Tales of Herding Gods

Chapter 909: Crisis of the Third Eye

Chapter 909: Crisis of the Third Eye

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

“Would I lie to you?”

Qin Mu rolled up the geographical map and said, “I have a senior brother who likes to roam around freely, finding mysteries of the past and uncovering truths of history. He has left me many geographical maps. This is one of them.”

Qi Jiuyi ordered the gods on the ship to close in on the vast dilapidated piece of land and said, “This senior brother of yours is more daring than you. Since he is able to leap out of the Primordial Realm into here and then retreat completely, his cultivation and abilities shouldn’t be weak. He isn’t a nobody. What’s his name?”

“Wei Suifeng.”

“Wei Suifeng?”

Qi Jiuyi gave it some thought and shook his head. “I haven’t heard of him before.”

A god under Red Deity heard this name, and his expression changed slightly. He whispered, “Young Master, Wei Suifeng isn’t a nobody, he’s the Emperor of the Endless Clouds Palace.”

Qi Jiuyi got a fright and tilted his head to whisper, “The Emperor of the Endless Clouds Palace? This Wei Suifeng is the ruler of one of the 36 celestial palaces? That’s a high position, just slightly inferior to my master. How did he become the senior brother of Qin Mu, the rebel?”

That god softly said, “That Emperor of the Endless Clouds is also a rebel. He rebelled a few thousand years ago but was seen through by the celestial venerables of the celestial heavens. They captured and suppressed him, making his life a living hell.”

Qi Jiuyi suddenly came to a realization and laughed. “One is marked by the company one keeps. It seems that the family of Cult Master Qin are all rebels.”

Qin Mu coughed and reminded him, “Brother Qi, I’m listening.”

Qi Jiuyi pretended he didn’t hear that as the phoenix ship began to slow down. Qin Mu opened the geographical map and located the position marked by Wei Suifeng. He compared and matched this to the vast piece of land, looking for the location of Wei Suifeng’s hidden treasure.

The phoenix ship flew above the vast land and began to descend slowly. Suddenly, the phoenix ship shook violently as a ferocious force lifted it up, sending it tumbling!

The more than six thousand gods on the ship roared in unison as they executed all of their magic power. In an instant, various celestial palaces materialized above the ship, and countless primordial spirits stood within the celestial palaces, bursting forth with all of their magic power to activate the power of the phoenix ship!

The ship’s phoenix wings started spinning and slicing, giving off knife light. In a split second, that strange power was sliced into countless pieces, hence stabilizing the ship!

At this moment, a majestic sound traveled from among the ruins below. This sound had a strange rhythm, as though countless people were performing sacrificial offerings.

Light burst forth from where the sound came from, and it was becoming brighter, becoming so intense that it looked like it was capable of coagulating into solid matter. The light charged towards the just stabilized phoenix ship!

Everyone on the ship looked on with terrified gazes as that light condensed into a huge and imposing god. It looked like a spirit body with no corporeal body. The pulsing light formed various strange-looking patterns on his body surface.

His body was much bigger than the phoenix ship, and his head rose from the left side of the ship, many halos spinning wildly at its back. He then reached out his hand and smacked the phoenix ship!

Qin Mu’s mind was blown as he looked dazedly at that majestic giant god.

“Heaven Duke...”

The giant god looked very similar to Heaven Duke with its white brows, beard, and eyes, except that the markings on his skin were different. Also, the actual Heaven Duke didn’t have such complicated light halos behind his head.

The more than six thousand gods on the ship bellowed in anger and mobilized their power to its limits. However, as the hand of the giant god that looked like Heaven Duke came down, everyone’s qi and blood churned, and they puked out fresh blood and grunted.

At this moment, powerful energy exploded from within the ship. It was as though a strong practitioner of Emperor’s Throne had emerged. Qin Mu looked up and saw the figure of a nine-headed phoenix materializing in the sky above the phoenix ship.

The nine-headed phoenix soared as fast as lightning, and the phoenix ship moved with frightening speed, dodging the second attack of that Heaven Duke look-alike. In an instant, it penetrated the forehead of the giant god, exiting from the back of his head!

The giant god then crumbled and collapsed, its light descending like a waterfall.

Everyone on the ship was still in shock as they climbed to their feet.

Qin Mu watched until his eyes twitched randomly. The earlier explosion from the phoenix ship wasn’t because of the six thousand or so gods executing their power. Rather, it was the magic power of Red Deity Qi Xiayu that pushed the ship’s power to its limits, hence crushing that fake Heaven Duke!

Qi Xiayu, however, wasn’t on the ship. Instead, she was in the Primordial Realm, which was who knows how far away. She mobilized the phoenix ship’s power through her magic power from the Primordial Realm because she was able to sense that the ship was in danger.

This was what actually made Red Deity so frightening.

Qin Mu had met Qi Xiayu a few times. In the past, Qi Xiayu pursued him and Sakra Buddha. Although she was in the Buddha Realm, separated by infinite space-time, they were still pursued by her zither notes. This was indeed terrifying yet dazzling.

In the Primordial Realm, Qin Mu also witnessed Qi Xiayu and Scholar Zi Xi competing with each other on their zither skills. When the two Mother Earths fought each other, Qi Xiayu didn’t participate and immediately escaped.

Subsequently, they met again several more times. During the calamity of the Primordial Realm, Qi Xiayu fought against Qin Mu and Qin Fengqing, defeating them repeatedly.

She didn’t give off the impression that she was too strong. Instead, her ultimate art seemed to be the Dao of Melody.

It was only when Qin Mu entered the peach forest that he realized Qi Xiayu was the disciple of Celestial Venerable Yue. Celestial Venerable Yue had reached a terrifying level in the art of space. Her peach forest of a thousand miles folded and overlapped space countless times, connecting innumerous heavens!

Qi Xiayu had learned the art of space from her. Hence, despite being so far away, she was able to channel her magic power to mobilize the phoenix ship and help them overcome this difficult encounter.

‘It will be very tough for Sakra Buddha to catch up with her,’ Qin Mu thought.

The phoenix ship stabilized, and the image of the nine-headed phoenix gradually disappeared.

Qi Jiuyi’s face was pale. Suddenly, he shouted, “Leave this place and return back!”

Qin Mu quickly said, “Hold on!”

Qi Jiuyi shot him a fierce glare and shouted, “Return back!”

Qin Mu reached out, grabbed the dragon qilin, and jumped off the phoenix ship. Qi Jiuyi hurriedly said, “Hold on, Cult Master Qin! This place is dangerous, so why are you insisting on going? The earlier attack of Heaven Duke was a sign that he doesn’t want us to explore this place. If not for my teacher mobilizing the phoenix ship, we would be dead!”

Qin Mu released the dragon qilin and laughed. “That wasn’t Heaven Duke earlier. It was a type of bizarre spirit body from the ruins, similar to a spirit embryo. In my opinion, that spirit body won’t be able to recover so quickly after being smashed by Red Deity. Hence, there won’t be much danger for now. Since we are here, we might as well do a search.”

“If you wish to die, no one will accompany you!”

Qi Jiuyi snorted coldly and said to the dragon qilin, “Second Brother, please come back to the ship. There’s no need to fool around with him!”

The dragon qilin hesitated and whispered, “Cult Master, is it true that the Heaven Duke spirit embryo won’t be able to regenerate?”

Qin Mu nodded.

The dragon qilin heaved a sigh of relief and laughed. “Third Brother, please stay on the ship. I will go with Cult Master.”

Qi Jiuyi’s face was black. He jumped off of the phoenix ship, turning and shouting back, “Those few with the highest cultivation, come down with me. As for the rest of you, wait on the ship, and prepare to respond at any time!”

Qin Mu shook his head and said, “Sister Yan’er is an existence at the Numinous Sky Realm. With her by our side, there’s no need to trouble anyone else.”

Qi Jiuyi had a gloomy expression and ignored him. He said to the approaching nine gods, “When we reach the ruins, you aren’t to save me even if I run into danger. You are to protect my second brother. No matter what, don’t let him come to any harm! Do you understand?”

The nine gods acknowledged the order. “Young Master’s morality is as high as the clouds!”

Qi Jiuyi gritted his teeth and thought in his heart, ‘What high morality? I’m just worried that if my second brother dies, I’ll have to die along with him!’

Qin Mu laughed heartily. “Brother Qi is so righteous. Since this is how it’s going to be, let’s proceed.”

Yan’er perched herself on his shoulder as the rest followed behind him. The nine gods scattered around the dragon qilin, guarding him seriously.

Qin Mu descended from the sky, opening up the geographical map before he reached the ground. He checked and matched the map. The location marked was supposed to be slightly to the right of the center of this vast land.

They weren’t far from the target.

“Don’t fly over there!”

Qi Jiuyi quickly went to his side and coldly said, “We don’t know if there will be other dangers around. Keeping our feet on the ground is better than being a target in the sky. Also, it’s easier to hide or execute our power.”

Qin Mu agreed. “Brother Qi is indeed experienced.”

Qi Jiuyi snorted and said indifferently, “I have learned from Red Deity and Black Deity, so of course I’m experienced, and not unorthodox like you. When we arrive at the ruins, you have to listen to me!”

Qin Mu laughed loudly, landing on an ancient-looking structure among the ruins.

Qi Jiuyi followed close behind, landing after him. He scanned his surroundings cautiously, looking very nervous.

Suddenly, Yan’er stuffed his mouth with a spirit pill.

Qi Jiuyi wanted to spit it out. However, it didn’t taste bad, so he ate it.

Yan’er planned to feed him again, but Qi Jiuyi hurriedly said, “Sister Yan’er, I don’t eat this.”

Yan’er laughed. “I have fed your master, Qi Xiayu, before. When she was small, she liked it when I fed her, always chattering behind me and calling me sister.”

“You fed my teacher before?”

Qi Jiuyi’s expression darkened as he thought, ‘In that case, should I call her Sister Yan’er or Aunt?’

Qin Mu looked around. Suddenly, he leaped off this grand structure, landing on the ground.

Qi Jiuyi quickly stopped the dragon qilin. “Second Brother, don’t go down first. Let’s wait until we’re sure the one with the surname Qin is fine before we proceed. Okay, let’s go down.”

Qin Mu closed his eyes and tried to enter his dreams. He then opened his eyes wide and revealed a shocked expression.

He was unable to execute the Boundless Calamity Sutra to create a dream world.

He originally wanted to let his countless selves from his dreams explore this world, as he wouldn’t encounter any danger himself if he did so. However, this Blood Rust Zone had a formless power that could disrupt the Boundless Calamity Sutra, preventing the dream world from being created.

When he was trying to enter the dream just now, an extremely loud and clear sound of sacrificial offerings suddenly surged forth into his mind. The sound contained power, creating frightening disturbances and preventing the Boundless Calamity Sutra from forming the dream world.

“In that case, can I execute my divine arts in this Blood Rust Zone?”

Qin Mu tried to execute a divine art, which still had power. He couldn’t help but fall into silence. When he was executing his divine art, the power of sacrificial offerings continued to disturb his consciousness.

“Brahma Buddha’s Boundless Calamity Sutra is a philosophy of the mind, which is what this sound of sacrificial offerings seems like. I’m able to hear this sound when I’m entering my dream, but not when I’m awake. This means that this sound is a formless power. I wonder if this power of sacrificial offerings permeating the Blood Rust Zone is related to the earlier appearance of the Heaven Duke look-alike?”

He walked forward, towards the place where the light of “Heaven Duke” surged from.

Qi Jiuyi caught up and said, “Second Brother, let the one with the surname Qin go forward and explore the area. If it’s safe, we shall then proceed.”

Qin Mu stopped walking. At the area where the light of “Heaven Duke” came from was a majestic sacrificial altar, and it was surrounded by numerous giant skeletons.

There was a funnel-shaped depression at the center of the sacrificial altar. Within it, faintly discernible liquid light was coagulating.

Qin Mu walked in front of one of the skeletons and saw that it was similar to the skeleton of a human, except it was bigger by several folds. A hexagon-shaped crystal was embedded in the heart of its brows, giving off a faint light.

He flew up, circling and inspecting this giant skeleton.

“There are no imprints of the runes of Great Dao on the bones. They weren’t divine arts practitioners, gods, or ancient gods. However, their skeletons didn’t disintegrate after millions of years, showing that they were born strong.”

Qin Mu thought of the core of the Primordial Tree. The growth rings of the core showed that Mother Earth encountered ten catastrophes during the prehistoric times, which almost claimed her life.

Could the ten catastrophes that Mother Earth encountered be related to these giants?

Qin Mu moved to the heart of the brows of the giant skeleton. The hexagon-shaped crystal was as tall as him, and it cast shadows on him.

“This crystal should be useful, definitely worth researching!”

Qin Mu executed his magic power, prying away the crystal. Suddenly the skeleton crumbled with a woosh, turning into flying ashes!

Below, Qi Jiuyi and the rest got a fright. It was good that there were no other dangers except for this crumbling skeleton.

Qin Mu shoved the hexagon-shaped crystal into his taotie sack. He then moved to another skeleton and saw that there was another hexagon-shaped crystal embedded in the heart of its brows.

He looked around and saw that every one of these prehistoric skeletons had a crystal in the heart of their brows. “Could these giants have used the crystals as their third eye? What can their third eye do?”