Tales of Herding Gods

Even though Qin Mu pulled out the jade pendant, he didn’t take it off. He said with hesitation, “King Yama said that this jade pendant suppresses the devil nature in my body and I can’t show it easily to anyone. If the pendant leaves too far from my body, bad things will happen.”

Saint Woodcutter shook his head. “With me by your side, what bad things could happen? It’s at most small tricks like some curses or lightning strikes which are nothing to me.”

Qin Mu gritted his teeth and took the jade pendant off. ‘In the past, I’ve taken the jade pendant off and showed it to the people in the village. I’ve also shown it to Sister Jing and nothing bad had ever happened. Nothing should happen this time too.’

Saint Woodcutter took the jade pendant. He focused his gaze on it and nodded. “It is indeed the jade pendant of Founding Emperor’s bloodline. Eh, this one doesn’t seem to be exactly the same as those. There’s a strange sealing formation in its depths. Could it be the formation to seal your devil nature?”

“Someone had brought me out from Youdu and to Great Ruins. I was picked up by Granny Si. Besides me, the basket, and the swaddling cloth, I had only the jade pendant. The person who had sent me there had died of severe injuries…”

Qin Mu’s face dimmed as he continued to speak, “Granny Si is the saintess of my Heavenly Saint Cult, and it was her who had nurtured me into an adult. This jade pendant had always been on me. Granny Si and the rest couldn’t find any use for it besides forcing the darkness of Great Ruins back; however, it was only big enough to protect a baby.

“After that, the village chief discovered that the jade pendant had an ability which could lead us to Carefree Village, but it was only a trap. The jade pendant brought me to Fengdu and we encountered the devil god that had ambushed us outside it.”

“There are indeed even more secrets.” Saint Woodcutter fiddled with the jade pendant until his gaze went abnormal. “This jade pendant can not only lead you to Carefree Village, but it can also lead you to Youdu since it was forged there. On top of that, the person that forged it was extremely powerful, even more powerful than me. Strange, such a strong seal, what is it trying to seal?”

His gaze flickered as his curiosity arose. “Once I suppress the sealing formation in the jade pendant, I will be able to know what it is sealing…”

Qin Mu was also filled with anticipation. When King Yama had tried to do so, he had lost his consciousness and didn’t see what had happened afterward.

He was also very curious about what the jade pendant was sealing and what would happen after undoing the seal.

Saint Woodcutter looked at his expression and muttered to himself irresolutely while holding onto the jade pendant. He then stuffed the jade pendant back into Qin Mu’s hands.

The young man was puzzled.

“The person who forged this jade pendant is very powerful and should be one of the most powerful existences in Youdu. That is a mysterious place whose true face only a few people can discover. Even Founding Emperor didn’t know how many experts were hidden inside it,” Saint Woodcutter said.

“There must be a reason for this jade pendant to be by your side. I think it’s best not to probe into it. Since King Yama said to not let this jade pendant leave your body, you shall do as he says.”

He wanted to know what would happen if he suppressed the seal of the jade pendant, but he endured it.

Qin Mu could only take back his jade pendant and continue to carry it around his neck.

By then, there were already a number of divine arts practitioners of Supreme Emperor Heaven entering Li City and repairing the broken constructions, building up the city defenses. Qin Mu looked around, but didn’t see weapons like True Origin Cannon or Sunshot Divine Cannon.

Even though the abilities of Supreme Emperor Heaven’s divine arts practitioners were very strong and a level above the divine arts practitioners of Eternal Peace, their algebra was very weak. Weapons like True Origin Cannon required very high attainments in algebra, soo these people couldn’t forge them.

Even if Qin Mu drew the blueprints and gave it to them, they still probably wouldn’t be able to forge them. Only Eternal Peace Empire that had countless divine arts experts with strong algebra was able to do it.

“How did you come to Supreme Emperor Heaven?” Saint Woodcutter asked.

Qin Mu roughly told him how he had changed the sacrificial method of blood sacrifice and exchanged himself for a devil general, transporting himself into Supreme Emperor Heaven. Saint Woodcutter shook his head, “Truly reckless, exchanging yourself with people of the enemy camp. Aren’t you afraid of death?”

Qin Mu took in a long breath and said solemnly, “To defeat First Ancestor Human Emperor, it’s worth the risk! Can Sacred Teacher teach me the method to become a young true god?”

Saint Woodcutter was slightly stunned. “You want to become a young true god and defeat that army deserter of Hall of Human Emperors?”

Qin Mu nodded solemnly.

Saint Woodcutter smiled. “You don’t know about his background?”

Qin Mu was in a daze.

“You and him are the same, both of your surnames are Qin and both of you are my disciples. Fu Riluo calls me Heavenly Teacher which means the teacher conforming to the heavenly laws. It is also the teacher of Son of Heaven. I’m actually just a teacher. Back then, under Founding Emperor’s orders, I taught the princes and among them was that army deserter of Hall of Human Emperors.”

Saint Woodcutter walked toward the east city gate of Li City while reminiscing about the past. His gaze was faint.

“This prince had an extraordinary aptitude and his comprehension was also high. However, when the disaster erupted and the celestial heavens fell in battle, the prince was terrified of death and escaped. By coincidence or fate, he rescued some people and became revered as Human Emperor.

“I had also lived, so he had come to visit me numerous times. I wasn’t willing to meet him though. Afterward, I turned into a stone statue while my primordial spirit roamed the world in search of answers so I never saw him again. It’ll be very hard for you if you want to defeat him.”

Qin Mu clenched his hands into tight fists and said loudly, “However, Sacred Teacher must have a way, right?”

Saint Woodcutter scaled up the tall city tower. Since they needed to defend from the devil invasion, the city towers were all constructed very high, so scaling one was like climbing a mountain.

“I’ve taught him before, and his aptitude and comprehension were the best among all of the princes I’ve taught. He could master any divine art the moment he learned it and one comprehension of his was equivalent to a hundred of others. He respected his teachers and placed importance on the teachings. Even though I despise him for being a desert, I still admire him very much. If you want to defeat me, it’s useless if you just rely on me to teach you.”

Saint Woodcutter was like a mortal, ascending step by step instead of using any divine art. “I’m a teacher of Founding Emperor and have the reputation of Heavenly Teacher, in terms of battle power, I wasn’t the strongest at the time. On the contrary, my battle power could only be considered mid-level standard. If I teach you, you won’t surpass that deserter. On top of that”—he smiled—”haven’t I already taught you?”

Qin Mu was stunned. What he meant were the teachings on the rock, so logically, Saint Woodcutter had already taught him. However, Qin Mu was indignant about receiving this kind of teaching.

Saint Woodcutter clearly had an even more powerful divine art. In the battlefield, Qin Mu had met Fu Yuxiao and was almost killed by him. It would have certainly happened if not for Saint Woodcutter who had executed a move for Qin Mu to learn and escape from harm.

Since he had even powerful divine arts, why wasn’t he willing to teach?

Qin Mu wanted to learn the techniques and divine arts that could allow him to become a young true god. He wanted to unify his corporeal body and surpass First Ancestor Human Emperor on the same realm, to press him down in the mud, break his bones and make him puke blood. He wanted to beat him until he knelt on the floor and begged for forgiveness, until he kowtowed and apologized to the past human emperors!

“If I teach you my divine art, you won’t rack your brains to comprehend Calamity Sword. Opening Calamity Sword was a wonderful thing, but I can’t teach you that.”

Saint Woodcutter ascended the city tower and sat down. He patted the step beside him and signaled for Qin Mu to sit down as well.

Qin Mu sat down on the icy cold surface.

He turned back and saw that the black tiger god was standing below the tower. He didn’t come up.

“The divine arts I know are all hidden in the scriptures. You just need to use your heart to comprehend and you will be able to learn them. Those scriptures were taught to me by Founding Emperor.

“The things I’ve learned are too numerous and variegated, so even if I received Founding Emperor’s supreme arts, I still couldn’t take a step forward. I can only be considered mid-level among the gods and devils,” Saint Woodcutter explained. ‘In time, I realized that learning too many things might not be a good thing. Come, let’s watch the sunrise.”

“Sunrise?”

The corners of Qin Mu’s eyes twitched when he looked at the sky. A broken sun was gradually giving off a red glow. Its distorted form was stinging his eyes.

His face instantly became black, and he hurriedly looked away. He then suppressed the urge in his heart. Beside him, Saint Woodcutter’s face also gradually turned black and he lowered his head.

The sunrise of Supreme Emperor Heaven had made both of them feel like they were sitting on pins and needles. They were both restless.

Qin Mu was the Heavenly Devil Cult Master and skilled in algebra. He learned carpentry from Old Ma and sought perfection in all crafts. Even the furniture that Granny Si had personally made was all amended by Qin Mu, so how could such a horrible-looking sun in the sky be left alone?

Heavenly Devil Cult also had Craftsman Hall and Heavenly Works Hall that had strict requirements for their crafts. The two were from Great Educational Heavenly Devil Scriptures and were halls that had branched out from the techniques of calculation and craftsmanship in the scriptures. Great Educational Heavenly Devil Scriptures were imparted by Saint Woodcutter, so one didn’t need to think a lot to know that he had astonishing attainments in algebra.

The divine arts practitioners of Supreme Emperor Heaven were very proud that the suns in the sky were forged by their gods, but to the two of them, the suns were an eyesore.

In the sky, another sun gradually became brighter too, and the two suns hung motionlessly.

The corners of Saint Woodcutter’s eyes twitched, and he tried his best to not raise his head. “The fellows of Supreme Emperor Heaven have already forgotten all about craftsmanship!”

“The god that forged the sun seems to be called Sun Forger,” Qin Mu said with his head lowered.

“Bah! What Sun Forger? I know that fellow! He was merely a chef in the celestial heavens!”

Qin Mu was stunned.

Saint Woodcutter got up and said, “You have to comprehend the method to become a young true god by yourself; it’s better than me teaching you. What I teach is mine after all and what you comprehend are the things that suit you the most. I will bring you to the door, but you will have to walk the rest of the journey by yourself.”

He raised his head to look into the distance. The south, west, and north of Li City still had devil qi surging around like huge pot lids covering the heaven and earth. “I’ve come to Supreme Emperor Heaven this time only to stop the devils from sacrificing Supreme Emperor Heaven. Fu Riluo is a wise commander and withdrew because he didn’t have enough power to deal with my abrupt arrival. The next time he comes, he will bring forth a world-shattering blow!”

Qin Mu’s heart jumped in shock and he hurriedly asked, “Can Supreme Emperor Heaven block it?”

Boom!

The ground trembled and Qin Mu hurriedly looked toward the source of the sound. In a battlefield far away, numerous divine arts practitioners of Supreme Emperor Heaven piled up the corpses of the devils and humans that had died in battle, turning them into corpse mountains.

Suddenly, the ground split apart and huge sacrificial altars gradually rose from the ground. The glow of blood sacrifice flashed, and a beam of red light rushed into the sky. Within it, tall stone statues appeared.

Boom, boom. Violent tremors reached them as the battlefield shook non-stop. More and more sacrificial altars appeared.

On them, beams of red light that were like tall towers rushed into the sky, and stone statues formed on the altars!

Agitation filled Qin Mu, and he looked at Saint Woodcutter, anticipating his reply.

“We can’t” Saint Woodcutter poured cold water all over him. “We can only delay them for a period of time.”