Tales of Herding Gods - Chapter 523

Chapter 523: Forgiveness

Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

Qin Mu landed on the ground with mud raising all around him. He was covered in blood, and droplets of it mixed with the mud. His hair fluttered up from fury as he walked toward First Ancestor Human Emperor who had just gotten up to his feet.

“You are the deserter of this battlefield; you don’t have the right to look down on anyone!” Qin Mu roared and rushed at First Ancestor Human Emperor.

Even though his injuries were heavy, his aura was even fiercer than before, and the power of his moves was even more astonishing.

Anger filled his chest. When First Ancestor was about to destroy Second Ancestor’s skeleton, he felt as if all the blood in his chest was going to come bursting out. His primordial spirit merged with his corporeal body from where it stood on the spirit platform in his divine treasures. As his primordial spirit held up the sky with his head while his feet stepped on the earth, he was flooded with the mist of six directions that surged in from all directions.

Qin Mu’s vital qi fused with his primordial spirit which had fused with his corporeal body, and the vital qi reached all parts of his body.

Suddenly, he comprehended the most important point about First Ancestor’s primordial spirit merging with his corporeal body.

Circulation of techniques needed time, and so did any divine art to burst forth with energy. The only difference was between a long and short time, a strong and weak power.

With primordial spirit located in the divine treasures, vital qi would enter the body directly from them, saving the time required for vital qi circulation.

First Ancestor Human Emperor was extremely fast was not only because every part of his corporeal body was on the god realm, but due to the usage of primordial spirit fusion with the corporeal body.

At this moment, the five stars in Qin Mu’s Five Elements Divine Treasure corresponded with his five viscera: heart, liver, spleen, lung, and kidney, which were fire, wood, earth, metal, and water respectively. Five stars entered five viscera, the five star sovereigns moving into his heart, liver, spleen, lung, and kidney. Each of his five viscera now had a god staying inside it!

The heart was where the bull-headed Mars Sovereign moved. The liver was where the Jupiter Sovereign with a bird’s body and human head took his position. The spleen was where the Saturn Sovereign with the body of the snake and the head of a human slithered. The lungs were where the tiger-headed Venus Sovereign took his seat. The kidney was where the red-haired Mercury Sovereign with the snake body resided.

Five Elements and the corporeal body complimented each other, and his strength increased little by little, which gave him the strength to send First Ancestor who was planning to destroy Second Ancestor’s skeleton flying in one blow!

“Yes, they have lost, they have lost miserably!”

The two palms collided, and a terrifying force burst forth. The white fog in the surroundings gave off a slicing sound when the two palms clashed to create an air current.

The palm force was like an incomparably sharp knife that sliced the fog in half a three hundred year distance.

“They did it, but you’ve done nothing, so what right do you have to criticize them?”

Qin Mu roared angrily, and all of his vital qi burst forth. His tendons moved fiercely under his skin and pushed back against First Ancestor. Bang, bang, bang, bang. Under their feet, the ground exploded continuously until there were three hundred yards of clean space around them, without any fog.

It was, after all, the compressed force from Qin Mu’s violent palm strike. All the fog had thus gathered behind it, which meant it was now behind First Ancestor.

“Other than establishing Hall of Human Emperors, what else have you done?” Qin Mu asked, and volcanoes erupted behind him, flames rushing into the sky. They were from Human Emperor Qi Kang’s fist skill which gathered heart fire as power for an explosion.

First Ancestor Human Emperor’s expression changed slightly. The force in Qin Mu’s palm suddenly increased exponentially and sent him flying away.

“You’ve done nothing!”

First Ancestor Human Emperor was in the midair when he saw Qin Mu raise one leg. His body spun a round while his vital qi transformed into all kinds of spirit weapons to bombard his target!

It was Human Emperor Lan Po’s spell for refining spirit weapons!

First Ancestor Human Emperor’s sleeves swept up and shattered all the spirit weapons. But before he even landed on the ground, he saw Qin Mu raise a finger in his direction. Mountains then burst forth and drowned him out.

“Connecting Walls Tapping Blue Mountains!

“If they’re inferior to you, teach them! You can teach them!”

First Ancestor Human Emperor broke the move by force, but he could still not land for a huge bell rushed at him. Qin Mu came to his face and attacked the bell, all his punches and kicks landing on its walls.

The bell shook, and its power grew fiercer and fiercer. It was sometimes tilted, sometimes facing down, sometimes up, and sometimes its mouth was aimed at First Ancestor.

Fifth Ancestor’s Five Thunder Heaven Raising Bell!

First Ancestor Human Emperor fell back repeatedly while Qin Mu speaking to him angrily through the ringing of the bell. “How did Second Ancestor die? From old age!”

Boom!

First Ancestor Human Emperor’s footsteps were messed up.

“How did Third Ancestor die? From old age!

“How did Fourth Ancestor die? From old age!

“Were the aptitudes or the comprehension of all the human emperors inferior to yours? If you couldn’t do it, you should have imparted your technique to become a god and let them do it! Why did you let them die of old age?”

Qin Mu executed the divine arts of all thirty-four human emperors that he had learned in Fengdu. The thirty-four human emperors had tested his aptitude and comprehension with them, but they hadn’t imparted the full techniques, hoping that he would go to Hall of Human Emperors to receive their complete teaching.

They taught Qin Mu roughly and didn’t expect him to learn much. Yet their divine arts burst forth with astonishing power in his hands, making First Ancestor retreat step by step.

“You clearly have the technique to become a god so you should have taught them! Why didn’t you teach them?

“What have they received from you? Other than a broken seal! Other than a bunch of responsibilities and burdens, they didn’t receive anything!

“They couldn’t learn your techniques and divine arts yet they were still helping you carry the burden you couldn’t lift by yourself, struggle and fight with the enemies you feared! Yet you destroy their hard work and even want to destroy their corpses! They were all ashamed to face you after they died, ashamed to not have succeeded!

“Yet you want to destroy everything they left behind! How do you have the face to call them useless, to call them incapable?”

Qin Mu unleashed his final move, but First Ancestor suddenly stretched his hand to grab his fist and swung him up before smashing him ruthlessly against the ground.

Qin Mu jumped up, and First Ancestor counterattacked with fist skills, body movements, sword skills, and formation skills, each one of which was extremely marvelous. He easily broke all of Qin Mu’s attacks and sent him into a defensive position.

He was still incomparably strong and the retreat moments ago seemed to have been just a trick for Qin Mu to weaken. Now he was going to destroy him completely, crushing his confidence and body together!

His battle experience was incomparably abundant, and his corporeal body stayed in the most perfect state. His control of vital qi had reached an unbelievable realm. Qin Mu let loose his feelings and indulged himself in unleashing them in his divine arts, while First Ancestor could control his feelings perfectly and didn’t waste any excess energy to vent his emotions.

Bang, bang, bang.

Qin Mu received countless punches, kicks, and divine arts. Compared to the young true god’s corporeal body that First Ancestor had, he was still too tender.

His True Dragon Overlord Body couldn’t be maintained anymore, and a finger from First Ancestor Human Emperor that touched the heart of his brows broke it.

Qin Mu was thrown high up before falling down like a tattered sack filled of grain in front of Second Ancestor’s dilapidated straw hut.

He tried to struggle to get up, but he couldn’t rise no matter what.

First Ancestor Human Emperor walked over with a cold expression. He came to his side and said emotionlessly, “You talked so much, but was it useful? If you can, defeat me; otherwise, you can never carry the title of the human emperor. Once you take it, the enemies you’ll have to face will be much stronger and much more ruthless than me.”

Qin Mu stared with eyes wide open as he walked to Second Ancestor’s straw hut and lifted the man’s skeleton.

“Don’t…” Qin Mu crawled forward with difficulty till he could grab First Ancestor’s ankle. With a sob, he pleaded, “I beg you!”

Kacha.

The skeleton of Second Ancestor shattered and fell to the ground.

First Ancestor lifted his feet and gave two stomps while saying coldly, “If you can’t beat me, you will never beat them. This is the first time you had the chance to face me, so you still have thirty-four chances.”

Qin Mu’s vision became blurry as his cheeks went ice cold. First Ancestor Human Emperor lifted him up and threw him onto the chest. He said coldly, “Every time you lose to me, I will destroy the skeleton of a human emperor. If you continue to lose, the skeletons of these failures will cease to exist. Go!”

The dragon qilin opened his mouth to roar at him, but his mouth was still sealed; he couldn’t make a sound.

First Ancestor Human Emperor looked at him, and the dragon qilin lowered his head. He brought the chest with Qin Mu back to where they had come from.

“I’ll kill you!” Qin Mu’s voice came from atop the chest. “I’ll definitely kill you!”

First Ancestor Human Emperor trembled, but he didn’t turn back. The dragon qilin then brought the chest with Qin Mu out of the ancient fragment of the celestial heavens.

“I’m sorry…”

Ba-thump.

First Ancestor Human Emperor knelt down in front of Second Ancestor’s straw hut with a cloud of dust. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t really mean to destroy your remains, I’m sorry…”

“I’ve already forgiven you.”

A ghost rose from the remains. It had a discernible Second Ancestor’s figure that was smiling. “I’ve long forgiven you. I know your thoughts. You want to make him grow up faster because he is the overlord body, right? He can carry the burden we didn’t manage to, right? I’ve forgiven you, so return to Fengdu. They will also forgive you…”

In the dilapidated straw hut, skeletons raised their heads and looked silently at the kneeling First Ancestor Human Emperor.

“We have all forgiven you…”

They looked at their ancestor. First Ancestor Human Emperor had not imparted the technique to become god to them, but he had imparted a spirit that couldn’t be described with words, a kind of spirit that was undying and unwilling to give up.

“I can’t forgive myself.”

First Ancestor Human Emperor knelt on the ground, and his body slowly changed into a stone statue as his primordial spirit left for far away.

The chest clattered as it ran, carrying Qin Mu over many mountains. In front of it, the dragon qilin looked ahead in alert, in case any strange beast in the wild tried to attack them.

Two days later, they came to Border Dragon City. Si Yunxiang and Hu Ling’er hurriedly took over Qin Mu’s care. After a few days, he recovered and nursed himself back to full health.

“I’ll kill him.” Qin Mu’s eyes were lifeless as he sat on the head of a dragon pillar in the city. “I will definitely kill him. I will never forgive him…” he told Ling Yuxiu who had brought him up there.

She looked at his dispirited self of the last couple days. She didn’t know how to console him, so she thought to bring him to this place where they had played together back then in a hope to alleviate some of the dark clouds in his heart.

“Father is summoning me back; he says he’s sending me to West Earth.” Ling Yuxiu hesitated for a moment before saying, “Even though West Earth has submitted to us, there’s no power of the imperial court within it. Do you want to take a stroll with me in West Earth? Don’t keep thinking about it by yourself. It’s quite scary… Tell me about it, maybe I’ll have an idea!”

Qin Mu looked at her with a stupefied expression, his eyes lacking any life. The stubborn beard hairs that he liked to pluck had already become a stubble after not being touched for a few days. He asked lifelessly, “How do I beat a true god?”

Ling Yuxiu was stunned.

Qin Mu laid down. “Go to West Earth. The emperor told you to go to West Earth and Crown Prince Yushu to the north which was recently conquered, so if you rule West Earth better than he, you will gain the title of the crown princess. If you want it, I can help you. I have people in West Earth, but I can’t go with you. I have to think about some things.”

Ling Yuxiu laid down beside him and placed her hands behind her head while looking blankly at the sky. “A few years ago when we were lying here together, everything was so carefree. I liked you, you also liked me, so why after we grew up, there are suddenly so many worries? How I miss those times…”

“It’s probably because we grew up,” Qin Mu said in a low voice after closing his eyes.

Ling Yuxiu flipped over and looked at him from the side. She plucked a long hair from his beard and asked, “Are you still the original you?”

Qin Mu was stunned. “Xing An said that a person’s body changes completely every seven years. Some three-four years have already passed, so I should only be left with half of me.”

Ling Yuxiu shuddered and plucked out a few more strands from his beard ruthlessly while saying angrily, “You’re scaring me again! You will never become Xing An!” She tilted her head and pondered over it. “If you don’t want me to go to West Earth, I can stay with you.”

“Do you want to go?” Qin Mu asked.

“I want!” Ling Yuxiu stood up and looked down at the mountains and rivers of Great Ruins from high above while speaking with high spirits. “I want to become a female emperor and defeat my father! I want to make him know that I’m better and more powerful than all of his sons!”

A flicker of light flashed in Qin Mu’s lifeless eyes. He felt inspiration surge through him after witnessing her motivated speech, and vigor returned to his body. It was as if he had come back to life.