Tales of Herding Gods

“Celestial Venerable Xu is dangerous?”

Qin Mu couldn’t help but think about the meaning of Celestial Venerable Huo’s words.

Was he referring to her as being dangerous or problematic?

‘Celestial Venerable Huo is still so rushed that even his words lack clarity.’

Qin Mu shook his head. In the past, Celestial Venerable Huo had a fiery temper and once fought with Qin Mu over trivial things. Even after he was beaten up by Qin Mu, he still remained the same.

‘However, he didn’t attack me and even allowed me to take care of Celestial Venerable Yun’s corporeal body. Was he one of the three Celestial Venerables that came out to protect me at the Jade Pool?’

Qin Mu sighed. He was planning to ask about the enemy who mastered the sword path that they saw traces of in the masters of creation’s city. Was it Founding Emperor? Unfortunately, Celestial Venerable Huo left so hastily that he couldn’t inquire about that.

If Founding Emperor was in the Great Void, it would mean that Carefree Village was here too.

They walked out of the supreme consciousness realm and saw a flame with no visible source in front of them. It was two to three feet tall and varied in size over time.

On the fire, there was a giant rope that drooped down from above. It was fastened to a cloud in the sky, and at the bottom of that rope was a trapped man. He was hanging on the fire, burned by it to the point that he screamed in agony.

Qin Mu and Luo Wushuang looked at that person, which turned out to be Heavenly Master Yue, Yue Tingge.

He saw the two of them and shouted for their help, “Celestial Venerable Mu, Friend Luo. I offended Celestial Venerable Huo and was unable to escape. Now, he hung me here, claiming he would grill me for a million years out of revenge before letting me go! Please, save me, I’ll be more than grateful!”

Qin Mu pretended not to see or hear him.

Luo Wushuang was a kind soul and said, “Celestial Venerable Huo hung you here to teach you a lesson and not to kill you. If we untie you, we will offend Celestial Venerable Huo. Heavenly Master Yue, can’t you just burn the rope? Just go into the fire for a little bit…”

Yue Tingge was furious. “This rope is an artifact that he refined, and this fire is his! How could the rope be burned? You are worse than Celestial Venerable Mu!”

The two of them were about to leave when Yue Tingge hastily said, “I know a secret!”

They continued as Yue Tingge called for them, saying, “I know where the remaining masters of creation went!”

Qin Mu stopped and turned around. He “shockingly” said, “How could Heavenly Master Yue be tied up here? Who is so daring to grill him with flames! Divine Knife Luo, help me, we must rescue him quickly!”

Yue Tingge stared furiously at him.

Qin Mu solemnly deployed his teleportation formation to teleport the fire away while Luo Wushuang attempted to untie the golden rope. He was unable to do so and was instead bitten by it, which made him sustain a bloody injury.

The golden rope had a dragon head at the front of it. Although it was small, it was ferocious.

Qin Mu walked forward and sized it up, explaining, “This golden rope is a dragon that was likely a saddle or belt of Celestial Venerable Huo that was trained to become a weapon. It’s hard to break through. By the way, Heavenly Master Yue, you just said that you know where the masters of creation went, right? Why don’t you tell us now.”

Yue Tingge’s eyeballs rolled as he said, “I have been stuck here for around 15000 years, so I know this place well and have been to many dangerous places like the supreme consciousness realm. I found the last gathering place of the Great Void’s masters of creation. They migrated. If you release me, I’ll tell you what I know.”

Luo Wushuang shook his head and said, “I can’t break this golden rope.”

Qin Mu thought for a while before bowing to the golden rope and requesting, “Celestial Venerable Huo, could you do me a favor?”

The golden rope fell off on its own and morphed into a golden dragon that opened its mouth to suck in the distant sourceless fire before flying into the clouds. It looked down and hovered above them.

Luo Wushuang was stunned to silence.

Yue Tingge fell down, got up, and patted the dirt off of himself. He glanced at the golden dragon, still somewhat wary of him, and said, “I found the last gathering place of the masters of creation. They opened the void in the Great Void, creating heaven and earth in it before leaving. According to my theory, the Great Void crumbled and became inhospitable. Thus, they likely left in the latter part of the Dragon Han Era, under some powerful being’s guidance.”

Qin Mu solemnly said, “Could this powerful being be Celestial Venerable Yun? If not, why would Celestial Venerable Yun leave a topographic map of the Great Void to Founding Emperor?”

“I don’t know about that.”

Yue Tingge continued, “They headed to another void via the Void Bridge. I have been there too, but it was treacherous and hard to cross, which left me stuck here. Also…”

He hesitated on whether to say it.

Qin Mu’s expression revealed some doubt.

Yue Tingge clenched his teeth and continued, “About 30 years ago, I was at the end of the Void Bridge and saw a boat coming from it. On it was a couple that wasn’t masters of creation. The boat disappeared almost instantly, and I couldn’t chase it in time before it left the Great Void.”

Qin Mu was stunned and hastily asked, “30 years ago?”

Yue Tingge nodded. “It was around 35 years ago. I observed the aura of those on the boat, and they should have been the successors of Founding Emperor. Perhaps that is why the celestial heavens have continued exploring the Great Void. Recently, in the past 30 years, more and more people have entered the Great Void. However, fewer and fewer people make it here alive. I was alone for most of my more than ten thousand years here. However, I did see Brahma. He came here in a way similar to sleepwalking. I’m a Daoist and don’t like monks…”

Qin Mu looked at the golden dragon and continued, “Please lead the way to the Void Bridge, Heavenly Master Yue.”

Yue Tingge shook his head. “I don’t dare to go there. I fear meeting Founding Emperor. After all, I ruined his celestial heavens. I can draw the route, but I’m not going.”

Qin Mu retrieved some paper and a pen, and Yue Tingge drew the topographic map of the Great Void. Luo Wushuang curiously asked, “Heavenly Master Yue, do you not intend to leave the Great Void and return to the celestial heavens? If we can cross the Void Bridge, we might find a way back to the celestial heavens.”

“Leave the Great Void and return to the celestial heavens?”

Yue Tingge said while looking down, “Return to my doom? I’ll die once I leave the Great Void. Someone won’t let me leave…”

He finished the map and suddenly looked at Qin Mu and Luo Wushuang, alarmed. “Who are you guys?”

He became insane again.

Qin Mu wrapped up the topographic map as Yue Tingge laughed. “Ah, I remember you guys now. You are Celestial Venerable Mu, and you are one-armed one. I can’t believe the celestial heavens sent three Celestial Venerables to kill me. Hehe, they really think that I’m powerful. I know a good place, I will take you guys there…”

He looked at the golden dragon head drooping from the heavens and said, “Good brother, I finally found you! Shhh… We’ll lure them there to kill them, hehe. I already lured Celestial Venerable Huo and Celestial Venerable Xu there. Now that I have killed two Celestial Venerables, it shouldn’t be a big deal to kill another one…”

Qin Mu rose and said to Luo Wushuang, “Let’s go.”

Luo Wushuang followed him quickly as he looked at the crazy Yue Tingge behind them. He was still talking to the golden dragon as if they had been good friends for many years. He asked curiously, “Overlord Body Qin, is Heavenly Master Yue really crazy or faking it?”

Qin Mu shook his head. “I’m not sure. He could be really crazy or ‘really crazy’. He kept mentioning that he had a good brother. It could be the other heavenly master who came here with him. That heavenly master likely died here, something he couldn’t accept.”

Luo Wushuang thought about it before commenting, “He could be faking it. He can’t leave this place, for he will surely die if he does. The celestial heavens are out to kill him, and because he ruined the Founding Emperor Celestial Heavens, he can’t seek Carefree Village at the Void Bridge either, for he will be killed by Founding Emperor. He might be stuck here forever.”

The golden dragon belonging to Celestial Venerable Huo left Yue Tingge behind as it retracted its body and disappeared into the clouds.

Qin Mu looked back and saw Yue Tingge standing there alone with unspeakable loneliness. He suddenly became ferocious-looking as he scolded the heavens.

“He’s too smart to not be really crazy.”

Qin Mu smiled. “Divine Knife Luo, do you intend to go insane and stay in the Great Void or go to Eternal Peace?”

Luo Wushuang was stunned.

“There aren’t many options left for you,” Qin Mu reminded him.

Luo Wushuang was silent before he replied with gratitude, “I’ll die if I return to the celestial heavens. Celestial Empress and Mistress Yuanmu won’t let me live. If I stay here, I’ll likely die soon since I’m not as intelligent as Heavenly Master Yue. However, I still have an attachment that I must live for. Overlord Body Qin, do you know what my long-cherished wish is?”

Qin Mu smiled and said, “You have almost fully recovered, which allowed you to run faster than me.”

Luo Wushuang walked with him and revealed a rare smile. “You chopped off an arm of mine last time, High Emperor Overlord Body. You also saved me more than thrice. I waited 40 thousand years to prove my knife skills to you because of the arm. However, I don’t know how to repay the debt for the three times you saved me.”

The two of them walked towards the last gathering place of the masters of creation. The aura around the place got stronger, and a large golden desert appeared in front of them. The wind blew the golden sand up from the desert.

Qin Mu stepped on the golden sand and left behind footprints. He continued, “Retribution and paying back are two different things. I chopped off an arm of yours, and you trained for 40 thousand years to get revenge. I saved your life thrice, so you can spend 120 thousand years to pay me back. Does that work?”

Luo Wushuang was like a sharp, unsheathed divine knife as he sternly said, “Sure.”

His aura caused deep knife marks to appear in the golden desert in front. The knife marks stretched forward and stirred the air to form a tornado that whirled around, sucking the golden sand into the air.

Countless strands of knife light rampaged in the tornado. That was his knife skill.

Qin Mu gazed into the desert and saw that the sand dunes in the desert were like a crescent moon, all pointing towards the same direction. He said in admiration, “The creation of the masters of creation is truly wonderful! This golden desert looks spectacular.”

His aura suddenly burst forth, and his essence and blood swayed like a torrenting ocean and burned like flames on burning oil that were burning his youth and hot blood!

Suddenly, his great sea of essence and blood rose up as if it was an unfolded iron blood flag that swept the skies.

Eternal Peace’s reform needed iron and blood to forge it!

Their auras collided, and in a short moment, Luo Wushuang felt that the aura from Qin Mu was like a brand new spirit hungry for revolution!

That spirit didn’t belong to Qin Mu but to Eternal Peace and an era!

He didn’t steal the Eternal Peace Era’s spirit, he fostered it during Eternal Peace’s reform. The revolution was like blazing flames, while the reform was like a violent river.

The river water flooded everything old.

The blazing flames burned everything corrupt.

“Please, High Emperor Overlord Body!”

Luo Wushuang pulled out his knife. In the golden sand of the desert, the knife light was like a rainbow as the knife opened heaven and cleaved towards Qin Mu!

Qin Mu lifted his hand, and the sword light rose. Their blades clashed, and their magic power burst forth. Their bodies smashed together as their blades resonated!

In the next moment, the potential in their blades was unleashed and separated them.

Luo Wushuang backed off and laughed before cleaving towards Qin Mu, who was still falling back. He cleaved towards him, regardless of how vast his aura was!

Qin Mu pulled out his sword and stabbed towards him, and the sword light created a torrent in the desert. Countless dunes were picked up by it to form a crazily long golden passage. At the end of it was Luo Wushuang with his impressive aura.

Luo Wushuang’s knife light cleaved into the passage as countless blade lights collided, cutting through the passage and morphing into a rain of blades.

Luo Wushuang ran forward and broke through the rain of blades. One swing after another of his formed the various heavens of the knife path, waiting for Qin Mu to follow up. The 14 knife path heavens formed an earth-shattering force that cleaved towards Qin Mu!

He couldn’t find an opponent for his knife skills in the celestial heavens, rendering him worthy of the title of number one divine knife of the celestial heavens!

As his divine knife fell, suddenly, heaven and earth became silent. Countless strands of starlight came down from the heavens as the desert beneath him spun, morphing into a black and white taiji diagram.

Luo Wushuang’s heart jumped as he saw the sun rise from the black and white diagram, while a moon sunk into it.

Behind Qin Mu, the verdant Primordial Tree grew taller and taller.

‘Did his primordial spirit and corporeal body become one in his divine flesh?’

Luo Wushuang cleaved down with his knife, furiously taunting, “Even if you have an extensive divine art, you still can’t beat my divine knife!”

Qin Mu took his sword and cut through the heavens of Luo Wushuang’s knife path, straight towards the heart of his brows!