Tales of Herding Gods

Village Chief felt as though he had been struck by lightning and stood dumbfounded in front of the stone tablet. Legend of the overlord body? From forty thousand years ago?

Wasn’t overlord body something he made up to fool Qin Mu and the people in the village?

Could this world truly have an overlord body?

‘No, no! There must some mistake here! Maybe the overlord body from forty thousand years ago isn’t the same as the overlord body I explained!’

His heart was flustered, and all kinds of thoughts flooded him. However, Village Chief was Village Chief, so he soon cleared his mind. ‘Maybe there’s truly an overlord body in this world, which is a kind of spirit body. Since it was too strong, it was called overlord body by others. This kind of overlord body would be completely different from the overlord body that I made up!’

He composed himself and looked at the stone tablet.

The inscriptions were written using the writings of the dragon race so Village Chief could only ask First Ancestor for help. “What’s written here? The writings of the dragon race are profound and hard to understand, and I’ve not learned them before.”

First Ancestor was very easy to talk to and said, “What’s written is that before High Emperor fell, Bai Family of the dragon race had met a youth who called himself the overlord body. He was talented in many fields and could do what others couldn’t. He was unmatched among his peers. He had a luminous charm and his talent was matchless. No matter if it was sword skills or divine arts, they surpassed High Emperor Era by leaps and bounds.

“Thus, they asked him what was overlord body. The youth then explained that overlord body was matchless. Before the spirit embryo awakened, it would look like a mortal body. But once it was awakened, it gained supreme power and topped his own generation while also possessing exceptional aptitude.”

The corners of Village Chief’s eyes twitched. Qin Mu was different from the other spirit bodies because he wasn’t a spirit body at all. The Spirit Embryo Divine Treasure of a spirit body was awakened at the start yet Qin Mu’s Spirit Embryo Divine Treasure had been shut!

The Spirit Embryo Divine Treasure of an ordinary person was also shut, so they couldn’t cultivate.

On the other hand, under the lies of Village Chief and the aid of the villagers, Qin Mu had actually opened the Spirit Embryo Divine Treasure that couldn’t be opened. From then on, he improved at a godly speed and showed rapid progress!

This kind of situation was actually very similar to what was written on the stone tablet!

‘It must be a coincidence!’

Village Chief composed himself and listened once more to what First Ancestor was saying.

“…overlord body cultivates, it surpasses other spirit bodies by a huge margin. Its comprehension is outstanding, understanding everything straight away and able to comprehend by analogy, deducing many things from one case. The overlord body is matchless, but there are still enemies in this world, the things known as pseudo overlord bodies.”

Village Chief shook his head and blurted out, “What?”

“What’s written on it says that even though the overlord body is matchless, there is still pseudo overlord bodies that are its enemies,” First Ancestor explained patiently. “It’s written that overlord body and pseudo overlord bodies fight over fate, having a connection between them. Pseudo overlord bodies will fight overlord body to seize its fate, making themselves into the true overlord body.

“How weird, why is there such a marvelous physique? I’m ashamed to say this, but when I heard about this overlord body in the past, I had only treated it as a legend. Never had I expected that legend to be real.”

Village Chief’s mind was blown, but after a moment, he came back to his senses and stuttered, “Fir-First Ancestor, you have heard about the legend of the overlord body before?”

First Ancestor nodded. “I’ve heard once before, but I’ve never seen the overlord body. I only treated it as a legend.” His expression became weird. “There actually exists such a fresh and outstanding overlord body.”

Village Chief was silent. He suddenly felt that the surrounding world had become preposterous and variegated.

Could the overlord body that he had made up really exist? On top of that, could it be exactly the same as the lie he used to contain Qin Mu!

Wasn’t this too inconceivable?

Back then, to placate the villagers, he had said the first lie about Qin Mu being an overlord body. Over the years, he had to add to that lie to cover up himself, and he had created the full system of overlord body.

Yet somehow the stone tablet’s description of the overlord body was exactly the same as his overlord body system. He had used those same words to lie to others. But now when reading about it on the stone tablet, he was starting to believe it himself.

The stone tablet was right in front of him, so he had no choice but to believe.

Yet Village Chief was still struggling. He thought of the crux and hurriedly asked, “If there was really an Overlord Body, why would High Emperor Era still be wiped out?”

“It’s not written.” First Ancestor looked over with sorrow and said in a depressed voice, “In the face of the billowing wind, the power of one person is too insignificant. Hehe, so what if he was the overlord body? Wouldn’t he still be unable to quell the disturbance in the universe and reinstate peace to the bright world? This overlord body may have been killed before he even grew up.

“Or maybe his fate had been seized by a pseudo overlord body, or he could have abandon himself to despair at being powerless during the end of High Emperor Era, hiding somewhere full of remorse and becoming a tortoise like me. There are simply too many possibilities. A person is simply too minute in the face of history…”

He seemed to be talking about his own circumstances when talking about the overlord body from forty thousand years ago. When he finished, he sighed and didn’t speak anymore.

Village Chief examined the stone tablet from both sides before growing excited. He took out some ink and paper to record the writings on the stone tablet.

First Ancestor raised his eyebrows, and Village Chief smiled and said, “I’m going to write down these things and bring them back for the other human emperors to see. The true overlord body, there is really an overlord body. I’ve taken a true overlord body as my disciple for the human emperor position… Look at this stone tablet, it will definitely make me happy!”

First Ancestor examined him with astonishment before continuing on his way. “According to the stone tablet, High Emperor Sanctuary was wiped out after High Emperor Era ended. I can’t help being worried about Carefree Village, too.”

Village Chief immediately caught up to him and asked, “What First Ancestor mean is…”

“I’m worried about Carefree Village,” First Ancestor said solemnly. “I haven’t gotten any news of Carefree Village for a long time. Even though it had sent messages a few times and passed down Founding Emperor’s orders, I’m suspecting that it’s no longer the dauntless, go-getter Founding Emperor from before. Carefree, carefree, hehe. He who gives no thought to far-flung problems soon finds suffering nearby! They’ve been staying too long in Carefree Village! I was against building it back then and wanted to fight to the end!”

Village Chief muttered irresolutely to himself before asking, “So the purpose of First Ancestor was to find the people of Founding Emperor Era? High Emperor Era has been gone for way too long, so it’s impossible for any survivors to have lasted till now.”

“No! There are still people alive!” First Emperor looked around. “This High Emperor Sanctuary had gathered the survivors of High Emperor Era and gone through numerous years of development. Their power wasn’t small and wouldn’t be any inferior to that of the current Carefree Village. This place was later invaded by enemies, and I found from the scattered records from the ruin outside that there were people who escaped alive to create another hometown. I wanted to find them to ally them with Carefree Village so maybe we could do something big!”

Village Chief was solemn for a moment. “If the most flourishing period of Founding Emperor Era couldn’t overthrow the heaven, then even if you find the former subordinates of Founding Emperor, your chances will be far inferior to those of the flourishing period. If you didn’t find them to ally together during your strongest, what’s the use of finding them now?”

First Ancestor expression grew pained, and he said astringently, “I know! But I also know that if they continue to hide in Carefree Village and not do anything, there will be no hope forever! I need to do something, be busy. If I stay quiet, my thoughts run wild. I see my comrades dying in front of me, I see the disaster wiping out all the people, I see people struggling in a terrifying place like hell. I need to do something…”

He was insistent and full of his obsession. However, Village Chief understood his feelings and sentiments. “I’ll go with you.”

When Qin Mu came to the residence of the past cult masters of Heavenly Saint Cult in Fengdu, he looked around and saw numerous ghost messengers and ghost servants hurrying about.

Compared to the impoverished past human emperors of Hall of Human Emperors, this place was much more bustling with ghosts coming and going. The palaces were also extraordinary imposing, making it obvious that the past cult masters of Heavenly Saint Cult received the offerings of Heavenly Saint Cult. They weren’t like the past human emperors of Hall of Human Emperors who because of the sparse number of people had no one to sweep their tombs and were all poverty-stricken.

Only First Ancestor, whose corporeal body was petrified and stood in Little Jade Capital, still received some offerings from time to time, so there were some rations at his home, enough to give material assistance to Second Ancestor, Third Ancestor, and the rest.

The palaces of Heavenly Saint Cult stod in row upon row with glazed tiles and vermillion rafters. They were richly ornamented and had layers of towers and pavilions. Between palaces were various formations of long corridors as passageways to connect the palaces together. Numerous imps carried all kinds of bouquets and fruit plates all the time. The whole place was bustling with activity.

Qin Mu sighed ruefully. The people here had also become ghosts, but the treatment was much different.

He went to one palace and raised his head up to look. The place was called Hall of Zu Yang, so he thought, ‘Could this be the palace hall of Cult Master Zu Yang?’

Cut Master Zu Yang was the Heavenly Saint Cult Master before Li Tianxing. Qin Mu didn’t know much about his past achievements, just that Saint Arrival Mountain had a Hall of Zu Yang. Never did he expect that there would be one in Fengdu as well.

In front of the hall was a young person carving a guardian lion with a chisel. Beside him, some imps were picking up shattered rocks.

Qin Mu was about to enter the hall when that youth asked, “What are you here for?”

Qin Mu smiled and said, “I’m here to find Cult Master Zu Yang.”

The youth examined him up and down before placing down his hammer and chisel. Beside him, an imp lifted a jade plate to take them. Another imp fetched a jade basin for him to wash his hands while another imp offered a towel.

The youth cleaned his hands and asked in astonishment, “You have never seen Cult Master Zu Yang before?”

“You are Cult Master Zu Yang?” Qin Mu asked in astonishment.

The youth nodded with a smile. “I am. I see you are all bones so you should still be alive. But what’s weird is that you aren’t Li Tianxing. He was my disciple so I wouldn’t forget him. You are the next cult master?” His interest was roused and he asked excitedly, “You got rid of Li Tianxing?”

Qin Mu hurriedly shook his head and said, “Cult Master Li’s soul has already scattered. He risked his life against Xing An, but he didn’t manage to defeat him. Even though I couldn’t stand Cult Master Li’s character, he still knew how to repent right before he died, it was truly admi—”

“His soul scattered? Wonderful!” Cult Master Zu Yang clapped with a laugh. “Wonderful death! During my later years, I didn’t want to give up the position so that brat took advantage of me when I was cultivating Nine Wither Nine Thrive Mystery Technique and challenged me while my qi and blood had withered. He heavily injured me and seized the position of the cult master! I was severely injured, but when my life came to an end, that scoundrel still came to shed crocodile tears in front of my grave…”

Qin Mu was flabbergasted. After a moment, he asked, “May I ask where is Heavenly Saint Patriarch?”

“Who is Heavenly Saint Patriarch?”

Cult Master Zu Yang was stunned for a moment before he came to realization. “You are talking about my little senior uncle, right? During the later years of my grand-master, he took in a disciple. My little senior uncle had never been the cult master before and he was even younger than me. After I beat my master to death, he actually blamed me so wanted to get rid of him too.

“However, I was afraid of the people in the cult complaining so I gave him an idle appointment to be the Heavenly Saint Cult Patriarch, sending him far far away… Master, over here! The little cult master of our Heavenly Saint Cult is here to visit us!”

A black-robed man walked out of the palace from the side. He also had a handsome appearance and looked thirty-forty years old. He had a majestic appearance and was extraordinarily handsome. When he heard the words, he came over and asked in astonishment, “Little cult master? Our Heavenly Saint Cult has changed another cult master? How did you die?”

Cult Master Zu Yang smiled., “Little cult master hasn’t died yet. Look, he is in a skeleton form. He’s here to find your junior brother, which is my little senior uncle.”

The black-robed man walked over and examined Qin Mu. He smiled then. “You are indeed not dead. Have you taken in a disciple?”

Qin Mu immediately greeted him and said, “Greetings Cult Master Yu Lian. I have yet to take in a disciple.”

“Don’t take in a disciple so soon. The sooner you take one in, the sooner you will die. Look, I was assassinated by my good disciple.” Cult Master Yu Lian turned around and showed sword in the back of his chest. He then repeated his warning with good intentions. “Look, this sword was stabbed there by my good disciple.”

Cult Master Zu Yang was pleased with himself and said with a smile, “Master, you still have the face to carry that sword? What did you say when you assassinated grand-mistress?”

Cult Master Yu Lian chuckled with a pleased expression. “Your grand-mistress wanted to pass down the position to little junior brother, so if I didn’t assassinate her, how could I have become the cult master sacred teacher? How would you then have been able to assassinate me to become cult master? That’s right, who did little cult master assassinate to become the cult master sacred teacher?”