Tales of Herding Gods

The clone of Heaven Duke and Lava Earth Count were still silent. At one side, Old Buddha and Crimson Emperor sat beside the stone table and drank their tea leisurely. They would raise their heads once in a while and looked over with beaming faces.

Great Sun Sovereign sat obediently at one side and lowered his head to look at his tea. His beak would spew out a small wisp of flame from time to time as he muttered, “I don’t know anything, I died early and because I knew too much, I got shot in the back…”

The white-bearded elder coughed repeatedly and looked at Earth Count. He then looked at Qin Mu and couldn’t resist saying, “Son of Qin, let me discuss with Earth Count first.”

Qin Mu nodded his head gently.

Heaven Duke and Earth Count walked further away to avoid them and they whispered to each other.

Earth Count said, “You are more knowledgable, you say.”

Heaven Duke said, “Everyone who dies goes to you, you know the most.”

Earth Count didn’t reply to him.

Heaven Duke was helpless and he could only say, “Just now that girl called Yan Qiling has already warned this kid to be wary of us, she trying to sow discord. If we don’t reveal some secrets, this kid will definitely hold a grudge against us.”

Earth Count said with a muffled voice, “I don’t know much.”

Heaven Duke smiled from anger. “You have already done it and you still don’t know much? Do you believe I’ll pour out everything you have done? In this current world, Primordial Realm’s seal has been undone and even a fake Mother Earth has popped out. Heaven Duke, Celestial Heavens, and even Celestial Emperor from the past, they are coming out one by one. This shows that the world is going to plunge into chaos and they are going to reap the benefits! Do you think we can protect our Youdu and Xuandu?”

Earth Count was silent for a moment. “I agree to let him know some secrets but we can’t say everything that’s related to us.”

Only then did Heaven Duke let out a sigh. “You say or I say?”

“I’m more tight-lipped, let me say,” said Earth Count.

Both of them returned and Qin Mu looked at them in anticipation.

Beside the stone table, Old Buddha and Crimson Emperor couldn’t help perking up their ears in anticipation as well.

Great Sun Sovereign was originally afraid to listen and had planned to leave but he was truly curious so he braced himself to stay. ‘I’ve already died once so what am I afraid of?”

In the distance, big-headed baby Qin Fengqing crawled out of Qin word mountain range and his ears suddenly became incomparably huge. It was even larger than the mountains when placed upright as he tried to listen to them.

Heaven Duke coughed and didn’t say a word. He looked at Lava Earth Count and he only spoke after a long silence. He said calmly, “Celestial Emperor of Dragon Han Celestial Heavens is indeed dead.”

Qin Mu’s heart trembled violently and he looked at him in anticipation.

In the distance, the big-headed baby’s voice rang out. “Big Earth Count, where can I eat Celestial Emperor’s soul? Did you hide him? I know you hide a lot of good stuff!”

Earth Count looked at everyone’s eyes that were filled with anticipation and hesitated. “That is all. Heaven Duke, my lips are too tight, I don’t know what I should say. I’m afraid of being trick by their words, I think you should do it.”

Qin Mu was suspicious and he looked at that white-bearded elder in anticipation.

Heaven Duke’s felt his head aching and he laughed from anger. “You are not tight-lipped, you just want me to say! Alright, I’ll do it! Celestial Emperor of Dragon Han Era was murdered when he reincarnated to marry a woman!”

Old Buddha spurted a mouthful of tea on the face of Great Sun Sovereign who was sitting opposite him. Great Sun Sovereign was in a daze. He couldn’t care about wiping the water on his face as he was just a lump of primordial spirit that was scorching hot. The tea vaporized from his face and turned into steam that rose in spirals.

The three heads of Crimson Emperor’s consciousness stared with his eyes wide open and he seemed to be at a loss.

Qin Mu stuttered, “C-C-Celestial Emperor had died when he reincarnated to marry a woman? Was it Celestial Empress’s younger sister?”

“No.”

Heaven Duke sighed and said, “His Majesty is wise and strong, his resourcefulness is also outstanding. Earth Count, Mother Earth, me and anyone else can’t defeat him and we all have a weakness that is in his grasp. As the first lifeform in the universe, his abilities are high and his methods are outstanding, full of admiration of him. However, he has a weakness and that is lecherous.”

Earth Count gave a cough.

Heaven Duke was unhappy and said, “This can be said, it’s fine. Anyway, when the celestial heavens was established, Celestial Venerable Mu was around as well, he knows some inside information so he should have saw through His Majesty’s character.”

Qin Mu had a weird expression and said, “I know Celestial Emperor had reincarnated once just to sleep with Celestial Empress’s sister, it was that reincarnation where Celestial Venerable Hao was born. I don’t know what had happened after.”

Heaven Duke continued. “After Celestial Venerable Yu’s death, the whole incident blew up and the races after the beginning were furious. They made a racket about wanting Celestial Venerable Hao to be executed and even a few celestial venerables had wanted to assassinate Celestial Venerable Hao. To protect Celestial Venerable Hao, Celestial Emperor married that goddess officially and finally got his wish. As a result, Celestial Venerable Hao also became the son of the emperor so no one dared to touch him.”

Qin Mu stared with his eyes wide open and he cried out, “Celestial Emperor married Celestial Empress and her sister?”

Earth Count gave a heavy cough.

“It’s fine, it’s fine, this can be said as well. Stop coughing to interrupt me.”

Heaven Duke said, “People usually says that ancient gods are impartial, this is actually wrong. Ancient gods aren’t impartial, the Great Dao that gives birth to the ancient gods are impartial, thus, ancient gods usually have to follow the Great Dao and carry out the instruction of the Dao. Ancient gods actually have their own selfishness. For example, numerous ancient gods had tried to reincarnate to escape the restraints of the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth, giving birth to their children. Some ancient gods even give birth to numerous sons and daughters with races after the beginning to satisfy their temporary desire, forming the half-god race. There are even some half-gods that were born from ancient god and ancient god…”

Earth Count coughed repeatedly and warned him, “Dao friend, why are you saying these? You are spoiling the image of ancient gods. Just tell him the important matters.”

Heaven Duke paid no mind to him and said, “Ever since I came to this seal, I’m being beaten by Son of Youdu every day, I no longer have any image. It’s fine to talk about this, it concerns what I’m going to say afterward anyway. If I don’t clarify, this kid is still going to ask and I will still have to say.”

Lava Earth Count said with a muffled voice, “Know the limits, don’t keep learning from Great Sun Sovereign.”

Great Sun Sovereign nodded and said, “I didn’t know my mouth was big until I got shot in the back…”

Heaven Duke continued to say, “His Majesty is very scheming and we, the ancient gods, can’t defeat him. When the celestial heavens was established in Dragon Han Era, we, the heads of these ancient gods, elected him to become the celestial emperor, we were all in support of this. Back then, what we were thinking was with the increasing population of the races after the beginning and the half-gods, we needed to have rules to restrain these lifeforms from killing each other every day. Never would we expect Celestial Emperor to be too forceful and scheming. We treated him as a Dao friend but he treated us like his subjects.”

Qin Mu’s heart stirred slightly and he remembered Ah Chou who he had seen in Slaughter Cauldron.

Heaven Duke said, “He basically had all of the weakness of the ancient gods. Earth Count has a weakness in his hands, Mother Earth has one, and even I also have one. We were old brothers, old friends, who can defeat him? Hehe, who is not in his firm grasp? No matter if it’s Yuandu, Youdu or even my Xuandu, there are many people planted by him and yet we can’t see the celestial heavens.”

Qin Mu nodded as he recalled Celestial Venerable Yu’s experience and what he had heard in Slaughter Cauldron.

Celestial Emperor was scheming. No matter which ancient god it was, they were no match for him.

The position of Celestial Emperor would only become more and more stable, continuing to last forever.

And yet this emperor was still dead.

“Actually, when after Celestial Venerable Mu had left Dragon Han Era, half-gods and the races began to develop rapidly and numerous strong existences were born. Half-gods and the races were improving and yet ancient gods found it hard to progress. Ancient gods couldn’t learn other path, skills and divine arts outside of their own Dao and they could only research their own Dao to improve themselves.”

Heaven Duke sighed and said, “When half-gods and the lifeforms no longer age or die, their respect and admiration for ancient gods gradually faded. Old Buddha is one of the talents of that time and yet Old Buddha wasn’t the most outstanding one among the half-gods and lifeforms.”

Brahma Buddha nodded his head. “Every one of the seven celestial venerables surpassed me by leaps and bounds.”

“Old Buddha, you need not put yourself down, you are only slightly inferior.”

Heaven Duke consoled him and continued to say, “Celestial Emperor was rather afraid of the human race among all of the other lifeforms after the beginning and he was also quite afraid of the talented half-gods, so he was even more on guard against his sons and daughters. This resulted in him creating many strifes which exhausted the power of the half-gods and lifeforms. He even silently allowed the half-gods and the humans to create a small celestial heavens each and see them fight each other. Crown Prince Wuqi’s power was huge back then and so His Majesty purposely gave him a chance to rebel, taking the chance to execute him. After Crown Prince Wuqi had died, Celestial Emperor still didn’t let him off and conferred him the surname Xie after he died. He was called Xie Wuqi and was suppressed in Youdu.”

Qin Mu’s heart stirred. “Xie Wuqi? I had met him in Jade Lock Pass!”

Heaven Duke said, “I originally didn’t know about this, I only know Xie Wuqi rebelled and was killed, the rest of the information was said to me by the little bird. Only until recently did I know that it was Celestial Emperor that had purposely given Xie Wuqi the chance to rebel so he could kill him.”

Great Sun Sovereign shrunk back his neck and he had a look of regret.

Heaven Duke said, “The human race and the half-gods fought and his children didn’t dare to rebel, the weakness of all ancient gods were also in his hands, the world was in his hands. In that era, no one could fight against him, not in the past, not in the present and also not in the future.”

“And yet he still died.” Qin Mu’s gaze twinkled.

Heaven Duke was silent for a moment. “The little bird said he had died early but this was untrue. Celestial Emperor had actually died ahead of you.”

Great Sun Sovereign’s feather exploded and he cried out. “Impossible! I had gone to attack Celestial Emperor Yun on his orders and got shot in the back by an arrow. I have the decree of Celestial Emperor, this is impossible!”

Heaven Duke gave a long sigh and said, “Your death was what happened afterward. When the half-gods and the human race were fighting each other, a beauty appeared in Yuandu, she was simply too beautiful that I couldn’t resist laying my eyes on her as well. Her name is Jue Wuchen, she was flawless and wasn’t tainted by even a speck of dust. Her beauty had even moved my heart…”

Qin Mu looked at him with a weird expression.

Old Buddha and Crimson Emperor also had weird expressions.

Heaven Duke paused for a moment before continuing. “And so, Celestial Emperor reincarnated. He naturally dared to reincarnate but this time, he had reincarnate secretly so no one knew who he had reincarnated into, where he had reincarnated to, and what race he had become. Until one day, a celestial venerable from the human race came to Xuandu to find me…”

Qin Mu became nervous. “Which celestial venerable?”

Heaven Duke fell silent but he still continued. “Celestial Venerable Yun, at that time, he was already Celestial Emperor Yun of Heaven Han Celestial Heavens, furthermore, he is also the leader of Heaven Alliance.”

Qin Mu’s body trembled violently and his eyes lost focus.

“Celestial Venerable Yun came to find me and he told me he could solve the situation of us being in Celestial Emperor’s grasp. As long as on a certain month and day, I just had to look and not interfere.”

Heaven Duke said, “I don’t know what he wants to do but I agreed. And at that time, another celestial venerable came to Youdu and found Earth Count.”

He looked at Earth Count and said, “Can Dao friend still remember which celestial venerable had gone to visit Dao friend?”

Earth Count said, “Of course I remember. The leader of the half-gods, Celestial Venerable Hao came to find me. He told me on a certain month and day, I just need to look at what’s happening in Yuandu, I don’t have to interfere and that would solve the crisis of Youdu. I agreed.”

Heaven Duke said, “Back then, Celestial Venerable Hao was Celestial Emperor Hao of Dragon Heaven Celestial Heavens.”

Qin Mu was at a loss and he muttered, “Celestial Venerable Hao, Celestial Venerable Yun, why are they together? Aren’t they life and death enemies? One of them represents the half-gods and one of them represents the lifeforms after the beginning, shouldn’t they be fighting each other to the death?”

“This was also something that I couldn’t understand no matter how much I think, it’s also what terrifies me the most.”

Heaven Duke revealed a blank and terrified look as he lowered his voice. “After that, when it came to that day, the attack commenced. The first to strike was Jue Wuchen, then it was Celestial Venerable Yun and Celestial Venerable Hao who led the strong practitioners of the various races. Only then did I knew that the person they wanted to kill was Celestial Emperor. Due to my promise, I didn’t interfere. Furthermore, I was also afraid of Celestial Emperor and hope that he would die. Dao Friend Earth Count also didn’t make a move…”

Qin Mu shook his head and his hands were cold. He asked softly, “There’s also Mother Earth. Mother Earth, did she…”

“She also looked and didn’t make a move.”

Heaven Duke’s gaze was slightly peculiar as he lowered his voice again. “Mother Earth even sealed the sky of Yuandu and the leaves of Primordial Tree blocked the sky, causing the celestial heavens to be unable to see what was happening there.”