Tales of Herding Gods

Chapter 967: One Ark, Three Celestial Venerables

The Paramita Ark advanced along the Void Bridge. The ark itself was marked by billions of rune imprints. Whenever it encountered fissures in the void, these runes would glow and inhibit their power.

The Paramita Ark was the culmination of knowledge from the Founding Emperor Era. Together with the fact that Founding Emperor had the map given to him by Celestial Venerable Yun, the ark was able to traverse this Void Bridge that even Celestial Venerable Xu was unable to cross.

However, Qin Mu had some concerns. After all, this ark was created through his visualization and not forged by the countless gods and devils. Be it the stability and sturdiness of the ark or the power of its runes, it wouldn’t match up to the real ark.

‘I hope we can cross the Void Bridge safely,’ he quietly thought to himself.

The Void Bridge was disjointed at various points. Every time they came to a gap, the void was destroyed, causing an explosion. There were many tiny universes going through a continuous cycle of birth and destruction, and this corroded the runes on the ark’s surface, causing them to be decimated.

Qin Mu’s expression changed slightly. He glanced back and saw that the ark had traversed only one-tenth of the bridge. They were still very far away from the other end.

Luo Wushuang’s expression also changed. The Void Bridge was much more dangerous than he thought. The power of the void’s explosions was enough to instantly vaporize a Numinous Sky Realm expert like himself into ashes!

The fact that the Paramita Ark that was created through Qin Mu’s visualization was able to make it as far as it had already exceeded his expectations.

However, the Paramita Ark was beginning to suffer damage. It looked like there was no way for this ark to cross the bridge successfully, perhaps not even half of it!

“Spirit Embryo Divine Treasure realm, open!”

Qin Mu gave a low shout as the divine treasure realm opened. He stood upright within the realm, brightly-lit stars above his head. His face reflected upon the stars as they transformed into Heaven Duke, while the taiji diagram, upon reflecting his face, transformed into Earth Count.

Behind him, a verdant Primordial Tree sprouted. On top of it, stars appeared with a flash, filling up the sky. Many ancient gods emerged among the stars, one after another. There were also the four deities of the four directions, who were standing erect on the four points of the taiji diagram.

All of these devils and gods had the face of Qin Mu.

Although Qin Mu was aware that the Spirit Embryo Divine Treasure realm had major deficiencies, he had no choice but to use it as an emergency measure since the cultivation of his own realm wasn’t yet completed.

Qin Mu stood in the center of the divine treasure realm and executed the Overlord Body Three Elixir Technique. His vital qi and consciousness danced around swiftly in the air and on the ground, looking like dragons. They transformed into rays of light, connecting the more than 2000 ancient gods.

He comprehended the Grand Emperor’s Great Overarching Supreme Consciousness. Although it was just an incomplete fragment, it included over 2000 images of ancient gods, greatly surpassing the current ancient gods’ system.

The vital qi and consciousness connected all of the ancient gods, forming a giant system of ancient gods in his divine treasure realm.

The more than 2000 ancient gods of Qin Mu performed visualization at the same time, repairing the damage done to the Paramita Ark and allowing it to break through the many layers of the void as it headed towards the end of the bridge.

The Paramita Ark shook violently, and the ancient gods in Qin Mu’s divine treasure realm also became unsteady. Upon seeing this scene, Luo Wushuang’s heart thumped with fear.

‘When I have to simultaneously control so many ancient gods, I’m unable to control them well enough to repair the Paramita Ark!’

Upon thinking this, Qin Mu immediately closed his eyes to enter the dream state. A giant bubble emerged from the heart of his brows. That was the dream world. It grew bigger and bigger until it eventually covered the entire divine treasure realm.

Within the divine treasure realm, the more than 2000 ancient gods of Qin Mu had faint smiles on their faces. Each of them entered their dreams one after another, creating their own bubble-like dream worlds. The result was that there were 10 million ancient gods performing visualization in all of these dream worlds.

This was a double-layered dream state, dreams within a dream.

By doing so, even though there were a few ancient gods who might be making errors in their visualization, there were many more ancient gods who were performing it correctly. Thus, the error tolerance rate greatly improved, ensuring that the Paramita Ark was in a constant state of recovery.

Luo Wushuang heaved a sigh of relief as the Paramita Ark stabilized. He looked at Qin Mu, who was in the divine treasure realm, and thought to himself, ‘I wonder how long he can last...’

The Paramita Ark continued to move forward. Despite the fact that the runes on the ark were going through a state of destruction and recovery, the ark could be considered stable, apart from the fact that its speed was gradually decreasing.

As the giant ark reached the midpoint of the bridge, Luo Wushuang turned and looked back at their starting point. The sacrificial altar that was constructed by the masters of creation had become a tiny speck.

When he looked towards the end of the bridge, he saw little bright specks everywhere. Only Celestial Venerable Xu, who was trapped in the void storm, was visible. She was fighting and struggling, trying to escape and make her way to the end of the Void Bridge.

The Paramita Ark began to tremble again. Luo Wushuang frowned and shouted, “Cult Master Qin, please stop advancing! There’s no way your consciousness will be able to keep up!”

Because Qin Mu was in a double-layered dream state, his words were unable to penetrate the second layer of the dream state.

Luo Wushuang started to panic. He hurriedly went to the side of the ark, then bent and looked over. The runes were continuously getting pulverized in the void storm.

At the same time, new runes were being created. The rate at which the runes were created was miraculously the same as the speed they were getting decimated.

‘Cult Master Qin is still able to hold on, but I’m afraid it won’t last.’

Luo Wushuang felt uneasy. He had no way of waking Qin Mu, as he was now in a double-layered dream state and was unable to hear him.

If Qin Mu was unable to detect the current precarious situation and act on his own, he was afraid that the Paramita Ark would soon be pulverized on the Void Bridge!

At this moment, the Paramita Ark suddenly stopped, leaning on one of the glowing segments of the Void Bridge.

Luo Wushuang was stunned. There was no void storm around this segment of the Void Bridge, meaning they could take shelter there for the time being.

However, the glowing segment was like a lone island, with nothing in front or behind it. Being trapped there wasn’t exactly a good strategy.

Qin Mu’s dream world dissipated, and he woke up. His consciousness was almost depleted, so he had to stop advancing and recover his consciousness.

“Cult Master Qin, don’t push yourself too hard. With this ark, we can leave the Great Void and return to the celestial heavens. This ark is strong enough to resist the peculiarities of the Great Void.”

Luo Wushuang suggested, “Your consciousness level is pretty low now. Let’s wait for you to recover before exploring the Void Bridge.”

“Sounds reasonable.”

Qin Mu executed his Overlord Body Three Elixir Technique and quickly recovered his consciousness. He laughed. “However, we have already crossed half of the Void Bridge and aren’t far away from the other side. No matter what, we should give it a try.”

Luo Wushuang had a big frown on his face.

“Brother Luo, don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.”

Qin Mu was full of confidence as he smiled and said, “It may be difficult to move towards the other side, but going back is easy. If we are unable to endure the journey any further, I’ll immediately turn around.”

Luo Wushuang still had some uneasiness in his heart. He had considered Qin Mu his lifetime rival and had done a great deal of research on his habits and character. He knew that he was a stubborn and strong-willed fellow.

He was worried that Qin Mu would never turn back, continuing forward until the ark was destroyed and everyone was killed!

Qin Mu rested for a while and then performed what he had done before. He executed his divine treasure realm and created the double-layered dream state, mobilizing the Paramita Ark to advance.

The Void Bridge was made up of disjointed segments. Every time they traversed a big gap, there would be a glowing bridge segment where they could stop and rest.

However, they were unable to rest for long, as the glowing bridge segments could be destroyed at any time and then be reconstructed in another place. The time when the segments disappeared was the most dangerous. If Qin Mu wasn’t visualizing at that point in time, the Paramita Ark would immediately be pulverized by the void storm.

The good thing was that Qin Mu was very alert. He would always enter his dream before the glowing bridge segments disappeared, hence avoiding all these dangers.

Ahead, they were closing in on the trapped Celestial Venerable Xu.

They should have been proud that they were able to make it so far. After all, Celestial Venerable Xu was an existence of half a Celestial Heavens Realm, the highest among the ten Celestial Venerables. Despite Qin Mu being a lowly god, he could actually close in on Celestial Venerable Xu through the use of one ark!

No one would believe this when being told of what happened here.

Luo Wushuang stood at the bow of the ark, looking at Celestial Venerable Xu. It seemed as though she had noticed the Paramita Ark and was trying to escape and head over to it.

Luo Wushuang went cold and formed a knife using his qi, clutching the handle tightly. He thought, ‘Given my abilities, I’m not sure if I can fend Celestial Venerable Xu off with my knife. Though, I must be getting more daring, as the first thing that comes to my mind is to kill Celestial Venerable Xu.’

He wore an odd expression on his face.

In the past, his first thought would be to kowtow when faced with an existence like Celestial Venerable Xu. This had almost become a habit for him, servility deeply entrenched in his heart.

However, after he met Qin Mu, his servility decreased. During their journey in the Great Void, he even attacked the apparition of Celestial Venerable Hong!

The more he interacted with Qin Mu, the weaker his servility. He even killed Lian Huahun and Yun Chuxiu. Given their identities as Celestial Empress and Mistress Yuanmu, they could be part of the ten Celestial Venerables.

Now, his guts were growing. Yun Chuxiu and Lian Huahun were, after all, hidden identities, but Celestial Venerable Xu was a genuine Celestial Venerable!

At this moment, the Paramita Ark trembled violently. The glowing bridge segment that Qin Mu planned to dock at had disappeared!

Luo Wushuang felt a chill run down his spine and was at a loss. Qin Mu had clearly used up most of his consciousness when he planned to dock at the glowing bridge segment for a rest. However, the disappearance of that bridge segment meant that there was now no place to rest!

With his depleted consciousness, there was no way they could reach the other glowing bridge segment.

‘It’s impossible to turn back now!’

Luo Wushuang felt a sense of hopelessness. He saw that the Paramita Ark was being torn apart by the void storm and muttered, “We are doomed...”

Qin Mu continued to be asleep in his dream. In the dream world, those ancient gods of Qin Mu cried in unison, “Celestial Venerable Huo! Where is he?”

Luo Wushuang shuddered. ‘Why is Cult Master Qin calling for Celestial Venerable Huo?’

The many voices of those ancient gods merged into a stream and shouted in a deafening tone, “You have been on the ark for so long, it’s about time you help out!”

Luo Wushuang’s heart turned cold as he looked around frantically. ‘Is Celestial Venerable Huo really on this ark? When did he board? Oh yes, when Heavenly Master Yue was drawing the map of the Void Bridge, his golden dragon was there too. Hence, Celestial Venerable Huo was aware of the Void Bridge’s location. He hasn’t shown himself yet and planned to hide from my senses onboard this ark. Based on my abilities, I’m unable to detect him. However, is Celestial Venerable Huo really on this ark?’

As he thought about it, he saw Celestial Venerable Huo’s figure appearing at the center of the Paramita Ark. His blazing flames scorched and melted the void as he resisted the void storm.

Although Celestial Venerable Huo was able to fool Luo Wushuang, he was unable to fool Qin Mu. Because the Paramita Ark was visualized by Qin Mu, no matter where he hid, it was as good as hiding under Qin Mu’s eyelids.

“Celestial Venerable Mu, even with my abilities, I’m unable to hold on for long.”

The voice of Celestial Venerable Huo rumbled. “I will try to hold on for a short period while you use this opportunity to recover your consciousness.”

Qin Mu immediately left the dream world. As Celestial Venerable Huo was protecting the Paramita Ark, he concentrated wholeheartedly on executing the Overlord Body Three Elixir Technique, recovering his consciousness.

Not long after, Celestial Venerable Huo grunted, unable to hold on any longer. Qin Mu immediately took over by performing his visualization. Celestial Venerable Huo sat in a cross-legged position, trying his best to recover his cultivation.

The two took turns replacing each other. Finally, the end of the Void Bridge was getting close, and those balls of light were getting bigger. They realized that those lights were actually lights from three houses in the void!

‘There are people who managed to live here?’ A preposterous feeling rose in Qin Mu’s heart.

Suddenly, there was a flash of light at the bow of the ark. Celestial Venerable Xu appeared, her figure stumbling.

Luo Wushuang immediately pulled out his knife and slashed towards Celestial Venerable Xu. A cold gleam flashed across that lady’s eyes. However, Qin Mu quickly raised his hand to stop Luo Wushuang. He then shook his head and said, “Since she has boarded the ark, she is now one of us. We are now in the same situation, facing the same difficulties. Celestial Venerable Xu, do you still remember Ah Chou?”

Celestial Venerable Xu was slightly stunned. Qin Mu revealed a smile as his gaze landed on the pair of curved horns on top of this Celestial Venerable’s head.

He took out a huge cauldron. From it, many faces rose and surrounded Qin Mu, drifting leisurely.

They then faced Qin Mu and shouted, “Ah Chou!”

Celestial Venerable Xu’s expression changed drastically as she cried, “You...”