Tales of Herding Gods

The woman wore a black top and black skirt while silver accessories adorned her head. There were also over a dozen silver bracelets with bells on her wrists. Her appearance was impressive, and soon a person walked over to take the portrait from her hands to hang it on the announcement board.

The woman of True Heaven Palace looked down at them from high above and said, “This fugitive from Great Ruins is extremely important and will come from the flaming desert in the next few days so you guys have to be alert. If you see him, don’t make a commotion so he won’t be alerted.”

Xiong Qi’er wanted to run over to look, but Qin Mu grabbed her tiny hand to prevent her from getting lost.

There was a large crowd in front of the announcement board, and it was impenetrable. However, Xiong Qi’er still managed to squeeze all the way forward while pulling Qin Mu behind her. He then raised his head to see himself on the painting. On top of it were written—Great Ruins’ Fugitive Qin Mu.

Xiong Qi’er was both surprised and delighted. “Fatty Dragon, you are also beside big brother! Only I’m missing”   Up.dated b.y B o x Novel. com

The surroundings had been full of noise moments ago, but everyone fell silent at that moment. They looked at Qin Mu.

He seemed to not notice anything as he looked at the announcement board with a smile. “This is the work of Pangong Tso; he painted it personally. Xing An also had a portrait of me which was drawn by him, so I can recognize his strokes.”

Whoosh!

The surroundings instantly emptied as the crowd dispersed, moving as far away from him as possible.

Qin Mu paid no mind to it and continued to smile. “Grandmaster still has a wide circle of friends and knows quite a lot of people. It’s a pity he ran too fast and I didn’t manage to kill him.”

“Great Ruins’ fugitive, die!”

An angry shout came from behind him followed by a whoosh as the tree man raised its gigantic feet to step on him. The tree man was incomparably heavy and its power was immense. Since there were a lot of trees and their prices weren’t high, divine arts practitioners of West Earth would usually choose them as their main transportation and weapon in battle.

The tree man that the female disciple of True Heaven Palace had chosen was of a different breed, though. Its branches, trunk, and leaves were crimson like blood, and based on its appearance, it seemed to have gone through numerous battles, gaining quite an awe-inspiring air about itself.

Qin Mu stretched out his hand in a grabbing motion, and a ball of green light flew out from the tree man’s body which froze it in place. Qin Mu had taken out the soul of the tree. Xiong Xiyu had imparted Ten Thousand Spirit Nature Technique to him so even though he felt that it wasn’t as easy for men to cultivate as to women, he had still put in quite some effort into it.

The disciple of True Heaven Palace was astonished, and the silver accessories on her head suddenly flew up, transforming into a silver phoenix that rushed at Qin Mu. The silver bracelets on her arms also flew out to encase his head.

Flames blazed around Qin Mu’s body and before the silver phoenix and silver bracelets could even reach him, they turned into a puddle of molten metal.

The female disciple of True Heaven Palace saw that her situation was bad and immediately turned to leave. Her clothes fluttered and brought her to soar into the sky. She didn’t even have to use any flying spells.

“Ten Thousand Spirit Nature Technique is really miraculous, even the clothes can allow one to fly,” Qin Mu exclaimed with admiration. “Seems like I have still underestimated this technique.”

The woman grunted and fell from the sky.

“Big trouble!” The crowd in the surroundings fled in all directions while shouting among themselves. “A lowly man is going to kill a female master!”

Qin Mu looked around and saw that the street was already empty. The doors and windows of all the houses were shut, and there wasn’t a soul in the surroundings. Only the dragon qilin and Xiong Qi’er were still standing beside him while the female disciple of True Heaven Palace was sprawled on the ground. The fall had stunned her.

“Do you know how to reach True Heaven Palace?” Qin Mu asked with a friendly expression

That female disciple of True Heaven Palace suddenly flipped forward and the hairpins in her head shot toward his eyes like swords. She quickly moved to a house beside the street and she raised her hand to pluck down the god statue on the inscribed board.

Boom!

The house suddenly stood up and transformed into a giant. The two small rooms became the fists which smashed down on Qin Mu!

The hairpins froze in place when they got near Qin Mu’s eyes. The formations in them swirled, and the hairpins melted into droplets of molten silver.

Qin Mu raised his head, and the star lights shone in his eyes, sweeping toward the house giant. Through a window, he could see a family shivering inside and not daring to move.

“I knew these god statues had no use.” Two beams of light shot out from his eyes and swept past the female disciple of True Heaven Palace. He said indifferently, “As divine arts practitioners, you care nothing about these ordinary people. I despise you.”

The two beams became shorter and shorter, returning back into his eyes. The formations that were swirling crazily vanished and the stars gradually dimmed.

The house giant landed down with a crash and transformed back into a circular house.

Qin Mu turned to leave as the woman on the roof froze. She didn’t dare to move.

When Qin Mu picked Xiong Qi’er and jumped onto the dragon qilin’s back, the sound of the door opening came from below. The female disciple of True Heaven Palace revealed a look of terror and lowered her voice. “Don’t open the door…”

Creak.

The door slowly opened more, and the woman screamed, “Don’t open the doo—”

Her vital qi couldn’t stabilize her body anymore and blood lines appeared on her neck and waist. Two chunks of flesh then slid off from her waist and tumbled down to the street. Her two legs fell off the roof afterward.

“Cult Master is really benevolent.” Outside the small town, the dragon qilin couldn’t help exclaiming in admiration. “That woman was so ruthless yet Cult Master—”

Just as he said that, he heard the screams of the woman behind him, so he turned back to look. He was just in time to see the sight of her lower body falling off. This made him unable to resist a shiver.

Qin Mu sighed ruefully. “I’m not benevolent. For divine arts practitioners to put their hands on ordinary people is already considered a taboo. We are all human so how can we recklessly take the lives of others just because we’re stronger? When I was in Eternal Peace Empire and Great Ruins, the battles between divine arts practitioners rarely involved the innocent. Even when I fought with Pangong Tso, we also fought outside the city. When Granny Si fought with Border Dragon City Lord, she had also done so in the sky above the city instead of recklessly going at each other among the common folk in the streets.”

The dragon qilin shut his mouth and didn’t continue the conversation.

He had originally planned on praising Qin Mu’s benevolence for not taking the life of that female disciple of True Heaven Palace, but he hadn’t expected she would still end up killed by him. The benevolence that Qin Mu mentioned was only targeted at the ordinary people.

Ever since he was young, Qin Mu had been taught by the nine elders of Disabled Elderly Village, learning from their words and examples. Even though he carried the title of Heavenly Devil Cult Master, he could still clearly differentiate between right and wrong.

Based on that point alone, he had surpassed many of the righteous people in most of the reputable sects.

“Qi’er should know the direction of True Heaven Palace, right?” Qin Mu asked.

Xiong Qi’er shook her head. “My mother brought me out to avoid pursuit so we walked through many desolate places and I don’t remember the path back.”

Qin Mu muttered to himself irresolutely for a moment before saying, “Fatty Dragon, let’s head along the official road. We can ask for the way once we reach a big city. The people there should know the direction of True Heaven Palace.”

The dragon qilin followed the official road and covered dozens of miles. Gradually, there were more and more people traveling on land. The road was very wide and flat, much better than in Eternal Peace.

The river beside the road was also so clear that the bottom could be seen. There were fish, turtles, and snakes, and they were all not small. There was also divine arts practitioners and martial arts practitioners hurrying on their way over the water. The women were in the majority, but there was also quite some men.

The technique that those people cultivated most likely also followed the path of all things having spirits and all things having soul. Some of the women and men would stop on the river’s surface and call out to it. Waves would instantly rise up high, speeding them forward.

There were also passers-by on the road, and many of them were hurrying on their way on tree men. There were also vine men, but their speed was slower.

There were also divine arts practitioners riding all kinds of flying beasts in the sky. Their multicolored wings reflected light, making them very eye-catching.

“Seems like we are close to the city.” Qin Mu let out a sigh after seeing the increasing number of people.

Suddenly, clattering sounds rang out, and Qin Mu instantly saw a strange sight. Numerous maidens rushed out from a col and flipped many small mountains in a rush to the main road.

What was carrying those maidens was a huge chest which was over a dozen feet large. It took wide strides and ran very quickly.

Some more girls rushed out from a village nearby, but what they were riding was a wooden boat. It had also grown feet and was running on land.

Qin Mu was dumbfounded. It was as though the chest and wooden boat had turned into spirits, able to sprint like the dragon qilin. It was truly weird.

‘There’s anything and everything in the boundless world, and the spells and divine arts of other places can also be used by Eternal Peace. If this kind of spell was promoted to Eternal Peace Empire, wouldn’t that be wonderful?’

Qin Mu blinked and thought to himself, ‘However, it would cause some confusion, wouldn’t it? I reckon those with strong magic power would probably ride mountains to show off.’

The girls were very curious about the dragon qilin he was riding, and the huge chest with over a dozen legs came over. It was very big and numerous yards in length and width. There were also silk cushions that were like clouds laid out on the top. Seven girls sat on them as they examined the dragon qilin and Qin Mu.

The girl in the lead should have been their leader, and it was her who was using her magic power to control the chest, making it carry them forward.

She looked very pretty when she smiled, and the huge eyes under the tassels weaved by silver pendants were like crescents. Her voice had a unique accent of West Earth, but before she even spoke, she already started giggling. “Little bubba, your big pig runs really fast. Where did you get it?”

Qin Mu was stunned for a moment, then came to realization that little bubba was probably little brother. He smiled and said, “This is a dragon qilin, a mixed breed between a dragon and a qilin.”

Xiong Qi’er popped out from the dragon qilin’s fur and revealed her small head that looked around with curiosity. The girls were surprised and found the little girl to their liking, wanting to kiss and hug her. Qin Mu was helpless and could only let the dragon qilin move closer to them. He brought Xiong Qi’er up and sent her onto the chest.

He started chatting with the girls and found out that the reason they were surprised was because he was bringing Xiong Qi’er along. West Earth’s social customs were different from what he was familiar with. After a man and a woman went through visiting marriage, if a child was born, the son would be sent to the man’s house while the daughter would be kept by the woman.

This social custom resulted in a strange situation in West Earth. The families were either all female or all male, and numerous villages were made up of solely men or women.

When the girls saw Qin Mu bringing Xiong Qi’er, they thought she was his daughter. However, looking at how Qin Mu wasn’t that old and looked like a sunshine-bright boy, they changed their minds. He didn’t look too young to have kids, so they couldn’t help becoming astonished.

“Little sisters, can I ask you girls about something?” Qin Mu was puzzled by the social customs there and probed, “I’ve met a girl once, and she invited me to her house, but she told me not to walk through the main door but flip through her window instead. What etiquette is this?”

The girls all started to giggle, and the eyes of the girl in the lead curved into crescents again. “Perhaps little bubba isn’t silly. When a girl asks you to flip through the window, it means she wants to smooch with you, just like how the necks of the mandarin ducks coil together, rubbing against each other.”

Qin Mu scratched his head in puzzlement. “What mandarin duck coiling?”

The girl in the lead jumped onto the dragon qilin’s head and smiled. “Don’t move.” After she said that, she leaned into his chest and grabbed his hands to put on her chest. She moved her face over and her long neck went into his embrace. She rubbed her face against his, and her earlobes touched with his, giving him a smooth and intimate feeling that was indescribably soft and charming.

Qin Mu’s face flushed as he was left at a loss. All he could smell was the fragrance of the girl.

She chuckled and returned back to her chest. The other girls looked at his intoxicated look and all laughed loudly in delight.

“Big sister, was your heart moved? Why don’t you take him for visiting marriage?” one girl even teased.

She took a glance at Qin Mu, and her heart was pretty moved. She said hesitantly, “It’s just if he is willing or not…”

The other girls also nudged her, and she took a fragrance pouch out, throwing it to Qin Mu with a giggle. “Little bubba, you can climb through my window tonight, I’ll teach you how the mandarin ducks do it.”

The women in West Earth were daring and much more fiery than the girls in Eternal Peace Capital. Qin Mu felt that he couldn’t digest all that was happening and immediately changed the topic. “Do you know how to reach True Heaven Palace?”