Tales of Herding Gods

Chapter 930: The Massacre in Ancestral King Palace

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

‘Yun Chuxiu’s character is somewhat peculiar and jumpy. It’s rumored that ever since her birth, Celestial Empress had the qualities needed to be the motherly model of the world. Meanwhile, Mistress Yuanmu was an active and energetic person that was also oddly clever.’

Qin Mu brought Yun Chuxiu with him towards Yun Jianli, Qi Jiuyi, and the others. Intense waves tossed around in his heart as he thought, ‘Could Yun Chuxiu not be Celestial Empress and instead be Mistress Yuanmu? If it isn’t Mistress Yuanmu but Celestial Empress that died during the Celestial Empress’ assassination...’

“Celestial Venerable, there are a lot of goosebumps on the back of your neck!”

Yun Chuxiu curiously looked at it and exclaimed her discovery, shocked, “You’re sweating at the back of your neck! How strange!”

She extended her gentle and warm hand to touch his forehead and exclaimed, more shocked than before, “Your forehead is completely dry! Celestial Venerable, you’re sick!”

“No, you’re sick!”

Qin Mu was furious and shook her off to return to the others before whispering, “Sister Yan’er, come onto my shoulder.”

It was only when Yan’er morphed into a little green sparrow and sat on his shoulder that Qin Mu felt relieved.

When his hand was held by Yun Chuxiu, he had an unexplainable uneasiness. She was peculiar and temperamental. Just now, she was dramatic to the point of death. Now, she was sweet to the point of sickening.

He couldn’t deduce what Yun Chuxiu’s real thoughts were.

When Yun Chuxiu held his hand, it gave him the feeling that a venomous python was coiled around him. It was only when Yan’er landed on his shoulder that he felt relaxed.

Yan’er also observed the back of his neck curiously before wondering, ‘Master wasn’t nervous before, why is he nervous now?’

‘There’s still one suspicious part. I summoned the soul of Celestial Empress and discovered that she wasn’t dead. Even more peculiar was how Mistress Yuanmu had her body in the crystal coffin move once, which was suppressed by Big Brother Wei Suifeng.’

Qin Mu’s eyes flashed as doubts began to rise. ‘Then who is this Yun Chuxiu? If she is Celestial Empress, this personality of hers is too far apart from her usual one. Or, is this her nature?’

Yun Jianli, Qi Jiuyi, and the others were extremely guarded towards Yun Chuxiu. Although they were as well-mannered towards her as before, they didn’t dare to be too close to her. Only Qin Mu felt relatively at ease, and he became even closer to her than before.

The two were chatting heartily as they walked towards Ancestral God King’s Ancestral King Palace.

“The Qin guy wants to come to my place?”

Within the Ancestral King Palace, Ancestral God King Celestial Venerable Zu had already heard the news. He laughed and said, “Does this fellow not know that I want to kill him and that he’s sending himself to death? Unless he believes that I can’t strike in my Ancestral King Palace.”

“Do you really want to kill him?” Great Sun Sovereign asked.

This Great Sun Sovereign wasn’t the one from the ancient gods. The one from the ancient gods was betrayed for knowing too much, dying during the Dragon Han Era.

Today’s Great Sun Sovereign was a god from the High Emperor Era named Dan Fenglai. He was a disciple of Ancestral God King and was tasked to become the general of the Heavenly Cycle Stars of the celestial heavens.

The reason that Ancestral God King was able to be an equal rival of Celestial Venerable Hao and God Emperor Lang Xuan was because of how he was the son of Heaven Duke and had mastered the Heavenly Cycle Stars. Most of the star gods had to listen to his orders.

“Of course not.”

Ancestral God King laughed. “Do you think I’m that foolish? If I was, would I be at the position I am today? Sometimes, bumbling around isn’t necessarily bad. For example, the Jade Pool incident. All of the other Celestial Venerables were there and hid their identities so they wouldn’t be recognized. The nine of them are suspicious of and guarded against one another, but since only I revealed my identity, they won’t be suspicious of me, the boorish man.

He put his arms behind him and continued, “Celestial Venerable Mu came here to get killed by me, but I won’t touch him at all. He isn’t my enemy, at least for now. He might have the title of Celestial Venerable, but he’s nothing more than a small figure with an over-glorified title. Killing him would only spell trouble.”

Great Sun Sovereign Dan Fenglai was impressed and praised, “Brilliant, Celestial Venerable. So how do we deal with his arrival here?”

Ancestral God King said, “Celestial Venerable Mu’s aptitude is actually not bad. I fought him at the palace of Mahakala with the strongest weapon. I was at the Divine Bridge Realm, and he was able to match me. Even after I used the realm’s twenty-eight heavens, I couldn’t take him down. Instead, he killed Celestial Venerable Yu’s clone. Thus, restrain the disciples to not provoke him.”

He smiled. “Say that I’m not around and force the disciples to treat him respectfully. Don’t give him a chance to create a scene, treat him as if he’s a real Celestial Venerable. Once he realizes that he can’t gain anything from here, he’ll back off.”

Great Sun Sovereign Dan Fenglai bowed and replied, “I will now receive him.”

Ancestral God King halted him with one more instruction, “One more thing, prevent anyone from infiltrating the Ancestral King Palace to assassinate him. He was the victim of an attempt at Lang Xuan Divine Palace, so there will probably be a second time. Don’t let this failure of a man die at my place.”

Dan Fenglai left and led the disciples to receive Qin Mu.

Qin Mu looked at this Great Sun Sovereign and laughed. “Great Sun Sovereign, I still vividly remember the last time I met you. I almost died at your hands.”

Dan Fenglai said, “I didn’t know it was you then, and I also held back. Then, I was merely using clones and the fire crow army to kill those of Crimson Light. I didn’t treat you as an opponent. Celestial Venerable Mu, my master isn’t here, so allow me to treat you properly as host. Please.”

Qin Mu followed them into the Ancestral King Palace as he joked, “That night at the Jade Pool, I saw someone that looked like a star sovereign trying to kill me. He wasn’t powerful but had many clones and morphed into three-legged golden crows that flew near the water surface.”

Dan Fenglai joined him in laughter. “Countless people cultivate the Great Sun Technique. How could it be me? Celestial Venerable, you must be joking.”

“That’s true as well.”

Qin Mu’s breath became exhausted as he coughed repeatedly. He glanced at Great Sun Sovereign’s brothers and sisters and saw that they were looking downwards, pretending not to see his sign of weakness.

Dan Fenglai asked, concerned, “Is your body alright?”

Qin Mu seemed slightly lost before returning. His expression changed slightly as he took out a couple of spirit pills that he consumed while trembling. He spat out a ragged breath after catalyzing the medicine’s power, then sighed. “I have no soul and spirit and am only kept alive by my consciousness. If it disperses, I’ll die. I only came to the celestial heavens to revisit old haunts and catch up with old friends.”

After that, he subtly glanced at those youthful and competitive disciples of Ancestral God King.

They were smiling, their tempers remarkably good.

Dan Fenglai grew to become more concerned. “You have a sickly body, Celestial Venerable. However, good people will be blessed by heaven. It seems that this sickness of yours is dubious and complex and strikes irregularly. I have heard that Celestial Venerable killed a lot of people at Lang Xuan Divine Palace. Very powerful, indeed. I can tell that you were feeling better then.” He laughed as he spoke.

Qin Mu laughed with him and was visibly filled with vital qi.

Dan Fenglai sneered internally. ‘This old fellow is truly shameless! He didn’t even blush from that!’

Yet, he was impressed by Qin Mu’s acting abilities. He ordered his brothers and sisters, saying, “Please treat Celestial Venerable nicely, I will call upon some strong practitioners to protect him.”

The masses nodded and brought Qin Mu and the others to view the beautiful scenery at the Ancestral King Palace.

Dan Fenglai immediately got the demon gods in the Ancestral King Palace to place a net in the skies and a web on the ground to prevent anyone from attacking sneakily and framing Ancestral God King.

It wasn’t until everything was set up properly that he sought out Qin Mu. A disciple ran and told him, “Brother, Qin Mu opened a forum to lecture. He is imparting techniques at the Abyss Stage. The other brothers flocked there.”

‘Opening a forum to impart techniques at the Abyss Stage? What is this fellow up to?’

Dan Fenglai rushed to the Abyss Stage and saw that it was filled with disciples of the Ancestral King Palace, who were sitting beneath the stage and listening to the ones lecturing.

“Thus, we must reform and destroy the Divine Bridge Divine Treasure and open the Celestial River Divine Treasure, for it is orthodox. Look, which one amongst you lot can qualify as my opponent despite being in the same realm as me? This isn’t due to me being stronger than you, it’s because I opened the Celestial River Divine Treasure. What I’m teaching you is what Celestial Venerable Zu cannot teach. Now I can impart the technique to comprehend the celestial river’s power to you...”

Once Dan Fenglai heard him, he was perplexed. ‘This plague god is really imparting a technique, it’s just that he’s somewhat crazy, talking some nonsense about destroying the divine bridge. I’ll listen to him and see how he continues his bluff. I just need to secure the surroundings and prevent him from being assassinated by external enemies.’

He retrieved and opened a bottle, and as it fell, countless glass balls fell out of it. Going along with the wind, they inflated and flew into the sky to morph into glaring suns. From the suns, three-legged golden crows flew out, carrying the suns into the sky.

They were powerful, and they flapped their wings, cut across space, and stuck themselves in it to lie in ambush. They observed every tiny movement around the place.

Dan Fenglai stood atop a hill not far away. All that was witnessed by the three-legged golden crows would be reflected in his brain.

With the impenetrable net he laid down that covered the sky and the ground, the Ancestral King Palace was akin to an iron fortress that couldn’t be infiltrated without his knowledge!

He secured the surroundings and heard Qin Mu’s voice in his ear. He somehow became interested in him as he thought, ‘This plague god does have some unique points. His technique, which requires one to comprehend the celestial river’s power to open the Celestial River Divine Treasure, is certainly feasible. If one’s talent is high enough, one can really open the Celestial River Divine Treasure. However, one has to scrap the Divine Bridge Divine Treasure before that... Not good!’

His mind flew into chaos as cold sweat rolled down his forehead. ‘Not good! His technique requires one to scrap the Divine Bridge Divine Treasure! Him lecturing here is akin to eliminating my Ancestral King Palace’s teachings!’

He flew and hollered, “Celestial Venerable Mu is tempting everyone with ridiculous and demonic teachings. No one is allowed to listen!”

His voice was so bright that it suppressed Qin Mu’s voice for a moment.

Qin Mu laughed as he stood and asked leisurely, “Why does Star Sovereign say that? How is my technique a demonic teaching?”

Dan Fenglai’s face became green as he flew to the Abyss Stage, hollering, “Celestial Venerable Mu is the head of the traitorous forces of the lower bound, a demonic reformist. What he’s teaching is evil and demonic! Don’t listen! Forget his words! I will immediately kill anyone who dares cultivate that!”

Beneath the stage, the many disciples of the Ancestral King Palace looked at each other, wondering when Great Sun Sovereign became so strict.

A youth laughed and said, “Brother, I think that Celestial Venerable Mu’s Celestial River Divine Treasure is feasible. If one destroys the divine bridge and opens the Celestial River Divine Treasure, their power within the same realm could increase by 40 to 50%, perhaps more!”

Before he could finish, Dan Fenglai grabbed him and flung him up. He flew and landed in his arms, his neck being strangled.

“What did I say? This is an evil and demonic technique!”

Dan Fenglai shook him and threw him on the ground. He spat out blood and broke multiple bones.

Before Dan Fenglai could continue, the sky suddenly started raining blood.

His expression changed rapidly, as someone had snuck deep into the Ancestral King Palace and killed his clone!

More streaks of blood rained from the sky as the rate by which his clones died accelerated. Yet, he couldn’t even catch a glimpse of his enemy!

‘The enemy is a being at the Celestial Heavens Realm and might even be a Celestial Venerable!’

A cold sweat broke out on Dan Fenglai’s forehead. At this moment, huge rays of light burst out from the sky. The huge body of Ancestral God King appeared in the air and solemnly warned, “Celestial Venerable Mu, someone is here to kill you. The Ancestral King Palace isn’t a place for you to stay. Dao Brother, please leave quickly. I will block the assassin for you!”

Qin Mu saluted him and replied, “Ancestral God King, it’s our first meeting. I don’t think you should chase away your guest.”

Ancestral God King returned the favor and saluted half a hand lower to signal his inferior status as he pleaded, “A strong enemy is invading. I cannot protect Dao Brother’s safety. Please leave quickly, or else you might be in danger. Forgive me for being rude, but it would also burden my Ancestral King Palace. Come, Feng, send the guests away.”

Dan Fenglai’s face was green as he raised his hand and said, “Please, Celestial Venerable!”

Qin Mu and the rest stood up and left.

Dan Fenglai led Qin Mu and his entourage out of the Ancestral King Palace. He was still visibly nervous as he coldly laughed and said, “Celestial Venerable Mu, it’s not I who wishes to chase you away. There really is a foreign enemy invading and attempting to frame us for killing you!”

Qin Mu expressed his thanks and warned, “Star Sovereign, how do you know it’s an invasion by a foreign enemy? It could be an internal enemy instead.”

Dan Fenglai was slightly stunned. He saw him off before he realized it. After, he immediately returned to the Ancestral King Palace’s Abyss Stage.

Before he reached the stage, he saw multiple bodies belonging to his brothers and sisters.

His heart shuddered as he made a mad dash forward. The bodies piled up on the way. When he reached the Abyss Stage, he saw that his brothers and sisters, who were just listening to Qin Mu’s lecture, including the one whose bones he had broken, were dead.

Ancestral God King stood on the stage, looking at him silently.