Tales of Herding Gods

The water qilin brought Qin Mu across several imperial tombs, and they finally saw the dragon qilin. The dragon qilin was currently forming brothership with a bunch of dragons and qilin, bragging as hard as he could.

“I reared a human who specially refines spirit pills for me…”

Those dragon kings and qilins were all full of envy. The dragon qilin was about to say more when he saw Qin Mu and the rest walking over; he immediately stopped.

Celestial Venerable Yu called the dragon qilin over, and when the dragon qilin saw how bad of shape Qin Mu was in, he was shocked and hurriedly said, “Let me carry Cult Master, I can walk steadily and not let Cult Master feel any bumps.”

Celestial Venerable Yu carried Qin Mu up the dragon qilin’s back, and the dragon qilin sneaked a glance at Qin Mu. His face was dark, and this made him uneasy. ‘I wonder if Cult Master heard what I said just now…’

Those dragon kings and the qilins looked at him enviously as he carried Qin Mu out. When they were finally far away, only then did they say, “Young and promising, truly young and promising.”

“Even though Long Pi is young, his horizons and knowledge are extraordinary. To rear a human to make pills for me, why did I not think of such an idea in my early years?”

…

The dragon qilin carried Qin Mu out of the underground space, and they came to the hall of the dilapidated temple. The phoenix also followed them. They looked around.

Gongsun Yan hurried off to tidy up the room. She said, “I usually stay in this temple, and I only tidied up a few rooms. Let me prepare another few for Sister Phoenix and Brother Qin.”

The phoenix took out a brilliant gold nest and said, “I’m not used to sleeping in other people’s bed, lay out my nest.”

Gongsun Yan nodded and took the bird’s nest.

Not long later, she finished tidying up. Qin Mu sat beside the bed, and his complexion was much better than before. “Sister, I’m much better, you don’t have to take care of me anymore. This fruit from Mother Earth is indeed not bad, I can feel my vital qi recovering. There’s not much of a problem now.”

Gongsun Yan examined him, and she saw that his complexion was indeed much better. She was very envious. “This fruit is extraordinary, it’s a fruit from the Primordial Tree, it’s called the Earth Aeon Dao Fruit. The Primordial Tree is the root of heaven and earth in Yuandu, absorbing the spirit energy and spirit influence of heaven and earth and adding Mother Earth’s own cultivation; this fruit is rare to come by. I’ve heard Mother Earth say that she rarely gives Earth Aeon Dao Fruit to other people. She only plucked some during the first year of Dragon Han to give to Celestial Emperor for treating the ancient gods to the banquet. When the Dragon Han Celestial Heavens was established, there weren’t many gods that had the right to eat the Earth Aeon Dao Fruit.”

Qin Mu turned back his head, and the halo also turned with him. It always being at the back of his head made him feel kind of uneasy.

The Earth Aeon Dao Fruit was located in the halo formed by Mother Earth’s blessing. It was shriveled up, but the power inside was simply astonishing. He could just bite it with one mouth to taste it.

However, it wasn’t the fruit that was making him uneasy, it was Mother Earth’s blessing.

He had seen most of the Seven Celestial Venerables, and behind their heads, they all had a halo, and that was the blessing of ancient gods.

The blessings of the ancient gods had all kinds of effects like longevity, prosperity, the ability to prevent aging, and undying, among others. However, Celestial Venerable Yu, who had received all of the ancient gods’ blessings, was still assassinated, and his soul was destroyed.

It was only a million years later that Qin Mu had revived him. Furthermore, he had lost his memory and seemed silly.

This showed that even the blessings couldn’t ensure one’s safety.

‘This halo that I was blessed with seems more like a surveillance camera. Even if I escape, Mother Earth can still track me through this halo. I wonder if I can get rid of this halo?’

His spirit was lacking vigor, and he yawned.

Gongsun Yan hurriedly got up and said, “Brother Qin, please take a rest first.”

She hurriedly left the room and closed the door. Qin Mu instantly stood up, and he was full of vigor. His exhaustion from earlier couldn’t be seen at all.

He executed his creation technique and transformed into a three-headed and six-armed form. With three heads, the light couldn’t reach the back of his head.

He examined the light carefully, and there were all kinds of extremely exquisite runes flowing inside the light. This halo was formed by runes, and these runes were in their finest particle form.

Qin Mu examined it and frowned.

Other than magnetism runes, there were also other kinds of runes. This was much more complicated than he had imagined.

It was fine if it were just magnetism runes, Granny Si had just deduced all of the more than one thousand and nine hundred magnetism runes. If the halo was constructed by runes that could form magnetism divine arts, he could still think of a way to solve it.

Yet the other runes in the light halo made it tricky for Qin Mu. These runes showed the lines and structures of the rivers, seas, lakes, and pools. Some had the shape of grass, trees, and flowers, and some even had profound lines that he didn’t know what they were used for.

It was obvious that the Great Dao that Mother Earth possessed was extremely complicated.

And the light was a completed divine art formed by the shape of these runes. In regards to how to escape Mother Earth’s tracking and sense, Qin Mu completely had no idea.

‘That’s right, Heavenly Teacher Zi Xi!’

His eyes lit up. As Scholar among the four great heavenly teachers, she might not be as erudite as Saint Woodcutter, but her cultivation was countless times higher than his. Maybe she would have a method to solve the halo.

Thinking until here, he stretched his hand to grab at the floating fruit, and when he grabbed the fruit, he encountered a problem when trying to pull the fruit out from the halo.

When he tried to pull the fruit out, countless rays would appear around the halo, and they were like fine lines that connected with the Dao fruit. Just moving it slightly made him encounter unimaginable obstruction!

‘Other people force people to buy and sell items while Mother Earth just forces her blessing and forces the Earth Aeon Dao Fruit on me, I can’t even reject it!’

The fury in Qin Mu’s heart was hard to quell. It was like the Dao fruit and halo were embedded behind him, and he couldn’t break out of it!

To other people, the blessing of Mother Earth and the Earth Aeon Dao Fruit were treasures they could only dream off, yet to Qin Mu, they were burdens and dangers. He couldn’t wait to throw them far away.

Waves of energy kept flowing into his divine treasures from the Earth Aeon Dao Fruit and were absorbed by his primordial spirit. They were then stuffed into the divine treasures to strengthen the Six Directions Land, making the land wider and deeper.

‘The Earth Aeon Dao Fruit’s benefits are still astonishing, but it’s a pity that Mother Earth’s consciousness is most likely inside. She can detect my location.’

Qin Mu saw that he couldn’t take out the fruit, so he could only give up. ‘I just need to absorb the energy inside the fruit, wouldn’t I then be able to break free from the supervision?’

He continued to absorb the energy from the Dao fruit according to the circulation of the Overlord Body Three Elixir Technique, transforming it into pure magic power. The Overlord Body Three Elixir Technique could also nourish his primordial spirit, his corporeal body, and strengthen his great divine treasure.

His cultivation and magic power rose like the tide, and if he continued to cultivate at this speed, he would have enough magic power to break the barrier of the Life and Death Divine Treasure.

‘The Builder Tree Innate Divine Bridge in my Six Direction Land is actually absorbing the energy of the Dao fruit, it’s even faster than my Overlord Body Three Elixir Technique!’

Qin Mu was endlessly astonished. The Builder Tree Innate Divine Bridge was Xu Shenghua’s idea, and it was both of them who had perfected it.

This Builder Tree was a different approach which resulted in equally similar marvel as the divine tree that was standing in the center of the Primordial Realm.

And now, the Builder Tree was absorbing the energy of the Dao fruit furiously to grow!

Qin Mu was stunned. The Builder Tree rooted in the Six Directions Land, this sight looked very similar to the ancient Primordial Realm!

The Primordial Realm also had a divine tree rooted in the center of heaven and earth!

“Xu Shenghua is no doubt the existence that is just inferior to me, this Builder Tree Innate Divine Bridge is secretly so compatible with the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth, remarkable!”

Qin Mu exclaimed in admiration, “He truly lives up to the reputation of the pseudo overlord body! If the Builder Tree Innate Divine Bridge manages to absorb the energy, I can definitely digest this Dao fruit even faster and let Mother Earth have one less method to supervise me!”

However, he realized he was still too young. Even though there was a lot of energy pouring over from the fruit, he was still trying to digest it. The Builder Tree was also becoming more and more realistic; however, he saw no signs of the power in the fruit lessening!

The energy he had exhausted over this period of time wasn’t even a thousandth of the energy in the Earth Aeon Dao Fruit, not even a millionth or a billionth!

“Mother Earth sure is gracious…”

Qin Mu’s head was aching endlessly. He pushed open the door to walk out, and at the door, the dragon qilin was lying on the wall with his legs spread apart. He sat on his butt and did a weird cultivation pose.

When he saw Qin Mu up, the dragon qilin hurriedly climbed up and asked, “Cult Master, is it time for food?”

“Yep.”

Qin Mu took out the spirit pills and poured him a full basin. He said heedlessly, “Fatty Dragon, how’s the progress of the Human Rearing Scripture?”

The dragon qilin lowered his head to eat and said, “The sixth chapter of the second volume isn’t done yet…”

He suddenly came to a realization, and his blood ran cold.

Qin Mu sneered. “You’re writing too slowly!”

The dragon qilin tucked his tail between his legs and didn’t dare to talk anymore.

Qin Mu sneered repeatedly, and the dragon qilin sweated buckets. Right at this moment, Gongsun Yan and Celestial Venerable Yu came back from the back of the temple, and she was holding a tray of fruits. When she saw Qin Mu walking out of the room, she said in delight, “Brother Qin, I’ve plucked some fruits for you to eat. I’ve grown all of them myself, they are very fresh!”

Qin Mu hurriedly gave his thanks and tried it out. The fruit left a fragrance on his lips, and he praised, “Big sister’s fruits are huge and sweet!”

Gongsun Yan was very happy, and she said, “Brother Lan, send some to Sister Phoenix, let her have a taste too.”

“No need.”

On the roof of the hall, the phoenix’s voice rang out, and Qin Mu raised his head to look. He saw the phoenix had transformed into a woman wearing bright clothes, and she was looking at Jade Capital City without shifting her gaze. It was as if she was anticipating a great enemy, and she was giving off intense fighting spirit.

Qin Mu’s heart stirred, and he jumped up onto the roof. The phoenix was displeased and shouted, “Go down! This is not a place you can come!”

Qin Mu hurriedly said, “I’ve refined some spirit pills for big sister to have a taste, see if it’s to your liking. If it isn’t, little brother shall change the prescription.”

The phoenix’s expression softened, and she said, “Don’t call me big sister and make us seem close and familiar. My name is Feng Qiuyun, you can just call me Goddess Qiuyun.”

She tried one and said, “The fire nature is a little on the heavy side. I’m originally a phoenix that cultivates the Great Dao of the Sacred Fire. Because the fire nature in the spirit pills is too low quality, it doesn’t suit my taste. Go down first, this is not where you should be. Put the matter regarding the spirit pills aside first, Mother Earth’s matter is important, just cultivate!”

Qin Mu said with a smile, “Sister Qiuyun, I usually don’t need to cultivate in seclusion, I’m used to running east and west, so I’m always cultivating on the move. When I fight, my cultivation speed would instead be faster. What is Sister Qiuyun looking at?”

Feng Qiuyun saw that he still called her sister and frowned slightly. However, she let him do as he pleased. “You cultivate faster when fighting?”

Qin Mu nodded.

“In that case, I’ll bring you to fight!”

Feng Qiuyun said, “Yan’er, you guys stay here, I’ll bring him to the capital city to fight!”

Gongsun Yan hurriedly said, “How is this okay? Brother Qin was just heavily injured, how can you bring him to fight? What if something happens to him, you can’t answer to Mother Earth.”

The phoenix on the roof seemed irritated and uneasy as she paced back and forth.

Qin Mu was bewildered and asked, “Sister Qiuyun, do you have anything on your mind?”

Feng Qiuyun didn’t reply. She stopped in her footsteps and continued to stare at Jade Capital City.

Gongsun Yan said, “Brother Qin, come down to eat some fruits, there is still a lot!”

Qin Mu could only jump down from the roof and fill his stomach with fruits. When the fruits in the tray were finished, Gongsun Yan still wanted to pluck more from the back garden. Qin Mu said with a smile, “Sister Yan, I’m already full. That’s right, what’s this small sapling behind your head?”

He stretched out his hand and touched the small sapling in the halo behind Gongsun Yan’s head.

Gongsun Yan gave a soft moan, and her face blushed. She lowered her voice and said bashfully, “Don’t touch… You can’t touch it.”

Qin Mu was puzzled. “Why can’t I touch it?”

Gongsun Yan’s face turned even redder, and she didn’t dare speak.

“Idiot!”

Feng Qiuyun jumped down from the roof and sneered. “That’s Yan’er’s primordial spirit, why are you touching her primordial spirit? It’s too stimulating for her, you might as well touch her body directly! Her primordial spirit is very weak, and she was originally only a small sapling grown from the core of an Earth Aeon Dao Fruit. Mother Earth got me to water her with the Water of Heavenly Yin, and only then was her intelligence born. However, what’s the core of the fruit without the pulp? Her primordial spirit has no nutrients to absorb, and so she’s very weak.”

Qin Mu’s face flushed and he muttered, “Sister Yan used your primordial spirit to save me, I have nothing to give in return…”

“Give her your hand in marriage then!” Feng Qiuyun seemed to be very hot-tempered as she paced back and forth.

Qin Mu’s eyes lit up. “I wonder if the Earth Aeon Dao Fruit can help big sister? Can I use the energy inside the Earth Aeon Dao Fruit to strengthen big sister’s primordial spirit?”

Gongsun Yan hurriedly rejected him. “How can this do? The Dao fruit was given to you by Mother Earth for you to cultivate to the Life and Death Realm, I…”

Qin Mu said with a smile, “The energy inside the Dao fruit is too much. It’s easy to cultivate to the Life and Death Realm, and I can’t finish it.”

He held Gongsun Yan’s hand and tried to guide some energy in the Dao fruit to her. Gongsun Yan had planned to reject it, but when the energy of the fruit came surging over, she instantly felt an incomparably comfortable sensation. It was as if she had returned back to the womb, back inside the core of the fruit, which was extremely comfortable.

The small sapling behind her slowly parted, and two tender leaves shook gently.

“No!”

Feng Qiuyun was suddenly jumping in fury, and phoenix flames covered her entire body. “I need to find that little bitch and teach her a lesson!”

Qin Mu was stunned and asked, “Who is Sister Qiuyun talking about?”

“Qi Xiayu!”

Feng Qiuyun couldn’t hide her anger as she ground her teeth against one another. “That little slut betrayed the phoenix race! Come, follow me to Jade Capital City, I’ll beat the little bitch to death!”