Tales of Herding Gods

Qin Mu was spooked. This consciousness came from the creation divine stone that was in his third divine eye!

Just as he was setting up the runes of the star gods’ Great Dao, he was detected by the master of creation from prehistory that was residing in the divine stone!

He originally thought that he could unhurriedly set up the formation, he didn’t expect the master of creation to be so vigilant.

Qin Mu decisively produced cold sweat on his forehead and roused his qi and blood to make his heart beat violently, making it clear that he was in a state of fear. His voice trembled as he said, “Who is it that’s in my head?”

Half of the cold sweat on his forehead was real, while the other half was fake. Actually, he was a bit frightened. He didn’t expect this master of creation to detect him since he was extremely careful.

As for rousing his qi and blood to cause his heart to beat violently, that was fake. He wasn’t yet at that kind of unbearable stage.

The mysterious consciousness that appeared in his mind fell silent before it rippled and said, “You don’t have to be so guarded and deliberate. Earlier, I did harbor thoughts of harming you. However, after witnessing your methods, I feel that they are frank and above board. Let us have a good talk. Who knows, maybe we can work out a better ending than fighting each other to death.”

Qin Mu’s qi and blood returned to normal, and his heart stopped beating violently. Then, his consciousness rippled, and he said, “Senior, you seem to understand my language?”

“I don’t understand.”

That consciousness said, “I was just relying on consciousness to talk to you. When our two consciousnesses collide, we can understand each other without using language. Little friend, I was in the wrong earlier, I shouldn’t have secretly attacked you. Also, there’s no need for you to secretly attack me. Let’s cooperate and work out a win-win situation!”

Qin Mu’s spirit embryo wildly mobilized his vital qi and continued to imprint his third divine eye, forming the imprint of the second star god before immediately moving on to the third star god.

“Senior, you must be joking. Right now, you have the means to deal with me, while I can’t deal with you. How can we work together to create a win-win situation?”

Qin Mu’s consciousness rippled, continuing to imprint as he laughed. “Senior, earlier, you took away almost all of my qi, blood, and vital qi, nearly killing me. It’s possible for us to work together, but I need to be able to protect myself before we talk about cooperating. Senior, how do I address you?”

The consciousness said, “I am called Shu Jun, I used to be Fangbo Country’s… Forget it, my race has been exterminated, there’s no need to speak of my identity from when I was alive. Little friend, even if you set everything up properly, there’s nothing you can do to me.”

Qin Mu continued setting up the formation and said, “Although I may not be able to do anything, at least this will make me feel better.”

He purposely removed some of the runes of the star gods’ Great Dao and created all sorts of flaws, making this master of creation from prehistory think that he wouldn’t be able to deal with him.

As long as he set up the runes of the 360 star gods’ Great Dao, he could complete the final step in the blink of an eye and seize the initiative!

The consciousness of Shu Jun allowed him to continue, saying, “All I want is to return to life, I have no evil intentions. If you lend me some qi, blood, and consciousness to help me resurrect, I can give you this Grand Primordium Origin Stone. Do you know how this piece of Grand Primordium Origin Stone came about? This is a divine stone from the early years of the ancient primordial era. We searched the universe and only managed to find a piece, but it was taken away by the remaining survivors of the Grand Emperor race.”

Qin Mu gave a sound of acknowledgment, not caring whether this divine stone was the creation divine stone or the Grand Primordium Origin Stone. He then laughed. “This piece of rock is mine. It was given to me by my big senior brother.”

Shu Jun was quiet for a while before answering, “In this world, there are two types of divine stone. One is the Grand Primordium Divine Stone, the other is the Grand Primordium Origin Stone. The Grand Primordium Divine Stone is an ordinary hexagon-shaped crystal that can strengthen consciousness. The Grand Primordium Origin Stone’s powers are much stronger! I can teach you how to utilize the power of the Grand Primordium Origin Stone, allowing you to control a power as strong as the one Grand Emperor had!”

Qin Mu was very curious. “How does one utilize the Grand Primordium Origin Stone?”

Shu Jun said, “The Grand Primordium Origin Stone contains unlimited power. After our discovery, we researched plenty of ways to utilize the stone. I can teach you one way of utilizing the stone. After that, you can decide whether to work with me. Now, let your consciousness enter the stone.”

Qin Mu frowned slightly, worried that Shu Jun was taking the opportunity to have his consciousness flow through the sacrificial altar within the Origin Stone.

Shu Jun said, “You can check out the stone after you’re done with setting up your formation.”

Qin Mu decisively increased his speed. After an unknown period of time, he finally finished setting up the grand formation of the star gods.

“You can give it a try now.” Shu Jun’s consciousness rippled, his voice resonating within Qin Mu’s head.

Qin Mu released some of his consciousness into the Grand Primordium Origin Stone, carefully probing it. He said, “How do I utilize this Grand Primordium Origin Stone?”

“Whatever you think of, you will receive. This is the difference between the Grand Primordium Divine Stone and other divine stones. The stronger your consciousness is, the more realistic what you imagine becomes.”

Shu Jun said, “Try thinking about fire.”

Qin Mu’s heart stirred, thinking of fire. Instantly, his vital qi formed a rotating light wheel behind his head. His vital qi then transformed into a blazing fire, forming a ring of flames. There was even a divine art contained within. The fire contorted, turning from a round shape to an oval. This looked quite similar to the ring of flames behind Celestial Venerable Huo’s head!

Qin Mu was shocked. “I didn’t try to change the attributes of the vital qi. Just by thought alone, this wheel of vital qi transformed into a ring of flames. This is indeed strange and marvelous!”

Shu Jun said, “Whatever you think of, you will receive. This is precisely what makes the Grand Primordium Origin Stone so precious. Your consciousness is still not strong enough. The stronger your consciousness, the stronger your flame, and the more terrifying your power! When this stone was in the heart of Primordial Emperor’s brows, it could create world-devastating fires, easily burning planets into ashes!”

His Undying God Consciousness surged into the Grand Primordium Origin Stone as Qin Mu tried to increase his consciousness. The power of the flames behind his head instantly rose, becoming stronger and stronger, causing the space to warp faintly.

At this moment, he felt that he had lost some of his consciousness as Shu Jun took the opportunity to steal from him.

Qin Mu snorted and immediately reduced his consciousness. Shu Jun didn’t continue to steal from him and said, “You can try to think of other things. Whatever you think of, it will become reality.”

Qin Mu thought of the celestial river, and the ring of flames immediately transformed into a Celestial River Wheel. The flow of the celestial river was torrential. While the Celestial River Wheel looked short in length, being no longer than four feet, on closer inspection, it appeared as though it was a huge river of over a hundred miles.

These wheels looked like those received from the blessings of the ancient gods, and they were similar to what the ancient gods in the images within the Blood Rust Zone had behind their heads.

Qin Mu was utterly astonished. The Grand Primordium Origin Stone presented a completely different method of cultivation and divine arts.

When divine arts practitioners cultivated divine arts, they relied on runes and vital qi.

Regardless of the type of technique a divine arts practitioner learned, they had to start by opening up the Spirit Embryo Divine Treasure. The Spirit Embryo Divine Treasure used the ancient gods as models and gained vital qi with different attributes. This was the origin of the four great spirit bodies of Eternal Peace.

If one wanted to cultivate divine arts, they needed to cultivate different techniques, learn how the ancient gods constructed the divine arts runes, and use their vital qi to construct these runes and unleash the power of the divine arts.

Of course, there were exceptions. For instance, battle techniques and sword skill divine arts were created by people after the beginning, so they didn’t follow the runes architecture of the ancient gods.

However, the masters of creation during the ancient primordial era had completely disregarded this point. They didn’t use any runes, vital qi, or research how the ancient gods constructed the runes of Great Dao so as to produce them.

What they used was consciousness.

Their consciousnesses were already incomparably strong. Therefore, after being magnified by the Grand Primordium Divine Stone or Grand Primordium Origin Stone, the power of their consciousnesses had reached unimaginable levels.

This was a completely different cultivation system.

His heart stirred again, and the Celestial River Wheel behind his head transformed into a Green Dragon Wheel that had its head and tail joined. As he circulated his vital qi, the dragon roared and thunder rolled, giving off a strange sound that was similar to the Eight Voices of Ancestral Dragon, causing bodies to tremble.

The Green Dragon Wheel resulted in an enormous increase in the vital qi of his corporeal body. The effect wasn’t inferior to him personally executing the Eight Voices of Ancestral Dragon, and it could possibly be even stronger.

His thoughts were constantly changing, and as the Green Dragon Wheel transformed into a Golden Light Wheel, its golden rays radiated in all directions, like countless golden swords.

The Golden Light Wheel transformed into a Xuandu Starlight Wheel, which spiraled behind his head like a galaxy. It then transformed into a Youdu Devil-land Wheel, which was made up of black qi and looked like a gate that would lead straight into Youdu.

Not long after the Youdu Devil-land Wheel was formed, a light shone from the darkness beyond the wheel. Elder Messenger of Death rushed over, sailing on his paper boat and carrying a lamp. He came to check who, without authorization, had opened the barrier between the real world and Youdu.

However, before Elder Messenger of Death arrived, the Youdu Devil-land Wheel behind Qin Mu’s head had already transformed into a Yuandu Magnetism wheel.

“Which evil-doer is stirring up trouble?” Elder Messenger of Death flew into a rage since he couldn’t find anything when he arrived.

By the time he had passed through the barrier between Youdu and the real world, the phoenix ship was long gone.

Qin Mu was switching between wheels of different attributes at will. He was quite pleased and satisfied, except that every time he mobilized the Origin Stone, some of his qi, blood, and consciousness would be taken away by Shu Jun.

“Senior Shu Jun, does the Grand Primordium Origin Stone have other marvelous uses? The masters of creation have incomparably strong consciousnesses. I believe this Origin Stone can strengthen one’s consciousness, right?” he probed.

Shu Jun didn’t answer, but he said, “Now that you have witnessed the power of the Grand Primordium Origin Stone, are you willing to work with me? If you’re willing to give me enough qi, blood, and consciousness to bring me back to life, I can impart all of the uses and cultivation methods of the Origin Stone to you.

Qin Mu muttered to himself, “The divine wheels are similar to the blessings of the ancient gods and are equivalent to having the protection of a powerful divine art at all times, hence adding another layer of safety! However, this Shu Jun obviously doesn’t have good intentions. This Grand Primordium Origin Stone is too precious. After he returns to life, he will definitely kill me to get this divine stone back.”

He narrowed his eyes. Shu Jun, even after coming back to life, was still a master of creation. Just his corporeal body alone was enough to crush Qin Mu.

“If I refuse to help him, it will be very difficult for me to decipher the marvels of this Grand Primordium Origin Stone. This stone can’t only raise the power of my divine arts, but it can also strengthen my consciousness and my corporeal body. If I can combine this with my present techniques and divine arts, it’ll be very terrifying.”

Qin Mu laughed as he thought of that. “Senior, I don’t have enough qi and blood to allow you to come back to life instantly. However, I can give you some qi, blood, and consciousness every time I cultivate to help you recover bit by bit.”

Shu Jun chuckled. “This is doable. I can impart one or two uses to you each time.”

‘Cunning old fox!’ Qin Mu and Shu Jun both quietly scolded in their hearts.

The phoenix ship sprinted at full speed, soaring among the starry sky. Along the way, they passed by many resplendent celestial palaces. Those were the 36 celestial palaces of the celestial heavens. They each sat in the center of a milky way galaxy and were extremely radiant, brighter than a billion stars.

The dragon qilin and Yan’er came to the bow of the ship to admire the magnificent view of these celestial palaces, and they were exclaiming endlessly.

Suddenly, there was a huge burst of light ahead. A giant stream of celestial river came surging forth from deep within the starry sky, and countless stars rotated around this vast river. This rare sight was breathtaking beyond comparison!

The phoenix ship moved above the celestial river as it traveled upstream. On the river surface, they saw scattered ships that had traveled from the planets that rotate around the celestial river. On them were gods and their disciples.

The phoenix ship was the vehicle of Red Deity Qi Xiayu and was much bigger and more splendid than these ships, leaving them with no choice but to give way.

The dragon qilin and Yan’er looked around, admiring the sacred grounds on both sides of the celestial river, clicking their tongues in wonder.

On both sides of the celestial river, apart from planets, there were landmasses of different sizes. They didn’t seem big from the surface of the celestial river, but they were, in fact, as wide as ten thousand miles, with some being even wider.

These landmasses floated around the celestial river, some going past the top of their heads. They had verdant hills and clear waters and were overflowing with greenery. It wasn’t known which races inhabit these landmasses.

“Second Brother, where does the celestial river originate, and where does it flow to?” the dragon qilin asked.

Qi Jiuyi said, “I don’t know. However, the celestial river used to flow towards the Primordial Realm, going into the Ruins of End.”

Yan’er was very curious. “If the celestial river flows towards the Primordial Realm, why didn’t we travel upstream from the Primordial Realm instead of taking a detour through the starry sky?”

“If we did that, we would have ended up circling the Four Extreme Great Worlds, which is a longer route. Also, we would need to break through the barriers between the worlds.”

Qi Jiuyi said, “The Four Extreme Worlds are also referred to as the Four Extreme Heavens and are situated at the four poles of the universe. It’s where the four deities of the ancient gods live. Although each individual world is slightly smaller than Yuandu, they are bigger on a combined basis. If one were to make a detour there, it would take around ten years to arrive at the celestial heavens.”

As they were talking, a dazzling brilliance appeared ahead. The huge Southern Heavenly Gate came into view, standing high above the sky.

Finally, they arrived at the celestial heavens!

Qi Jiuyi said, “Men, please invite Cult Master Qin off the ship!”

“There’s no need.”

Qin Mu’s voice came from behind, shocking Qi Jiuyi. Qin Mu had walked out of the ship’s hold without him realizing it. He walked towards them, a ring of flames behind his head, as though it was a dragon sparrow in the sky.

Yan’er got a fright. “Young Master actually executed my divine art! Strange, the aura I’m sensing feels like it’s from a dragon sparrow of pure bloodline!”

Qin Mu walked to their sides, raising his head to look at the approaching Southern Heavenly Gate. He couldn’t help but think of what happened a million years ago—Niu Sanduo and him going to the Dragon Han Celestial Heavens, the Celestial Heavens Meeting, the Jade Pool Meeting, the gathering of the Nine Celestial Venerables. Those were wonderful and remarkable times.

However, that could be the only time all of the Celestial Venerables gathered together.

As of now, Celestial Venerable Yu was in a state of disarray after being brought back to life, Celestial Venerable Yun was dead, and Celestial Venerable Qin hid in Carefree Village. As for Celestial Venerable Yue, she lived in seclusion, while Celestial Venerable You had become Youdu’s messenger of death.

As for him, Celestial Venerable Mu, he had finally returned, visiting a place he was extremely familiar with.

‘Where is my old friend now?’

The waters of the celestial river raged.

The celestial heavens were still the celestial heavens of the old. However, Celestial Venerable Mu wasn’t the Celestial Venerable Mu of the past. Although he was without the soul he once had, his original aspiration remained unchanged.

Qin Mu’s heart was throbbing as thousands of words swelled up inside him, eventually transforming into boisterous laughter that shook the Southern Heavenly Gate. “Dragon Han Celestial Heavens, Celestial Venerable Mu is back once again!”