Tales of Herding Gods

Outside the mine, Qin Mu looked around hurriedly. Large eyes filled the skies and the land. They came from the surface, and with every blink, a large opening to the abyss would appear.

They were void beasts that surrounded and trapped them.

In the mine, Da Hong’s body landed on the small void beast mother’s body as he rushed to kill Gu Xiao.

His power grew exponentially as the void beast mother brought him through the void stealthily. Her power was strong as well, her sharp claws and flying tongues like heavenly weapons. They blocked Gu Xiao’s imperial sword and licked it, and one of the Great Dao imprints on it went missing!

“Celestial Venerable Mu, you guys don’t have to leave in so hurried a manner.”

Da Hong’s voice traveled over. “Wait for me to kill Gu Xiao and take my wife’s body before we leave together. Brother Luo Xiao can’t die either. I need him to find the other masters of creation. These void beasts will protect you guys!”

Luo Xiao fell into his seat in the carriage, his eyes soulless and devoid of spirit. After a while, he recovered and looked at Qin Mu. He gave off a pleading expression and whispered, “Brother Mu, kill me! I can’t let him know where my people are hiding! Please kill me quickly!”

“It would be useless even if he killed you. Your consciousness and soul will still be here. I can search both of them for information.” Da Hong’s consciousness transmitted into his brain in an unrestrained manner.

Luo Xiao was in a daze.

Now, he couldn’t die even if he wanted to.

Qin Mu became enlivened as he said, “Brother Luo, now that there’s no void beast mother in the nineteenth void, we can attempt to establish a connection with the spirits of your ancestors.”

Luo Xiao tried to raise his spirits, but he failed. He said, “Even if we find them, what can we do? I’m dead. I have to die to not bring the chiefs a disaster. Kill me…”

“There’s still hope.”

Qin Mu’s consciousness pulsed. “I built two sacrificial altars. One is outside of the ancestral court, while another is inside. We don’t need the one within to leave. This is our only hope. As long as you can connect with your spirit ancestors, I can establish a connection with the sacrificial altar outside of the ancestral court and create a reverse summoning to get us out. You have to hurry!”

Hope flowed from Luo Xiao’s eyes again.

Qin Mu saw his gaze and was surprisingly touched.

It was a pair of clear and pure eyes that shone with Luo Xiao’s heart.

It was hard for one to find such clear eyes in the barren and corrupted world where people were treacherous. The masters of creation that left the ancestral court for the Great Void had experienced little of the treachery in the world, allowing them to keep a pure spirit. Thus, they could believe in others and dare to entrust their lives to others.

This was the master of creation Luo Xiao. Qin Mu had only seen such eyes on babies.

Even if Qin Mu’s eyes were as clear as his, he knew that he wasn’t someone like Luo Xiao. He had been trained to be cunning by Mute and Cripple since he was young and had been taught to use his pure and naive eyes to disguise himself.

‘However, I still have to have him take back the three prophecies.’

Qin Mu was determined. The prophecies protected the Great Void’s masters of creation and got rid of the Grand Emperor’s corporeal body. They gave the people of the Founding Emperor Era a place to stay and a place to build Carefree Village. In the future, it would allow him to become the masters of creation’s holy infant too!

He had to ensure that Luo Xiao went back to the Great Void alive with the three prophecies!

Yet, Qin Mu knew that when Luo Xiao saw his people, he would die after saying the three prophecies.

He couldn’t bear seeing such a pure person die, but he had to in order to fulfill that part of history.

Around them, countless void beasts circled the carriage to shield them from the terrifying waves from the mine. Luo Xiao worked up his consciousness, which reverberated through the void. All of his consciousness rushed through the void layers and went straight to the highest point.

Not a single bit of consciousness was left in his corporeal body. All that was left was his pure wish to find the spirit ancestors of the ancestral court.

Qin Mu quietly sighed and utilized the Great Overarching Supreme Consciousness to push his consciousness into the void.

In terms of how large their consciousnesses were, Qin Mu paled in comparison to Luo Xiao. Luo Xiao was a master of creation and had a frightening talent in regards to consciousness.

He was a young master of creation that hadn’t matured yet. However, after he did, his cultivation would be on the level of the three primordial kings.

Nevertheless, in terms of the quality of consciousness, Qin Mu’s was way better.

Qin Mu used the divine treasures and celestial palaces system of the later generations to improve the masters of creation’s consciousness cultivation technique. On top of that, he learned the Grand Emperor’s Great Overarching Supreme Consciousness, which allowed him to attain a high-quality consciousness that Luo Xiao couldn’t beat.

His consciousness reached the nineteenth and twentieth voids before Luo Xiao’s despite being activated later, then continued upwards.

His consciousness reached an even higher level of the void. He found that it was empty. The consciousnesses of the masters of creation of the ancestral court had already been engulfed by the void beasts. None was left.

Every layer of the void was like that.

During that barbaric era, whether it was the Grand Emperor or the ancient Celestial Emperor, everyone wanted to wipe away the dirty part of their history.

Every trace of the masters of creation was to be wiped away.

The only difference was that the ancient Celestial Emperor was the victor, while the Grand Emperor was the loser.

Qin Mu’s consciousness arrived at the twenty-eighth void, and his consciousness had almost run out by then. It was hard for him to continue climbing.

When Luo Xiao’s consciousness reached the twenty-third void, it was even harder to go on. The young master of creation’s consciousness was filled with endless sorrow. All that was left was his empty consciousness drifting in the void.

‘It’s gone, everything is gone…’

‘The spirits of our ancestors have been wiped away…’

His consciousness was filled with despair as it drifted in the empty twenty-third void without any will to fight.

At that moment, a bizarre consciousness wave came from a void higher up. It flooded down as an old and majestic voice came into contact with his consciousness. It began to ring.

“Young master of creation, our descendant. You are finally here.”

Luo Xiao was so excited that his consciousness trembled. His corporeal body cried at that moment.

“Our child. We have been silent since the primordial era. We experienced countless eras and observed the movement of thousands of worlds of the universe. We examined the faint principles in the void and saw into the past and future.

“Child, we saw the difficulties the masters of creation of the Great Void are about to face. We also examined your heart.

“Child, return to the Great Void with these three prophecies. They will come true one by one.”

…

In the carriage, Luo Xiao kneeled down and choked on his tears. He couldn’t speak.

In the twenty-third void, the spirits of his ancestors told him about the three prophecies. The prophecy of the invasion of the Grand Emperor and Celestial Venerable Yun, the prophecy of the Paramita World, and the prophecy of the holy infant.

They sank into silence after that.

“Child, work hard to survive. Go… now.”

Luo Xiao recalled his consciousness.

Qin Mu did as well, and he looked at Luo Xiao, who was in a frenzy. Luo Xiao walked around in excitement, hugging the dragon qilin, Yan’er, and even the six heavenly dragons, which he also kissed.

Finally, he hugged Qin Mu tightly and said, while choking, “Mu, you are my real brother!”

Qin Mu smiled and patted his back, gently saying, “It’s time to go, Brother.”

Luo Xiao let go of him and wiped his tears. His smile was pure.

Qin Mu quietly utilized the formation of reverse summoning to sense the sacrificial altar outside of the ancestral court. At that moment, Gu Xiao was injured in the mine. He was in great danger due to Da Hong and the void beast mother’s attacks. Da Hong’s laughter could be heard easily.

“Tai Chu, you finally lost. You will die here, and your real body outside won’t even know what happened! I’ll slowly feast on you and take your power!”

He was like a cat who caught its favorite mouse. He didn’t kill him quickly, instead choosing to play with, hurting Gu Xiao more while preventing him from escaping.

“I’ll slowly occupy your celestial heavens and take away your power. I’ll slowly destroy the era you built to make you feel despair. You won’t be able to find the true enemy and will die in endless pain!”

Finally, Gu Xiao kneeled in front of Gong Yun’s golden coffin. He could fight no more.

Da Hong stood in front of him, his eyes possessing a bewitching glow. He raised Gu Xiao’s chin with his spear as he laughed and said, “I’ll take your consciousness and the Great Dao in your body. I’ll understand everything about you, while your real body will never know that I lurk around you.”

Gu Xiao raised his head with great effort and laughed. His teeth were stained blood-red as he said, “Grand Emperor, do you know where Gong Yun’s soul is?”

Da Hong’s pupils contracted.

“It’s with me.”

Gu Xiao laughed in an unrestrained manner. “I’m carrying her soul. Although I killed her, I loved her, so I imprisoned her soul. Do you want to see her?”

The spear in Da Hong’s hands trembled as he hoarsely shouted, “Let her soul out!”

Gu Xiao struggled to raise his hands and retrieve a jade pendant from his neck. He wanted to crush it, but he couldn’t.

His injuries were too severe, and he was running out of time.

Da Hong used his spear to pry the pendant away. A lady’s soul flew out of it and drifted towards the golden coffin.

Da Hong obsessively looked at the lady’s soul. It was his wife, Divine King Gong Yun.

“Nü Xin…”

He moved to the golden coffin. In it, the lover that mesmerized him slowly opened her eyes.

Da Hong’s body trembled. He extended his palm to the lady with a smile. The lady took his hand, and they held each other’s hands.

Da Hong pulled her out and hugged the resurrected divine king. They couldn’t help but cry. “Nü Xin, my lovely wife. I missed you all these years. I wanted to see you again. I have countless things to talk to you about…”

Behind him, Gu Xiao revealed a smile of mockery as he slowly raised the imperial sword in his hand and pointed it towards Da Hong’s back.

A slender jade hand held its hilt, and it stabbed straight into Da Hong’s back.

The lady that Da Hong was hugging let go of him as he kneeled in front of the coffin.

The void beast mother howled furiously as it opened its mouth to swallow the resurrected female divine king.

“Beast!”

Da Hong was furious. Blood gushed out of his mouth, which angered the void beast mother even more. He furiously shouted, “Leave!”

The void beast mother released a timid cry as it leaped into the void and disappeared.

Fresh blood flowed out of Da Hong’s mouth as he looked up at his lovely wife. He still wore a smile as he said, “Nü Xin, I may have betrayed everyone and my people, but I will never betray you nor change my feelings towards you.”

The lady in the coffin was expressionless. She rose and went over his head. She moved to his back and held the imperial sword’s hilt, stabbing it in.

The tip of the sword came out of Da Hong’s chest, and the Dao power hidden within destroyed his corporeal body functions and suppressed his consciousness.

“I still love you… until I die…” He smiled.

Divine King Gong Yun squatted beside him. Her long hair drooped down onto his chest, and her voice was filled with endless hatred as she spoke into his ear.

“I, however, have stopped loving you, Grand Emperor. Ever since you annihilated my people, I stopped loving you.”

Her voice was like a bone-cutting knife as she twisted the hilt. She crushed Da Hong’s heart bit by bit. “There is only hate between us. Endless hate. I can work with Tai Chu to use his power to kill you. I’ll tell you now that I dropped our baby to its death, and I even had a baby with Tai Chu!”

The smile on Da Hong’s face remained. “As long as you still live…”

Poof.

Divine King Gong Yun pulled out the sword with all her strength. Gu Xiao struggled to stand up as he said mockingly, “Dao Friend, you still can’t beat me.”

Divine King Gong Yun didn’t turn around to look at him. She lifted the sword and sliced it backward, the sword light flashing through Gu Xiao’s neck.

Gu Xiao’s head fell off his neck as his corpse fell. His smile was gone as he revealed his disbelief.

Divine King Gong Yun adjusted the hilt and tossed it down. It went through the back of Gu Xiao’s headless corporeal body, nailing him to the floor of the mine.

“The thing I hate the most is betrayal.” She lifted her leg and crushed Gu Xiao’s skull while plainly saying that.

Da Hong still hadn’t died. He looked at Gu Xiao’s headless corpse while on the ground, laughing as he said, “Good kill, good kill! Nü Xin, go out of the mine. There’s a fellow called Mu Qing outside that can get you out of here! I’m disrupting his consciousness, but I can’t do it for long. This is the only chance…”

Divine King Gong Yun held his neck to lift him up as she walked out of the mine. “I won’t let you die like that. I still have to use your borrowed body to find your real body. I won’t let you die until I find your real body.”

Da Hong drooped powerlessly while keeping his gaze on her face obsessively. His eyes were filled with hope. “As long as you live…”

“I want to torture you, imprison you, and use countless ways to make you feel pain.”

Divine King Gong Yun coldly said, “I want you to feel the pain of killing my people, a hundred times the pain! I want you to feel unimaginable amounts of torture!”

Da Hong powerlessly said, “As long as I have you by my side…”

“Shut up!”