Tales of Herding Gods

The black tiger laid down on the ground, and Qin Mu hurriedly threw the chest onto his back. He then carried Hu Ling’er up with him while the three girls and the dragon qilin followed after.

The black tiger god immediately began sprinting and passed the mountains in a flash. His speed was unmatched.

Qin Mu lay close to the tiger’s back and listened to the tiger god’s breathing. It gradually grew faster, and he thought, ‘I was right, Senior Brother Tiger’s lifetime of cultivation has been ruined by Fatty Dragon in one day. He has been brainwashed by Fatty Dragon. Hope he doesn’t grow too fat or else I won’t be able to explain myself to Sacred Teacher… Right, it’s still unknown if we can break through the enemy camp and return to Li City…’

Right then, a sound akin to that of a huge dam crumbling and water flooding out deafened him. Qin Mu ignored the wind that was blowing in his face and looked forward. He saw sword lights tearing apart the devil qi and ripping a huge hole in the devils’ main camp.

What followed after were big calabashes floating in midair with divine arts practitioners around them. They executed their divine arts, and lightning poured out from the calabashes, raining down on the devils’ main camp.

Behind the lightning calabashes were countless sword pellets. Tens of thousands of them were swirling furiously. After the lightning strikes, countless swords rained down on the devils’ main camp.

Behind the sword pellets, there were waves and waves of flying ships. True Origin Cannons were installed on them, and with the cannon beams plowing the ground, the main camp was destroyed!

“It’s the army of Eternal Peace!” Qin Mu’s spirits rose swiftly. “It was Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor’s sword light that broke the camp! This fellow always secures his gains with the safest method. That devil god who rushed out of the main camp to kill us should have been the commander of the main camp. The moment he left, Imperial Preceptor saw the opening and took advantage of it to break the formation! Only Imperial Preceptor could be so sneaky!”

Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor’s sword skill had entered the path, and it cultivated his Dao heart. No opening of an enemy could escape his eyes nor his sword lights. It was the same for the formation of the enemies. He had turned his sword path into the path of war, and it was successful in every battle.

Qin Mu relaxed. Even though the black tiger god was already gasping for breath, he was still able to bring them out of the devil territory.

At the front, Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor and Duke Wei were opening a path for the flying ships behind them. The numerous soldiers with the lightning calabashes lowered themselves and landed on the flying ships.

Meanwhile in the back, there was an army formed by countless strange beasts and divine arts practitioners.

The black tiger god rushed into the battlefield and shook his body, flinging everyone away. He stood up and grabbed his two huge hammers to spin like a windmill, smashing the enemies around him like a storm.

Boom!

When the black tiger smashed his hammer against the ground, its boundless power swept in all directions. Countless devils were blown into the sky.

The black tiger god attacked the enemies’ battle formations while roaring. “You guys go back first. I shall stay and digest the spirit pills, using up the excess fats in my tummy so that my lord would recognize me!”

After saying that, the demon god destroyed everything around him and went to the frontlines to take the lead. He destroyed an enemy formation and opened his mouth wide to blow away a devil god that was rushing over with an intense beam of white light. It extended for a hundred miles before gradually fading away.

Qin Mu was dumbfounded. He turned to look at the round and fat dragon qilin that was thrown into the sky. He suddenly felt a pang of sorrow in his heart. ‘Sacred Teacher’s mount is still better. Even if he is slightly gluttonous, he still knows to train and maintain his figure. He won’t delay his cultivation…’

The dragon qilin was also dumbfounded. When he took a glance and saw Qin Mu’s sorrowful expression, he sunk into his thoughts.

A flying ship flew over from the sky and brushed past their bodies. A young general stood on its bow. With a wave of his hand, golden lotuses came into being. They lifted everyone up and brought them to the ship.

“Qin Feiyue, Little General Qin!” Qin Mu greeted in a hurry, full of astonishment.

Qin Feiyu wore a suit of armor, but he still bowed slightly to return the greeting. “Cult Master Qin, Princess Xiu. This general is wearing armor, so it’s inconvenient for me to greet.”

From behind him, a person rushed out—it was Qin Yu. There was a young dragon coiled around his body. “Qin Yu pays his respects to Cult Master Qin, Princess Xiu, and Saintess Xiang,” he swiftly greeted.

The two brothers had been born in the Qin Family of General of Heavenly Strategies, and they were part of Imperial Preceptor’s many disciples. They followed him to cultivate for a period of time, they had their success and assumed positions in the army.

Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor had many disciples, and most of them entered the army and took up high positions. Ling Yuxiu’s nature was open-minded, so she had made friends with a lot of heroes which were disciples of Imperial Preceptor.

The first time Qin Mu had met Ling Yuxiu, she had entered Great Ruins with Qin Feiyue, planning to draw the terrain to conquer Great Ruins at a later date.

The young dragon on Qin Yu’s body raised its head in curiosity and examined Qin Mu. It suddenly slithered down and climbed onto him. It rubbed its horns against Qin Mu’s face and gently cried out, “Ma ha…”

Qin Yu was stunned. He hurriedly took out his dragon bead and tried to summon his young dragon back, but it was reluctant to leave Qin Mu.

Qin Yu’s heart was on tenterhooks. ‘I was already no match for him in Imperial College. I got beaten by him several times, and after he became the Heavenly Devil Cult Master, I was even less of match for him. Is my dragon also going to be snatched away by him?’

Qin Mu plucked the little dragon and examined him over and over again. He then asked in astonishment, “Could this be the true dragon from Surging River Dragon Palace?”

Qin Feiyue nodded. “Imperial Preceptor called Little Poison King and saved its life. He then gave it to my brother.”

Qin Mu’s heart stirred slightly, and he asked with a smile, “Junior Brother Qin Yu, can you lend me this little dragon of yours for a few days?”

Qin Yu hesitated for a moment, and Qin Feiyue said with a smile, “Cult Master’s position is extraordinary, and he’s the grand chancellor of Heavenly Saint Academy. How could he lie to you?”

Qin Yu could only nod then, and Qin Mu said with a smile, “Junior Brother Qin Yu, I won’t borrow it for nothing. I will give you something good. After I return this small dragon to you, you will understand.”

The young dragon shrunk and climbed onto his earlobe. It hung there like an earring.

Qin Mu looked into the distance and saw the army of Supreme Emperor taking the chance when Eternal Peace Army broke through the enemy’s formation to rush over, intercepting the reinforcements of the devil army. They were like two punches that crashed ruthlessly on the enemy’s vital points.

Around the group, the flying ships were led by young officers into the fight. Cannonfire plowed through the ranks below, and the divine arts practitioners on the ship executed sword pellets. Their divine arts bombarded the ground.

Once the land was cleared, strong workers paved the land while the strange beast army and soldiers massacred any devils that had survived the main assault.

“The officers on the ships are also Imperial Preceptor’s disciples!” Ling Yuxiu said after looking around. “The disciples of Imperial Preceptor are usually honorary directorates of River Tomb Academy. They frequently give lessons over there, and most of them are experts from the army. Look, there are more familiar people over there. It’s senior and junior brothers from Imperial College!”

Qin Mu looked where she pointed and saw Wei Yong, Chen Wanyun, and the rest, so he immediately waved at them. However, they were focusing on executing their spirit weapons to bombard the ground and didn’t see.

After a moment, the flying ships dispersed the enemy’s formation. The devil army was blown into pieces, and with the strange beasts trampling their battles lines, it was a very bitter fight for the devils.

Qin Feiyue ordered the flying ships to stop and end their cannon fire. He wanted for the spirit weapons to continue attacking the enemies that were escaping in all directions while they secured the land.

He explained to Qin Mu, “The reason why our Eternal Peace Army is the vanguard is because the algebra skills of Supreme Emperor Heaven are too weak. Their formations are loose and normal. Imperial Preceptor felt their impact wasn’t enough so our Eternal Peace Army was sent first to break the devils’ formation.”

“Imperial Preceptor is a great talent. The algebra of Supreme Emperor Heaven is indeed somewhat weaker,” Qin Mu said.

Sang Hua blushed and lowered her head in silence.

“Even though Supreme Emperor Heaven’s algebra is very weak, their divine arts are very strong. They have what our Eternal Peace lacks in the path of cultivation so we can only rely on battle formations to charge while the close-combat fights will have to rely on the divine arts practitioners of Supreme Emperor Heaven.”

Qin Feiyue executed his sword pellets and looked down at the devils from above. He sighed ruefully. “I thought I was extraordinary in Celestial Being Realm, but after encountering these divine arts practitioners of Supreme Emperor Heaven, my eyes were opened. With my current cultivation, I can’t even be ranked here! Imperial Preceptor ordered that in this battle, no one is to leave the ship to fight on their own. This is because on the same realm, our soldiers are no match for the devils.”

The battle lasted for a long time, until the sun in the sky went out. Only then did both sides beat the gong to recall troops.

“We have clearly won the war so why do we have to retreat? Why can’t we just take this chance when the enemies are escaping to enter the city?” Sang Hua asked in bewilderment.

“Our military strength isn’t enough. If we rush into the city, we’ll only scatter our soldiers, giving the devils a chance to break us. Imperial Preceptor chose to retreat right after achieving victory because he is using the method of nibbling away at the devils. By continuously doing so, the devils will be weakened until they’re all exhausted. In that case, they won’t be able to pose any threat!”

Qin Mu recalled Saint Woodcutter saying that Supreme Emperor Heaven was undefendable, and he couldn’t help becoming worried.

Saint Woodcutter wouldn’t speak nonsense, so since he said it couldn’t be defended, it really meant that it was impossible to guard it. The devils would definitely not follow the battle plan Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor hoped they would use. Fu Riluo would definitely have other ideas.

In the darkness on the battlefield, numerous will-o’-the-wisps suddenly appeared from another world. They were lanterns on small boats sailing out of Youdu with elders whose faces were blurry. They were there to fetch the heroes that had died.

No matter if they were human or devil, as long as they became ghosts, they would be fetched by Youdu.

In the meantime, the army retreating below moved silently, ignoring the messengers of death. It seemed that they were used to this sight.

Qin Mu stood on the bow of the flying ship, overlooking the battlefield. He couldn’t help sighing ruefully inside his heart, but he didn’t say anything.

At that moment, a small boat sailed over in front of the flying ship. The elder in it stood up and raised the lantern to shine on Qin Mu.

“Qin Fengqing, you have disturbed Youdu. Earth Count invites you for a visit to talk about the cause and effects of your actions.”

Astonished internally, Qin Mu said with a smile, “Who is Qing Fengqing? Elder, you are mistaken.”

The lantern shone on his face, but the elder behind it didn’t say anything.

Suddenly, black light flashed, and the black tiger god appeared at the bow of the ship, blocking Qin Mu behind himself. “Messengers of Death only care about the matters of the dead. When have you started to manage the matters of the living as well?”

The face behind the lantern was blurry. “Youdu has its rules. Youdu does not look into the matter in the world of the living unless a person from there disrupts the order of Youdu. Youdu then has to take control of the situation.

“Qin Fengqing released forty-eight thousand souls from Youdu and broke the rules of Youdu. Fifteen days ago, we came to inform and invite him to Youdu to talk about it, but he has a treasure which blocks the messengers of death.”

Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor walked over and asked in a solemn voice, “What if I don’t let you take him?”

“Numerous worlds have been destroyed because of that,” the elder said from behind the lantern.

Qin Mu couldn’t help remembering what he’d seen before—Dutian Devil King wailing in the darkness and shedding sorrowful tears. “Imperial Preceptor, Senior Brother Tiger, no need to say more. I’ll go with him.”