasty!’

Qin Mu was puzzled. “Senior, you are also in a primordial spirit form, right? Could it be that you aren’t actually here? Where could your corporeal body be?”

Tian Shu drank a big mouthful of that jar of fine wine and just shattered the wine jar. Qin Mu immediately noticed that after the wine jar shattered, it returned to normal quickly and there was actually a jar full of fine wine which was giving off a nice fragrance.

The wine jar flew through the sky and returned into the room.

“It’s hard to say with a few words.”

Tian Shu’s expression dimmed, and he returned into the room to take some wine. While being slightly intoxicated, he asked, “You are a descendant of Founding Emperor, am I right? I can feel Founding Emperor’s bloodline on you, and your appearance is also slightly similar to him. That little chicken you brought along should be the nine-headed phoenix race of that so-called celestial heavens. Hehe, Southern Heaven Red Deity Qi Xiayu is pretty remarkable eh, she just had to like Li Youran that rascal…”

He raised his head to drink again before smashing the broken jar. Only then did he continued his story. “Back then, when Founding Emperor was creating the divine knife, he had conferred to me the title of God of Knife. I could enter and exit Youdu freely, so I was to cleave a portion of Youdu to forge Fengdu and thus, I chopped off a small chunk of Earth Count’s horn. Founding Emperor wanted to go Carefree Village, so he ordered me to stay guard at the Imperial Gate to prevent the darkness of the Great Ruins from invading other places, which is the Eternal Peace you had mentioned.”

Qin Mu blinked his eyes and looked at Qi Jiuyi.

Qi Jiuyi was bewildered, and it was obvious he didn’t know about the secret either.

‘Should I kill Brother Qi to silence him?’ Qin Mu thought while wearing a smile on his face.

Left Assistant Minister Tian Shu sighed and said, “However, I have a problem, and that is I like to drink. Without wine, I’m unhappy. When I was on guard here, I always wanted to drink, yet I couldn’t find the face to leave and search for wine. One day, my old rival, which is the Left Assistant Minister of the celestial heavens called Yan Shaoqing. That bad guy wanted to gamble with me, and the prize was a wine that couldn’t be finished. This fellow was hard to deal with usually, and yet he lost to me. This guy was truly bad as he used some method to hide the fine wine in Imperial Gate Divine Knife before leaving with a chuckle. I clearly knew it was a trap, yet I couldn’t control my mouth. When I can’t control my mouth, I can’t control my head as well.”

Qin Mu took a glance at the dragon qilin and said, “I understand this feeling of senior very well.”

“You also like to drink?”

Tian Shu shook his head and said, “You probably don’t like drinking, when you saw the wine, you had no desire. I couldn’t sit still and kept wanting to enter Imperial Gate Divine Knife to take out the wine to have a good drink. However, I also knew the Imperial Gate Divine Knife was very powerful, and it could swallow the primordial spirit of a person. I’m only a knife bearer and not the person who made the knife, even if I’m not careful, my primordial spirit would also fall into the knife and be unable to break free. However, I really couldn’t resist any longer, and I felt since I had controlled the knife for quite a long period of time, I might just be able to return to my own body after taking the wine out…”

The dragon qilin couldn’t resist asking, “What next?”

Tian Shu sighed and said, “And then I couldn’t return any longer. That Scoundrel Yan Shaoqing was right; I can never finish this wine…”

The shattered jar on the ground recovered, and it was still full of wine.

“I’ve been drinking here for seven to eight million years, yet I can never finish, and I can never walk out.”

Tian Shu said, “The three of you have come at just the right timing, we can drink together.”

Qin Mu and Qi Jiuyi’s heart were full of despair. If Tian Shu had stayed in Imperial Gate Divine Knife for eight million years without being able to get out, they naturally couldn’t get out as well!

Were they going to be trapped in the divine knife and be unable to break free forever?

Qi Jiuyi opened a door with trembling hands and saw wine jars piled up inside. He opened another door, and there were still more wine jars. More and more doors were opened up by him and inside every single one of them was filled with fine wine!

Qi Jiuyi sprinted forward frantically and could never see the end of the long corridor no matter how much he ran!

On both sides of the corridor, the countless rooms were stacked full with wine jars!

After a long while, he laid down disappointedly against the wall and was silent for quite some time. He got up quietly and opened a door to take out a jar of fine wine to drink heartily. Not long later, he was completely drunk.

And the wine jar in his hand, no matter how much he drank, the wine never reduced.

“Senior, there are people whose primordial spirits entered Imperial Gate Divine Knife by mistake, yet they had managed to escape.”

Qin Mu’s gaze flickered, and he asked, “Does senior knows about this?”

“What you are saying happened two thousand years ago.”

Tian Shu drank up and wiped off the droplets of wine that were hanging down his mountain goat beard. “At that time, I felt Imperial Gate Divine Knife had actually connected to the outside world, but I was so drunk that when I came back to my senses and wanted to escape, it was already too late.”

Qin Mu was stunned. ‘Two thousand years ago? Granny Si and the rest had their primordial spirits trapped in the divine knife five years ago. This means that one day outside is one year over here, which also means that Qi Jiuyi and my primordial spirit has only been trapped in Imperial Gate Divine Knife for two days. Our corporeal bodies are still not yet died.”

His spirit was greatly aroused. He had run with Qi Jiuyi for over two years inside the knife, and even Qin Mu thought his own corporeal body would have died. Never did he expect only two days passed.

‘As long as my corporeal body doesn’t die, there’s hope!’

Qin Mu’s eyes lit up, and he said solemnly, “Senior, after controlling Imperial Gate for so long, you definitely know how to execute Imperial Gate, am I right? You should know the internal formation structures and rune structures of Imperial Gate Divine Knife in and out as well. As long as you know the internal formation structures, we can try to solve…”

“No!”

Tian Shu shook his head. “You’ve guessed wrong. Even though I’m able to control this divine knife, I know nothing about the rune structures and formation structures inside. The reason why I could be the knife bearer is because of my unique constitution. I can enter Youdu. This divine knife was personally designed by Founding Emperor and used to sever the horns on Earth Count’s head. How huge are the horns of Earth Count? How powerful are the horns of Earth Count? Founding Emperor personally designed this knife to sever his horn; this shows how profound the formations and runes in this knife are.”

Qin Mu frowned.

Tian Shu continued to say, “And the person that refined this knife was the most powerful heavenly worker in Founding Emperor God Dynasty. It’s the person that I had told you about earlier, that Li Youran that had a thing with Red Deity Qi Xiayu. This fellow is handsome and is loved by all…”

“What you mean is that the person who had forge Imperial Gate Divine Knife is Sakra Buddha?” Qin Mu was astonished and delighted. He hurriedly asked.

“It’s Li Youran. Who is Sakra Buddha?” Tian Shu was puzzled.

Qin Mu was delighted and paced around in the long corridor. He said with a smile, “Sakra Buddha is none other than Li Youran! Li Youran is his layperson’s name. To avoid his debts in the relationship, he left home to become a monk! Since he refined imperial Gate Divine Knife, we might still have a chance; I’ve learned his technique before…”

Tian Shu originally had a look of anticipation, but he was slightly disappointed when he heard what Qin Mu said. “So you’re thinking about that, I’ll advise you to stop wasting your time. Over here, even if you have the greatest divine art, you can’t execute it. Founding Emporer designed the runes here, and no one can escape, otherwise, how could I have severed the horn of Earth Count?”

He revealed a look of excitement. “Back then, I had wielded this knife and barged into Youdu, chopping down a chunk of Earth Count’s horn! You didn’t see that angered and astonished look in Earth Count’s eyes, kekeke… My life is truly worth it; it was truly worth it!”

Qin Mu paced to and fro while recalling Sakra Scripture that Sakra Buddha had imparted to him. There were indeed numerous things that didn’t belong to Buddhism, and in the past, Qin Mu had only learned the battle techniques and didn’t comprehend the other things at all. Browsing it in detail, only then did he notice there were numerous marvels of forging hidden in Sakra Buddha’s technique.

He comprehended diligently and another half a year had passed by unknowingly.

Tian Shu found Qi Jiuyi, and he raised the kid by the leg to drag him back. Both of them sat down and started to drink with each other until they were dead drunk. The dragon qilin also joined them and was crying and laughing, clamoring to become sworn brother with Qi Jiuyi and Tian Shu.

Just when Qin Mu comprehended what he needed, he heard sounds of kowtow coming out. He saw the dragon qilin, Qi Jiuyi, and Tian Shu kneeling over there and kowtowing to a wine jar seriously, becoming sworn brothers that had different surnames and breed.

“We ask not the same day of birth, but we seek to die together!” said the three of them in unison.

Qin Mu shook his head and coughed. “I’ve thought of a way to leave this place.”

The three of them turned to look at him.

Qin Mu said, “From Sakra Buddha’s technique, I’ve found a small flaw, and from this flaw in his technique, I will be able to find the flaw which he had left behind after forging this divine weapon. This Imperial Gate Divine Knife isn’t completely flawless, as long as we find the correct spot, I will be able to unleash Gate of Heaven Influence, and we will be able to escape into Youdu. We can then escape into Youdu and return to the world of the living from Youdu, returning to our corporeal bodies!”

Tian Shu tugged on his mountain gate beard and cried out, “Escape into Youdu? Wouldn’t that mean I have to face Earth Count? I’m not going! Earth Count will eat me. I’m not going!”

Qin Mu said patiently, “Senior Tian, I still have some face in front of Earth Count. If I come forth to mediate, I can definitely help both of you bury the hatchet. Senior, don’t worry, put your heart at ease…”