Tales of Herding Gods

Chapter 294: Number Two in the World

Translator: Ninetales Editor: DarkGem

“Primordial spirit?”

Qin Mu was slightly puzzled. He had perfected his Unity Technique on the Six Directions Realm and entered comprehension. Then, he somehow brought Ling Yuxiu’s soul and spirit embryo to fly out as well. Was this primordial spirit?

“Spirit and soul, spirit and soul. The first is spirit and the second is soul. Spirit means spirit embryo and soul means soul. When you succeed in cultivating a spirit embryo, the soul is formed.”

Ling Yushu was much higher than them in cultivation. Besides that, ever since Crown Prince Ling Yuxia had died, Emperor Yanfeng came to value him more and appointed a new grand tutor, grand preceptor, and grand protector to teach him how to cultivate and how to manage the politics of the empire.

Ling Yushu had also had quite plentiful gains lately and his cultivation had increased much faster than when he was in Imperial College. Now that he was already at the peak of Seven Stars Realm, he was more than capable to guide Qin Mu and Ling Yuxiu.

“Primordial spirit is formed when the soul attaches itself to the spirit embryo to form a god in the human body. Vital qi then transforms into primordial essence of the soul which forms the primordial spirit.

“Other than giving birth to a spirit weapon in Six Directions Realm, there’s also the primordial spirit there. However, primordial spirit only matures after Six Directions Realm enters Celestial Being Realm, so it can roam to the ends of the world. Both of you have just entered Six Directions Realm, so how could your primordial spirit come out of your body and roam the world?”

Qin Mu and Ling Yuxiu were at a loss. They didn’t know what was happening, and their primordial spirits had just carelessly left their bodies to roam the world.

“Six Directions is heaven, earth, north, south, east, and west. It’s also the fusion of the body and will, will and qi, qi and soul, soul and spirit, spirit and heaven as well as heaven and earth. Only when this step is achieved are all the Six Directions reached.”

Ling Yushu pondered it, then said, “After Six Directions, the soul and essence link up. With the primordial spirit and corporeal body as one, the primordial spirit can finally come out of the body. If you come out of your body without that, you might not be able to return to your corporeal body. How did you guys do it of all things…”

He was completely bewildered.

Qin Mu and Ling Yuxiu looked at each other and shuddered. If they hadn’t achieved the fusion of body, will, qi, soul, spirit, heaven, and earth, they might not have been able to find their corporeal bodies after their primordial spirits had come out of their bodies!

‘We were having so much fun, but luckily elder brother was able to get here in time and call us back. Otherwise, our primordial spirits might not have been able to find our corporeal bodies.’ Ling Yuxiu felt fear at the ordeal.

“Roaming the world is a small matter. When you reach Celestial Being Realm, you can roam the universe and witness the strange things in it. However, there’s still a Seven Stars Realm in between.”

Ling Yushu threw this unexplainable matter to the back of his head and said, “Imperial College teaches a lot in regards to Six Directions Realm, you should go and listen to more lessons. Shan Youxin has already completed the water wheel and is now heading to the manufacturing factory in Mill Prefecture to improve their craftsmanship. He wants to invite Bea…”

He wanted to say the word beast but caught himself and changed it. “Great Cult Master Qin to head there as well.”

Qin Mu hesitated. “This river dam…”

Dozens of imperial scholars came to the side of the river, and it was Chen Wanyun and the rest. Ling Yushu said, “Hand the river dam to them. This time the assistant minister plans to improve the craftsmanship of the manufacturing factory by forging some River Suppression Beasts so he said you must come over.”

They headed to the manufacturing factory and met with Shan Youxin who had just come there with the people from Ministry of Works. Mill Prefecture had a lot of mountains and a lot of mines. The manufacturing factory was in charge of refining black gold and black iron. Qin Mu met up with Shan Youxin and Shan Youxin immediately greeted him.

“Refining treasures and forging weapons requires black gold and black iron so His Majesty has long had the intention to construct a manufacturing factory in Mill Prefecture. However, Great Thunderclap Monastery had great power then, so he hesitated. But Great Thunderclap Monastery has suffered a great loss now, and His Majesty wants to take this chance to expand the manufacturing factory, thus we invite Cult Master to come forth and improve the boilers and the industrial arts of forging and pressing…”

Qin Mu nodded and said, “That’s easy.”

Ling Yuxiu went forward at that moment and said to Shan Youxin, “Assistant Minister, I’ve cultivated to Six Directions Realm and forged my spirit weapon. Can I ask Assistant Minister to improve on it.” When she was done, she took out her Nine Dragons Weapons.

Shan Youxin took it and smiled. “Princess has a master by her side so why are you asking me?”

Ling Yuxiu was bewildered, not knowing what master he meant.

Si Yunxiang also took out Thousand Silks and said, “This is my Thousand Silks Spirit Weapon, can Hall Master Shan help me?”

Shan Youxin took her Thousand Silks and examined the two spirit weapons. His face changed slightly, and he gently used them. He then saw the two forms of the spirit weapons change precipitously. The Nine Dragons Weapons instantly expanded and transformed into nine flying dragons with incomparably vivid scales. On the other hand, Thousand Silks increased step by step, spreading open and folding up from time to time, doing it in an unpredictable manner.

“Fellow colleagues, come and take a look!” Shan Youxin immediately summoned over the numerous officials of Ministry of Works. The assistant minister came forward and everyone observed the two spirit weapons and exclaimed endlessly. Assistant Minister said, “Truly marvelous creations excelling nature, the forging skill is truly fantastic, supernatural!”

The people of Ministry of Works studied them for a while before Shan Youxin returned them back to Ling Yuxiu and Si Yunxiang while saying, “Saintess, Princess, these two spirit weapons were made by Cult Master, right?”

Ling Yuxiu nodded. “The one that herds cows forged them for us in the sea.”

Shan Youxin revealed an expression of admiration and said, “Cult Master’s forging skill has already surpassed that of all of us in the Ministry of Works. We might be able to surpass Cult Master in terms of some techniques, but overall, we are inferior to him.”

Ling Yuxiu was stunned and cried out, “You can’t make it better?”

“We can’t make it better than Cult Master,” Shan Youxin said. “I had just taken a look and already learned quite a lot from Princess and Saintess’s spirit weapons. Both of your spirit weapons are already perfected and Ministry of Works can’t improve them any more.”

Si Yunxiang was skeptical. “Is Hall Master Shan giving him face because he is the cult master?”

Shan Youxin became solemn. “Cult Master Qin’s forging skills and techniques are close to god and close to Dao. Based on his techniques alone, no one in the world can surpass him. His forging methods are extremely intricate and I have never seen most of them nor even heard about them! The pill furnace of Incense Master Fan Yunxiao’s ship was forged by Cult Master, and I was present at that time, gasping in amazement! His skills can be said to be number one in the world!”

The two girls stared with their eyes wide open, unable to say a word.

Qin Mu immediately said humbly, “Assistant Minister praises me too much, I really don’t deserve so much praise. I had merely learned how to forge, so I don’t dare to claim myself to be the number one in the world!”

Ling Yuxiu and Si Yunxiang blinked and looked at the cowherd boy of Great Ruins while thinking to themselves, ‘He always likes to brag but now he actually knows how to be humble, how rare…’

“I’m at most number two in the world,” Qin Mu said humbly. “I’m inferior to Grandpa Mute from our village. Grandpa Mute is the best blacksmith in the villages around us, and when we go to the temple fair, his kitchen knives are always the first to be sold when placed with mine.”

Shan Youxin sigh. “Such a divine knife, I would also like to buy one back to study and treasure. Never would have I expect for them to be hidden in the fair of a small village, how I wish I could go back there and buy all of them. Cult Master, you can just teach us how to improve the manufacturing factory this time. Please!”

They grouped around Qin Mu like he was a revered leader and behind them was Ling Yushu, Ling Yuxiu, Si Yunxiang, and the government minister. The four of them stood with their eyes wide open, slightly stunned.

The government minister sighed and said, “Heavenly Devil Cult Master, the first imperial academician of Imperial College, the reputable Divine Physician Qin, and now the number two in the world in forging and refining treasures. This imperial academician sure is unrivaled. What other abilities does he have that people don’t know about?”

Ling Yuxiu suddenly thought of something and said, “His drawing skill is very good. He once gave me a painting and stamped it with runes. He said if he didn’t do that, the me in the painting would come out and run away from the painting.”

Si Yunxiang also recalled an event and said, “We were able to escape the hands of Long Jiaonan because of his paintings as well. He painted a storm on the sea and a ship breaking through the wind and waves, then the exact same storm appeared on the sea as well as the ship, ferrying us away!”

Ling Yushu looked at the government minister and asked, “Does Pavilion of Art Saint have these kinds of abilities?”

The government minister shook his head. “The talents of Pavilion of Art Saint can only draw what they see. Their paintings have grace and those people have the skill, but I’ve never heard about any of their drawings coming to life. Heavenly Devil Cult Master is truly…”

He shook his head and said, “Too surprising. How can a person have such high attainments in so many skills? Furthermore, he is still so humble? This kind of morality and conduct really make one sigh in admiration.”

“Is the one that herds cows humble?” Ling Yuxiu was slightly puzzled. The one that herds cows was clearly very arrogant, giving off the appearance of ‘I, your father, is the number two in the world’.

Si Yunxiang was also unwilling to accept it. Their sacred cult master was usually not matched with the word humble. When she wanted to challenge him, he would give off the appearance of ‘You won’t be able to beat me, go train more’.

“He’s already quite humble.” The government minister sighed ruefully. “If I had ten or twenty percent of his skills, I would be bragging about being the number one in the world yet he never proclaims it nor shows off. He will only say the truth when other people ask about it. He doesn’t say he’s the number one in the world, instead, he says he’s the number two. I have never met such a humble person before!”

Ling Yushu was stunned. This Heavenly Devil Cult Master was out of his expectations. ‘Such an outstanding youth, sister seems to be…”

He became worried if his sister would actually be a match for such an outstanding Heavenly Devil Cult Master. He then immediately shook his head. ‘What am I thinking? That brat better not get close to my sister!”

They saw QIn Mu and the rest measuring the structure of the boilers. The officials of Ministry of Works were using all kinds of calculation tools to inspect everything while others were calculating. They were all so busy that they paid no attention to the group.

After some time, everyone gathered around Qin Mu and saw him using vital qi to draw the blueprints. In the air, he drew the structure of the new boiler and the forging press machine. There were also a few blueprints of human-shaped machines. Other people immediately recorded them and went to get the required materials.

The manufacturing factory was buzzing with activity, and deafening sounds of forging rang all the time. Qin Mu explained his forging techniques to the people beside him as he forged, and all the officials of Ministry of Works nodded repeatedly.

After some time, Qin Mu finally created the first forging press machine. It was a human-shaped mechanism with eight arms which had a large pill furnace on its chest. In it, the medicinal stones could be sent to activate the mechanism.

The upper body of this human mechanism was a composite of smelted black gold and black copper which continuously flowed down its body. The black gold and black copper composite could flow to the hands to transform into a huge hammer or tools like steel drill or pliers. Furthermore, it had immense strength and could apply tens of thousands of pounds of pressure.

The person controlling the pill furnace at the side would only feel slightly warm, which was more than bearable. By controlling the machine here, one could control its mechanism to forge the black gold and black copper into shape.

The runes and mechanisms used here were very complicated, and Ling Yushu couldn’t help being dumbstruck when he saw Shan Youxin and the rest actually recording what they learned into a few thick books. When they were piled together, they were almost half the height of a human.

He went forward to flip through them and sighed in admiration. Within them were mostly runes transformed from divine arts. Qin Mu had applied common divine arts and spells into his forging, brilliantly exhibiting the application of what he had learned!

‘Cult master is really worthy of the word sacred, he’s not like Li Tianxing, that evil person!’

Ling Yushu was deeply moved. When he saw Qin Mu resting to the side, he immediately went to him with a smile. “Cult Master, if I joined Heavenly Saint Cult, what position could you give me?”

Qin Mu raised his head with an astonished expression. “Aren’t you worried the emperor might be fearful of you after you enter Heavenly Saint Cult?”

Ling Yushu was slightly excited. “He has his imperial preceptor and I also need to have my imperial preceptor! If I ascend to the throne in the future, you will be my Imperial Preceptor Qin!”

Qin Mu rose and shook his head. “Eternal Peace is not my homeland. I’m a person of Great Ruins. Does Your Highness still remember that? I’m a person abandoned by gods and can’t be your imperial preceptor. Do you have the guts to go against the orders of gods and let the people of Great Ruins become your people as well?”

Ling Yushu was stunned.

“You are inferior to your father, he would dare to do that.”

Qin Mu patted his shoulder and walked toward Shan Youxin and the rest. “He dares to face opprobrium and bring about his reform. The very first time he met me, he didn’t see me as an abandoned person. You can only preserve the accomplishments of the previous generations and still feel that I’m an abandoned person of Great Ruins. Your Highness, if you had great ambitions like the emperor, I would become your imperial preceptor. However, do you have them?”

Cold sweats ran down Ling Yushu’s forehead when he thought of Emperor Yanfeng’s words and actions. He knew he couldn’t do it.

It was not Ling Yuxiu who was no match for this man. It was him who was no match for an imperial preceptor like Qin Mu.