Tales of Herding Gods

“Founding Emperor?”

Qin Mu seemed not to have heard clearly and asked with a smile, “Which Founding Emperor?”

Niu Sanduo still hadn’t completely woken up from his shock yet, and he muttered as though he was dreaming, “Of course there’s only one Founding Emperor, which other Founding Emperor could it be? He is that eye-catching and, even in such boundless mass of common people, you can still see him with just a look. No matter how dazzling other people are, your gaze would be captured by him in an instant. He naturally has the bearing of a leader, and no matter how outstanding other people are, they are merely stars that revolve around him…”

Qin Mu came to his senses and immediately looked towards that pleasure boat.

Founding Emperor!

The founder of Founding Emperor Era, his old ancestor!

Founding Emperor was also here!

Could this be the start of the Founding Emperor Era?

His heart instantly gave birth to an incomparably strong intention, and that was to meet Founding Emperor!

To meet him, to meet this old ancestor of his. No matter what, he had to meet him!

Qin Mu rose from the pleasure boat and chased after the pleasure boat Founding Emperor was on. The old bull immediately followed after him while the woman on the pleasure boat was astonished. She asked with a smile, “Good brother, why have you suddenly left?”

“Big sister, I’ve met someone I know!”

Qin Mu turned around in midair and bowed. “That person is extremely important to me, I’ve forgotten to inform big sister when I was in a hurry, please pardon me! Where does big sister stay? I’ll visit you and apologize after I’m done.”

That woman waved her hand and smiled. “If you are urgent, just go ahead. Big sister’s surname is Zhu, and my name is Que’er, I live in Vermillion Bird Palace. Just come and find me when you are free. Vermillion Bird Palace is at the south of the celestial heavens!”

Qin Mu acknowledged and turned around. He increased his speed and chased after that pleasure boat.

“There’s still someone called Zhu Que’er.”

The old bull followed after Qin Mu and said with a muffled voice, “Vermillion Bird is one of the four deities, and the old celestial heavens have four deities. South Deity is none other than Vermillion Bird. This woman really isn’t afraid of dying early by calling herself Zhu Que’er. However, the abilities of this woman aren’t weak either, she can be on par with old master.”

Qin Mu was slightly stunned. “South Deity is from the Vermillion Bird God Race? Isn’t Qi Xiayu the South Deity?”

The old bull explained, “Qi Xiayu is Southern Heaven Red Deity, a nine-headed phoenix, she’s different from South Deity. This Qi Xiayu is rumored to be a god of the High Emperor Era. She later submitted to the enemy and has quite the power. However, since South Deity exists, she can’t be called South Deity, thus she can only be called Red Deity.”

Qin Mu’s heart stirred, and he turned back to look at that woman. He saw the pleasure boat had already left into the distance.

“Zhu Que’er? Vermillion Bird Palace? What relationship does Zhu Que’er have with the South Deity?”

He was anxious to catch up with Founding Emperor, so he temporarily set this matter aside to focus on chasing after the pleasure boat that Founding Emperor was on.

Zhe Que’er saw Qin Mu off, and a few maids walked forward to ask, “Why is goddess so good to that little brother? That little brother didn’t even announce his name!”

“Even if no one knows him for the past hundred years, he will be known throughout the world in one assembly. I view him as such a person.”

Zhu Que’er has slender eyes, and she said with a smile, “I view him to be an extraordinary person, and he will definitely be successful in the future. Furthermore, that bull that he refers to as senior brother is terrifyingly strong. There aren’t many such existences even in the celestial heavens. For that bull to follow him even when he’s so powerful, that boy is naturally not a person with no particular talent. Let us go, sail to the celestial heavens. I wonder if Earth Count and Heaven Duke have already arrived. We can’t let them and His Majesty wait for long.”

There were numerous pleasure boats on the celestial river that were weaving through one another while the huge beasts in the river were raising waves as they pulled on the boats. Qin Mu looked around, and he couldn’t find the pleasure boat that Founding Emperor was on.

Suddenly, low cries rang out and even though they were very low, the sound was very loud and vibrated his thoracic cavity. A big kun that was over ten miles long flapped its fins and leaped out of the water, raising quite a huge wave.

Qin Mu turned to his side and saw the waves raised by the big kun flying up to the sky. The fins of the big kun were like wings as it flapped them in the air while giving off a long cry.

There were no people with astonishing creation abilities like in Eternal Peace, but they had all kinds of strange and rare huge beasts that were used as modes of transportation. It was truly not bad.

“The pleasure boat has already docked!”

Qin Mu’s eyes lit up, and he saw the pleasure boat that was docked beside a jade platform across the wave. However, Founding Emperor was no longer on the pleasure boat, and those people that were with him were gone as well.

There were several pleasure boats docked beside the jade platform as well, and some of the people were wearing old-fashioned clothes walking down from the boats. There was nothing beside the jade platform; there was only a huge green-backed fish floating under the water.

The people walking down the boat boarded the back of the fish as though they were standing on a small island.

“That’s the dock where they change their mode of transportation!”

The old bull said in a hurry, “They have changed to the big kun!”

Qin Mu immediately rushed into the air and chased after the big kun that had broken out of the water earlier. The old bull behind him stepped on the air and gave off loud thumping sounds to catch up to him. With a gentle throw, Qin Mu landed on his back.

The old bull exerted force, and the space in front of him almost exploded as he turned into a beam of green light to chase after the big kun.

Niu Sanduo carried Qin Mu to close in on the big kun that was flapping its fins. The big kun was extraordinary and had an extremely fast flying speed, but it was still greatly inferior to the old bull.

As they got closer, Qin Mu got calmer instead. He said with a low voice, “Senior Brother Sanduo, don’t catch up to it first.”

The old bull hurriedly slowed down, and he asked puzzledly, “Don’t you want to see Founding Emperor?”

“I definitely have to see him, but I don’t know which era this is, we don’t know where we are and what time we are in. I suspect…”

He had a weird expression, and he said with a low voice, “I suspect we have come to some point of time in the past. This isn’t Founding Emperor Era.”

The old bull nodded his head and said, “This is indeed not Founding Emperor Era. Even though Founding Emperor Era is also very magnificent, it wasn’t on the scale on this era. Also, this place is too behind the times, I suspect this is High Emperor Era…”

Qin Mu continued to analyze. “It isn’t High Emperor Era either. Even though I don’t know much about the High Emperor Era, I also know the end of High Emperor Era was extremely chaotic. This is also not the Crimson Light Era, as Crimson Light Era was mostly filled with three-headed and six-armed people. However, the gods here are of all shapes and sizes.”

The old bull stared with his eyes wide open and cried out, “Could we have returned back to the incomparably ancient Dragon Han Era?”

Qin Mu had a weird expression, and he said softly, “Senior brother, calm down. The Surging River is extremely weird, I have encountered the fog on the Surging River as well and even returned to the end of High Emperor Era forty thousand years ago in a desert world at the source of the Surging River. There’s no need to make a fuss over this kind of small incident.”

The old bull opened his mouth wide open and stuttered. “Y-you met the peculiarity?”

Qin Mu deduced and said, “I brought the chest and the dragon qilin to escape Xing An’s pursue along with Grandmaster, we went back forty thousand years ago by accident and experienced the war in which High Emperor Era was wiped out. However, it was only for one night. When the sky turned bright, Bai Qu’er and the rest of High Emperor Era faded away like black sand. Will this world vanished after daybreak like the last time and send us back into the Great Ruins…”

The old bull coughed and broke his train of thought. “Junior brother, I’m afraid there’s no night here.”

Qin Mu was stunned and looked at the sky. He saw a huge sun hanging high in the sky above; there was no possibility of night in this ancient celestial heavens!

The old bull said, “Founding Emperor said he had also experienced a peculiar incident before and vanished for a few months. I suspect this peculiar incident that we are encountering is the same incident that Founding Emperor encountered! Which also meant that we will probably be trapped here for a few months like the young Founding Emperor was.”

Qin Mu said solemnly, “When Founding Emperor encountered the peculiarity, it should have been thirty to forty thousand years ago, he and I are people from two different eras. I don’t know what even weirder incident can happen if I meet him. Senior Brother Sanduo, does Founding Emperor recognize you?”

The old bull was slightly stunned, and he said, “Of course he does. Founding Emperor is very good to me, he has invited me a few times to govern a celestial palace, but I was scared of trouble, so I rejected him.”

“When did both of you get to know each other?” Qin Mu continued to ask.

The old bull gave it some thought and said, “I had always been following old master, old master was herding bulls from a big family in his early years, and I was a bull he was herding. I saw old master learning fist skills secretly, and I also followed him to learn. One day, I opened my mouth to speak, and I shocked old master, thus we became good friends. When the big family knew the ultimate art that was passed down in their family was learned by their cowherd boy, they wanted to kill him. Therefore I carried old master to run and run, and we ran for a very long time until we met Founding Emperor. He defeated the pursuers, and so we followed him. At that time, he was only a divine arts practitioner on the Seven Stars Realm.”

“That would be very early. He will definitely recognize you.”

Qin Mu jumped down from his back and opened up his taotie sack. He took out a yellow joss paper and said, “Senior Brother Sanduo, transform into a human first.”

The old bull transformed into a bull-headed god and Qin Mu pasted the yellow joss paper on his forehead. “This is a yellow joss paper from Youdu Official Sovereign, if it’s pasted on you, others won’t be able to see your true face. In this way, you don’t have to worry about Founding Emperor recognizing you. I only have this one piece, but I seized this yellow joss paper from Benevolent Saintly King Equal to Heaven, therefore it must be something good.”

The old bull lifted the yellow joss paper and asked curiously, “Is it as effective if it’s stuck other places? It’s weird to stick it on the head, it feels weird and blocks my vision.”

“I haven’t tried sticking it other places.”

Qin Mu examined him, and he indeed couldn’t see his face. “Why don’t you try it?”

The old bull peeled off the yellow joss paper and hid it on his body. “Can you still see my face?”

Qin Mu still couldn’t see his face and could only roughly see that he was an elder. He said with a smile, “Official Sovereign’s yellow joss paper can still be used like this? He stuck it on my face so I thought it could only be pasted on the face. Let us catch up to Founding Emperor now!”

He executed a creation technique to change his facial features, and it was completely different from how he looked originally.

The old bull operated his magic power and brought him to move as fast as lightning. They quickly caught up to that big kun, and they landed on its back with a flash of light.

The big kun got pressed down rapidly by Niu Sanduo and descended quickly from the sky.

“Which high god is pulling a joke on small god?”

That big kun cried out, “Come down quickly, come down quickly! High god’s body is too heavy, small god can’t take it!”

The old bull’s face flushed and he hurriedly circulated his magic power to lift himself up. That big kun was about crash onto the ground when the pressure on him suddenly lessened. He hurriedly flapped his fins to pull his body up, brushing by a majestic bird-headed god with feathers like clouds.

That god was blazing with sacred fire, and it was like he was in a blazing sun. He looked curiously at the people on the fish, and he was none other than the Great Sun Sovereign Qin Mu had seen earlier.

The big kun passed through the palaces and swooped down again to pass through a flying bridge before pulling his body up again to soar into the clouds. Only then did he stabilize his body and said with a smile, “High god, you got on halfway and didn’t pay the fare like the other, you have to give more spirit pills.”

The old bull’s face flushed and muttered, “What spirit pills?”

The passengers on the fish back were all looking at Qin Mu and Niu Sanduo who had suddenly appeared. One of the young men said with a smile, “Kuns like to eat Jade Dragon Pills and because the celestial heavens are too vast, kun gods would ferry passengers around the celestial heavens and receive some Jade Dragon Pills to fill their stomachs. If both of you don’t have Jade Dragon Pills, I have some here, I can help both of you to pay first.”

Qin Mu gave his thanks. “In that case, many thanks. Senior brother, how may I address you?”

That young man was extraordinarily handsome, and he said with a smile, “My surname is Yin, and my name is Chaojin. How do I address senior brother?”

Qin Mu’s eyes sparkled. “Yin Chaojin? The surname Yin is very rare, could Senior Brother Yin possibly know someone called Son of Heaven Yin?”

That young and handsome man was astonished, and he burst out into laughter. “Am I that famous? Truth to be told, I call myself Son of Heaven Yin in that small place of ours. However, these are all jokes between everyone in the countryside. This person here is Brother Qin!”