Tales of Herding Gods

Time swept through the mountains and lands, bringing away the people in the past. Only memories and forgotten histories were left behind.

Time was like a song, and one that was definitely tragic.

Qin Mu stood on the chest while embracing the girl when sunlight shone down on them like time. When the rays landed on them, the young girl in his embrace became flying sand which flowed back with the darkness.

The penetrating sunlight sprinkled the golden desert and shone upon the scale-shaped dunes. The place had been a valley once. Even though the mountains in the surroundings weren’t high, they created an enchanting scenery.

Yet the passage of time only left behind a sky full of yellow sand.

Qin Mu jumped off the chest. Even though he had known that it would happen, it was still hard to not feel depressed.

The chest opened its cover and threw the dragon qilin out. The chest also seemed to be puzzled, though. There was clearly several hundred people in its stomach earlier so how had they suddenly vanished.

The dragon qilin was terrified and uneasy. He was very superstitious and extremely afraid of ghosts. Now he was so frightened that he buried his head in the sand.

Qin Mu raised his head and looked at the bare cliff in front of him standing alone in the yellow desert. After tens of thousands of years of sandstorms, it hadn’t eroded or crumbled.

On the cliff, there were the writings that he had left behind tens of thousands of years ago.

“Human lives are greater than heaven!”

Qin Mu was stunned. He had really left something that belonged to him in history.

Everything that happened last night wasn’t an echo of history or even a dream. He couldn’t understand the marvelous experience he had this night, couldn’t explain how he had returned to thirty-forty thousand years ago and why he would experience a darkness invasion with the people of Hundred Prosperities City.

He also couldn’t explain why he had returned to the present and why High Emperor Era would vanish after the darkness.

Yet everything had truly happened!

He had fought together with the people of tens of thousands of years ago, saw how they laid down their lives and what suffering they faced. He also saw the other celestial heavens about to destroy the celestial heavens of High Emperor Era, and the deaths and devastation that caused.

‘The era of High Emperor was destroyed and the era of Founding Emperor was also destroyed. Is it the same celestial heavens that made it happen?’

He had a guess in his heart, but he didn’t have any solid evidence to prove it.

‘Maybe, the ones that want to destroy Eternal Peace are the same celestial heavens? If so, where are they from?”

Beneath the chest, Pangong Tso got out silently and raised his head to look at the lone cliff in the desert. He examined those words on and said leisurely, “Cult Master Qin, you must be very disappointed and sorrowful now, right? Maybe that girl from Bai Family liked you and you might have liked her very much too, but she knew that you would have to leave, which is why she didn’t say it out. Time is too ruthless…”

His gaze flickered, and the calabash behind him suddenly opened so a lump of blood silently floated up. It made no sound.

Pangong Tso stared at Qin Mu’s back. The lump of blood in the sky was like a venomous snake wiggling its body. His voice was also like a venomous snake tunneling into Qin Mu’s heart, gnawing onto his soul and destroying his Dao heart. This made his youth reveal a flaw.

“If you had remained in that era, maybe your life would be completely different from now.”

Pangong Tso slowly moved forward while adjusting his breath, making his voice more and more bewitching. He told him about a reality that was completely different. “You two might have fallen into the river of love, might have had a lot of children. You might have been faced with numerous setbacks and dangers, but your lives would have been so much more interesting. The come and go of history would be filled with gorgeous colors that you little husband and wife would have experienced… What a pity.”

His tone suddenly changed and became toxic. “What a pity you two had to separate. Separation of tens of thousands of years. Whatever love or liking, whatever future would all become yellow sand throughout such a long time, transforming into fabrication!”

He revealed a strange smile, and his voice also became warped along with his strange smile. “That girl of Bai Family might already be long dead. After you left, she most likely died in the hands of the pursuers! Even if she escaped, she might have already married someone else, given birth to children, and become an old lady. Only when her beauty would have started to fade would she sometimes remember that youth who had suddenly appeared and cupped her face! Cult Master Qin, do you have sorrow in your heart? Is it gnawing at your soul, poisoning it?”

Pangong Tso went closer and closer to him. His voice was strange, like that of the devil king whispering from outer space, luring a person into falling from grace. “She has died, becoming dust. Thirty to forty thousand years ago, in this desert that hides history, other than you, this sentimental boy, no one even remembers her anymore. Just like that, she has drowned in the dust of history and is buried under the rolling yellow sand.”

He chuckled and said, “When young, you never know the taste of woe or sorrow, and up to the top floor you loved to go. Up to the top floor, you loved to go! Now sorrow and woe you’ve tasted, and the bitterness withal, to speak, you wish, and yet you stall! Cult Master Qin, your inner heart is just that brittle, let me end it…”

He was about to make a move, but behind him, the dragon qilin’s body grew larger and larger. He suddenly raised his huge claws and pushed him to the ground.

Pangong Tso hurriedly rose, but was smacked back again. The dragon qilin smacked over and over again, causing him to cough up fresh blood. “Talk some more, talk some more!”

Pangong Tso was suddenly angered. “Fat pig, do you think I’m really afraid of you?”

The dragon qilin’s claws which as sharp as knives suddenly flicked, preparing to slice his belly open.

Suddenly, Qin Mu’s peaceful voice rang out. “Fatty Dragon, no need to beat him up, let him leave.”

The dragon qilin was slightly stunned. He asked in puzzlement, “Cult Master, this guy is truly evil. He is first class in escaping for his life, and he even wants to harm you! If we let him go now, it will be even harder to catch him in the future!”

“We fought together, and he also helped a lot to save those people, risking his life. He deserves a chance to live.” Qin Mu put his hands behind his back and looked at the writings on the cliff. His expression was calm. “Grandmaster, I won’t kill you, so just go. Next time we meet, I’ll take your head.”

Pangong Tso climbed to his feet and patted off the sand on his body. His gaze flickered as he said, “You sure you are letting me go this time and not just lying to me? You won’t kill me when I turn around, right?”

Qin Mu looked at him indifferently. “Too many people died last night, and I don’t want to kill anymore today.”

Pangong Tso turned around and moved back step by step. He stared at Qin Mu’s movements while thinking, ‘Even though this experience was full of danger and filled with life-and-death struggles, it’s not like I didn’t receive any benefits. I’ve got two divine legs at least… Wait a moment, these two divine legs…’

His eyes lit up when he realized that Qin Mu was still standing with his back to him. He couldn’t help growing excited. ‘With these two legs, why should I still be afraid of this brat? I have the divine legs and my escaping abilities are number one in the world. If I can’t defeat him, I can just run! Besides, with my speed being first in the world, my battle power will also rise in a straight line. I can get rid of him!’

He was so excited that his heart was pounding heavily. An ominous glint flashed in his eyes, but just as he was about to stop and make a move, he felt something and hurriedly leaped into the air.

A sword light flew out from the desert and cut off his right leg from the root!

Pangong Tso gasped in pain as he shouted in midair, “Cult Master Qin, you didn’t keep your word!”

Qin Mu turned around and said indifferently, “I did. I only cut off one of your legs last time, so I can return you one. However, I won’t let you have two divine legs. Grandmaster, I won’t see you off.”

Still in midair, Pangong Tso lowered his head to look at the divine leg that had fallen down. He wanted to pick it up, but the yellow sand below had already swallowed it.

Down there, countless sword lights appeared and disappeared like silver needles weaving in and out, protecting the divine leg. It was the eight thousand sword form from Qin Mu’s sword pellet. It was obvious that when he was trying to bewitch Qin Mu, the youth had already sent the sword pellet into the yellow sand.

Pangong Tso immediately knew that he had lost the opportunity and gritted his teeth. A lotus that was almost as high as a human appeared behind him.

He retreated inside it, and they disappeared together.

“Cult Master Qin, the next time we meet, I’ll take your head!” His voice came from farther and farther away before vanishing into the depths of the yellow sand.

“Grandmaster is becoming very courageous and insightful.” Qin Mu turned around, and countless flying swords flew out from the desert, sending the divine leg to the chest. He said softly, “This is a good thing. Once he has courage and insight, it won’t be that exhausting to kill him next time.”

The chest was excited and hurriedly opened its cover to add the leg to its collection.

Qin Mu looked at the writing on the cliff and said in a low voice, “If you are still alive, will you come to find me? Are you still alive? Tens of thousands of years with trials after trials, would they have resulted in the death of a fair lady, turned you into a pink skeleton…”

He waited quietly under the cliff, not leaving.

The mountains in the surroundings had all been eroded, so why was this one still standing?

The hope in his heart hadn’t yet died.

“Cult Master, there’s a big stone tablet beside the mountain!” Suddenly, the dragon qilin had a discovery.

Qin Mu’s heart moved slightly, and he hurried over to take a look. The dragon qilin was standing near a stone tablet. It was half covered by the yellow sand, and it was at the foot of the mountain so it was hard to discover if one didn’t look closely.

The stone tablet seemed to have mysterious power to defend against the wind and sand, so it wasn’t corroded.

There were some words on it.

Qin Mu looked at it and was slightly stunned. The handwriting was aggressive, and the words read: ‘Heavenly Devil Cult Master Qin Mu, Rolan’s Golden Palace Grandmaster, buried…’

The writings below were hard to read since they were buried under the yellow sand. The dragon qilin was about to go forward and push it aside, but Qin Mu warned him in a hurry, “Fatty Dragon, it’s a trap! Don’t touch the sand on the tablet!”

When the dragon qilin heard trap, he hurriedly fell back and didn’t dare to stay close even for a second more.

Qin Mu sneered and said, “Using such a method to lay a trap, he’s truly underestimating me. The words below the stone tablet are definitely none other than buried right here. If I moved the sand, I would activate his trap and die a miserable death!”

The dragon qilin shuddered and said, “If it was my name on it, I would definitely go forward to check…”

Qin Mu looked around in all directions and saw that the yellow desert was truly desolate. Other than them, there were no other life forms, so there was no chance that anyone was lying in wait nearby.

“Truth be told, I’m actually slightly curious.”

His gaze flickered and he sized up the stone tablet buried under the yellow sand. The dragon qilin instantly had a bad feeling about it and said, “Cult Master, don’t do anything silly!”

Qin Mu rapidly fell back and said with a smile. “I want to see if the person that left this stone tablet in a scheme against me and Grandmaster left his name. He’s such an arrogant person that he would definitely do it. Let’s retreat a hundred miles and I shall execute a spell to move the sand from the bottom of the stone tablet!”