Tales of Herding Gods - Chapter 417

Chapter 417: Great Terror

Translator: Ninetales Editor: DarkGem

The sea was foggy in the early morning in Eternal Peace River Prefecture. What happened next, the guards stationed at that time wouldn’t be able to forget even after many years.

Grayish fog spread across the surface of the sea while a huge narwhal leaped out. Its body flew above them as though it was a cloud, covering the docks of River Prefecture.

The whale then became smaller and smaller as it fell into the city.

Before the soldiers could even come back to their senses, they saw another huge shadow sailing in from the fog on the sea. It was a tortoiseshell ship, with all kinds of shells crawling over its body. A black tortoise flag fluttered in the sea breeze.

The huge ship sailed straight toward the dock, and just as it looked like it was going to crash into the dock, it suddenly lifted dozens of yards off the ground with four legs. The ship then walked in the air above the ships and rumbled into the city.

Within it, the soldiers looked at the ship that was walking in front of them in a daze. They saw that it carried a flying serpent which had coiled around it and flapped its wings on the mast. If that wasn’t enough, the soldiers on the ship also looked strange. They had a tortoise’s shell on their backs as well as flying serpents coiling around them, forming a strange kind of symbiosis.

Pond Prefecture also encountered a strange incident. That area was known for its thousand deep ponds whose bottoms could not be seen. On that day, the thousand ponds suddenly dried up, and the water and fish within them vanished all at once. Numerous people looked into the deepest one and saw that at its bottom there was actually a bronze door.

Pond Prefecture Magistrate ordered people to head down to check on the pond, and they reported, “The bronze doors at the bottom of the pond are locked with seals; they can’t be opened.”

While the magistrate was baffled, the bronze door suddenly opened and a man covered in scales walked out. He turned around to lock the door, then shouted out, “I know, I know, annoying woman! Human Emperor has summoned me so I’m only helping to fulfill our ancestor’s promise… I won’t be fierce and pick fights. You know that my temper is the best among us Earth Travelers! See what see? See me shatter your knee with one punch… I wasn’t talking about you, I’m saying those country bumpkin giants above… I know to lock the door. You’re being naggier than my mother!”

Pond Prefecture Magistrate and the rest stood beside the pond while looking at a five foot tall dwarf with a face full of beard carefully locking the bronze door before coming ashore.

Pond Prefecture Magistrate went forward and asked curiously, “This senior brother…”

The dwarf covered in scales looked at him in alert. “Country bumpkin giant, don’t lay your eyes on us Earth Travelers. We’ve made an agreement before that the surface belong to you country bumpkins and the underground is ours.”

The magistrate of Pond Prefecture was flabbergasted when he heard the dwarf shouting into the pond right after. “Woman, release the water, prevent these giants from stealing our underground world!”

Water started to pour into the ponds, and soon, all the deep ponds were filled. The bluish jade ripples in the ponds were like scales, and there were many fishes in the water once more.

Just as Pond Prefecture Magistrate was about to ask about it, the dwarf suddenly tunneled into the ground and disappeared.

Pond Prefecture Magistrate and the rest were all stupefied. ‘There are people living underground? How are they surviving there?’

Meanwhile in Willow Prefecture in the south which worshiped a lot of Willow Immortals witnessed a willow tree transforming into a green dragon and flying away.

Numerous weird incidents happened all around the world, causing quite a discussion among the commoners.

“Mu’er, these are the formations I saw that day in the sky. I didn’t get to examine them in detail so I can only remember this much.”

In the manor, Butcher passed all the sun, moon, and stars he had drawn during the two days to Qin Mu. The youth’s scalp crawled when he saw what filled the hall. He picked up one picture Butcher had drawn which represented a star and saw that its structure was extremely complicated and looked rather mired in minor details.

The star was Chief Star, and the picture of the formation faintly showed the black face and tusks of a ghost god which held a brush in one hand and a golden seal in the other. Under his feet was a fish dragon sacrificial altar.

Qin Mu then picked up another star picture, and it was Greedy Wolf Star. The formation showed the picture of a dragon turtle and with a sacrificial altar below its feet.

He frowned and scanned the other pictures as well. Most of them had sacrificial altars formed by formations while the inside of the stars had the shape of gods and devils.

‘What exactly are these god and devil formations and sacrificial altars used for? Is it to operate the astronomical phenomenon or something else?”

Uneasiness filled his heart. If it was just to maintain the operation of the fake astronomical phenomenon in the sky, there was no need for them to be so complicated. The formations just needed to glow and that was all.

Since it could be so simple, why were they so complicated?

‘The sacrificial altar and the white bone sacrificial altar that I used to summon Dutian Devil King are slightly similar to these. It’s just that the formation structure is different.’

Qin Mu felt his blood run cold. There were countless stars floating in the sky, and there were countless sacrificial altars hidden in them, ready to one summon gods and devils.

If there was a great blood sacrifice one day and those gods and devils descended, how terrifying would it be when tens of thousands of gods and devils came to the mortal realm?

Not to mention Eternal Peace, even Founding Emperor Era back in the day would have been destroyed, right?

‘Eternal Peace Empire is absolutely not worth the effort to guard and supervise, so what exactly is this fake astronomical phenomenon guarding against?’

Qin Mu had numerous questions that he couldn’t answer.

The formations in the star pictures Butcher had drawn were all incomplete. He didn’t have time to study the fake astronomical phenomenon before he suffered an attack by the gods guarding them. However, he had still managed to draw a rough layout.

Qin Mu suppressed the astonishment in his heart and continued to examine the structure of the formations. His eyebrows scrunched up tighter and tighter, and he suddenly asked, “Grandpa Butcher, how are your attainments in formation?”

“So-so, I’m inferior to Blind,” Butcher said honestly.

“I shall go and invite Grandpa Blind to take a look!”

Qin Mu went to find Blind and asked him to look through the pictures. “These formations are very weird, and I have never seen them before. Grandpa Blind, have you seen something similar before?”

Blind looked through the pictures one by one with his face becoming more and more solemn. He shook his head. “I’ve never seen formation structure like this before. Weird, this is truly weird. The formations in these star pictures are used to construct the bodies of gods and devils, but they can also give off rays like the sun, moon, and stars. This kind of formation structure isn’t simple. It’s a pity that none of these formations are complete… ”

“The time was too short, I could only remember this much.”

Blind examined them in detail again and calculated. “These formations construct the bodies of gods and devils, but they also break down the bodies of gods and devils. Butcher, do you understand what this means?”

Butcher pondered over it before saying, “What you mean is that if we have divine arts practitioners line up according to the structure of the formation, we can possess the power of gods and devils?”

Qin Mu’s heart stirred slightly. Making the qi cultivators line up according to the formation structure and activating the formation would be equivalent to gaining the power of a god or devil?

If such a formation was activated, how astonishing would its power be?

“It’s a pity the formations aren’t complete.” Blind shook his head and said, “You have drawn so much, but none of them are complete. Other than that, there’s another possibility.”

Astonishing rays burst forth from his eyes, and he walked out from the hall. He raised his head to look at the sky and muttered, “These formation structures may very well be the vital qi circulation of those gods and devils. The formation inside every star might be their complete technique! A huge treasure vault is up there in the sky, but it’s a pity that I can’t go there to take a look…”

Qin Mu’s heart pounded heavily. A star represented a technique of gods and devils?

How many stars and constellations were there in the sky?

Didn’t this mean that there were tens of thousands of techniques of gods and devils hidden in the sky picture?

The ultimate arts of the three big sacred grounds—Dao Sect, Great Thunderclap Monastery, and Heavenly Saint Cult— were all revered as techniques that could turn one into a god, buddha, or a devil. For them to stand until now and not fall, their effects were extraordinary.

Yet in the sky, there were tens of thousands of techniques that were no inferior to the three ultimate arts. Just thinking about it made him excited!

Yet after the excitement, what Qin Mu felt was fear and terror.

Great fear, and great terror.

‘Hope this sky will never be dyed red by blood. Or else…’

His bones started shivering. When the sky of Eternal Peace was dyed red by blood, the sun, moon, and stars in the sky would transform into terrifying gods and devils to descend on the world!

This would be the vision of doomsday, literally!

Suddenly, Qin Mu sensed something and looked toward the east. He saw a huge tortoiseshell ship walking among the mountains. It flapped its serpent wings while its huge flag fluttered in the wind.

Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor also sensed some motion and looked toward the east. He saw a flood moving over like a huge wave upon which stood a topless, sturdy man holding a golden lance.

There was also a woman in the sky with wings on her back. When they moved, wind and lightning surged, accompanied by the sound of thunder.

“They came, they actually came…” Village Chief floated up and revealed an excited expression. “I’m old, but they have not aged. They are still alive…”

The tortoiseshell ship came next to the manor and suddenly stopped. A person with a tortoise shell on his back flew down. He belonged to the race of black tortoises.

A flying serpent danced around on the huge ship whose bow trembled as a dragon head popped out. Flames and thick smoke spewed out from its nose and mouth while its eyes rotated around. It shouted loudly, “Black Tortoise Xuan Shengwu is here to meet Human Emperor!”

The sturdy man controlling the huge wave lowered its speed and landed in front of the manor with a whoosh. The wave behind him then vanished. “King Kun of Kuns is here to meet Human Emperor!”

The woman in the sky stilled her wings, and the wind and lightning all hid under her feathers. She then landed on the ground. “Queen Yi of Wings is here on invitation!”

Qin Mu immediately took out Human Emperor’s Seal and held it in his hand when he went forward to welcome them. “Fellow lords have come from afar, and I can’t appreciate it enough. Please come into the manor to chat.”

King Kun, King Xi, and Xuan Shengwu were astonished. The black tortoise tortoiseshell ship suddenly trembled and became smaller and smaller, transforming into a majestic man with a tortoise’s shell on his back and a serpent coiling around him. “Human Emperor is becoming younger and younger. He was a middle-aged man in the past…” he said in a soft voice.

“Brother Shengwu, the human emperor you mentioned is most likely dead. Humans are not like us; they can’t live that long,” King Kun said.

Xuan Shengwu let out a sigh of relief and smiled. “That’s good, that’s good. That fellow looked for trouble for no reason. He was always embittered and called us to do this and that, what an annoyance.”

Village Chief had wanted to meet his old friends, but he couldn’t help freezing when he heard what they said. He seethed with anger.

Suddenly, a voice came from underground. “Earth Traveler Chief Tuxing… Aiya!”

The ground trembled, and a messy head popped out in front of the manor. There was a huge bump on it, and its owner roared in anger, “Which asshole refined the rock to be so hard?”