Tales of Herding Gods

Chapter 593: Nine Phoenixes Perching on Ancient Parasol Tree

Cripple was furious and shouted, “Mu’er, Grandpa Cripple’s good traditions have all been forgotten by you. You only know how to be brave and fierce like Butcher, and you will get cut in half sooner or later too… Butcher, what’s this expression of yours? Put your knife down! We talk amiably here. I’m only thinking what’s best for Mu’er…”

He carefully pushed the knife away from his neck.

Qin Mu smiled at him. “Grandpa Cripple, don’t worry, I know what I’m doing. The so-called Emperor’s Throne technique he uses was created by his predecessors and not by him, so it’s still up to his comprehension and cultivation to how much power he can unleash. This will make the technique drop by a realm, to Numinous Sky technique.

“Besides, Eternal Peace is undergoing a reform while the celestial heavens definitely hasn’t done so, which means that Qi Jiuyi’s Emperor’s Throne technique will be another level lower, going down to Jade Capital technique.”

With just a few words, he lowered an Emperor’s Throne technique by two levels.

“Even if it’s a Jade Capital technique, it’s still a few levels higher! True God, Jade Lake, God Execution Stage, and only then Jade Capital!” Cripple said coldly.

Qin Mu was brimming with confidence. “Because my true god technique is self-created, I can unleash all of its power, which raised it by a level, making it equivalent to a Jade Lake technique. In addition, I’m the overlord body, so I’m basically on par with God Execution Stage technique, which makes the difference not that large.”

Cripple was speechless from anger.

“Cripple, this is the reason why you still can’t cross the divine bridge and enter the celestial palaces. You are too timid, afraid of this and that, afraid that you can’t cross the divine bridge. Actually, your cultivation is enough to do it. Luckily, Mu’er didn’t learn from you or else he would never succeed in anything,” Granny Si said.

Cripple couldn’t be angry at her and just said angrily, “Dote on him more, I don’t care anymore. I’ll see him get beaten to death sooner or later!”

Even though he said so, he was still extremely concerned about Qin Mu. Back when Granny Si had picked him from the river, he was the first in the village to accept Qin Mu. Granny Si was annoyed at him wetting the bed and sent him away, but Cripple had brought him back time and time again without any complaint.

After Qin Mu grew slightly older, he didn’t have a playmate so it was always this old boy that played together with him. Of course, he tended to bully Qin Mu, stealing the candy Granny Si had bought for him or seizing toys Old Ma had made for him. It was always him who made Qin Mu cry and then was beaten by Granny Si until she was satisfied.

During those years, Village Chief had been dispirited, Blind’s Dao heart was broken by Xing An, Granny Si was worrying about Li Tianxing who was in her Dao heart, Mute only forged silently without talking to anyone, Apothecary had a buttload of love debts, Deaf didn’t bother about anyone, Old Ma was reminded of his departed wife and children when he saw Qin Mu, while Butcher was frequently crazy because he knew the truth about the sky.

Back then, they all had yet to undo the knots in their hearts. Cripple was the only one who had simply been forced into the village by Imperial Preceptor. He had a light burden, and so he was able to treat Qin Mu wholeheartedly.

When Fu Riluo saw the group squabbling, he was bewildered. The relationships between gods were usually one of politeness and courtesy. Even if they were enemies, both sides would usually treat one another with respect. It was rare to see gods quarreling every day like the gods of Disabled Elderly Village.

“Zhe Huali, you need to be careful when fighting with Young Master Qi.” Fu Riluo didn’t stop Zhe Huali from fighting altogether. “Now that you have finished your apprenticeship, there’s nothing more I can teach you. It’s the same for your other teacher, Luo Wushuang. From today onwards, you need to comprehend with your own cultivation. Fighting with Young Master Qi is your wish, and so I won’t stop you, just go.”

As the respectable king of the devil race, he had an abnormal bearing. Even if he was the enemy, his way of doing things was still very admirable.

Zhe Huali gave his thanks and looked at Qi Jiuyi. There seemed to be a knife light flashing in his eyes.

His knife skill had just taken shape, and he desperately needed someone to confirm his abilities!

“Fu Riluo, this disciple of yours won’t be a match for Young Master Qi,” Lu Li said in a low voice, “You have no idea how terrifying his inheritance is! His master is an ancient big shot of the celestial heavens, a prehistoric existence! Great Ruins was created by that existence!”

Fu Riluo’s left face’s voice was indifferent. “So what? From the ancient times until now, paths, skills, and divine arts have all changed so much that prehistoric things might no longer be powerful. You’re making the celestial heavens too much of a legend.

“Even if Zhe Huali isn’t a devil, he has still inherited our spirit—he becomes stronger when facing the strong, and he fights fiercer and fiercer! He also has extremely high comprehension and was able to comprehend the Dao when Heaven Knife slew Sun Sovereign with one knife. Who else could have done a similar thing? Zhe Huali might not lose this battle!”

Lu Li snorted and didn’t say anything else.

Zhnng!

The knife light shone, and Zhe Huali made his move!

He used Luo Wushuang’s knife skills, and the knife light started to split. The demon knife in his hands instantly became excited, and the demon eye opened to lock its gaze on Qi Jiuyi. When the knife light split, it multiplied again and again!

Qi Jiuyi stood motionless. Suddenly though, flames fluttered behind him as if he was a phoenix flapping its wings. The wings went before him, sending feathers forward. They were gorgeous and didn’t break even when they collided with the knife light.

In an instant, Zhe Huali’s Fission Knife Skills separated in ten thousand knife lights yet when they collided with the feathers of the phoenix, they could not break through the feathers.

On the contrary, the flaming feathers broke through the knife lights and rushed at Zhe Huali.

His body suddenly vanished before reappearing the next instant. Every step he took, his body would pause for a moment, and the demon knife in his hand would slash down. All kinds of basic knife forms were executed, and they burst forth like a huge sun, a devil god splitting a mountain, or flowers and leaves of a lotus pond. All kinds of apparitions poured out, filling the sky with knife lights slashing at Qi Jiuyi.

His speed was extremely fast, and the speed of his young true god’s corporeal body was such that he left a series of afterimages. This speed was no inferior to that of Qin Mu.

Such fast speed and strong corporeal body allowed him to leave afterimages in an area of a hundred fields around Qi Jiuyi. They surrounded him and attack as one!

Not only that, even the sky was filled with Zhe Huali’s figures. They were horizontal, lying flat, standing diagonally, and even upside down. They attacked from all kinds of strange angles!

Qi Jiuyi still stood unmoving. Yet he seemed to be able to see the sky and the earth. All around him, his phoenix feathers bloomed continuously, and more of them appeared. They gradually filled the area of several yards, preventing the demon knife of Zhe Huali from getting close.

Some of them even chased after Zhe Huali. Even if his speed was fast and his battle power was strong, Qin Mu and the rest could see that the phoenix feathers were a great threat to him!

Zhe Huali’s speed was like a clap of rolling thunder, yet each one seemed to be measured, and the distance they covered was exactly the same.

If the places where his feet touched the ground were connected together, the first two steps set the boundaries of a circle, next three made a triangle, the four after a square, then five a pentagon, and so on and so forth.

The more footsteps there were, the closer they came to a perfect circle.

All of the shapes used Qi Jiuyi as the center, and Zhe Huali swirled around him as he walked. Furthermore, he wasn’t walking on a flat surface, but a three-dimensional space that was sometimes far and sometimes close, sometimes above and sometimes below, sometimes to the left and sometimes to the right. If all the lines were connected, the sight would definitely be extremely dazzling.

It was also because of this that his body movements and knife skills were unpredictable.

His movements had to have been inherited from Divine Knife Luo Wushuang. That man’s footsteps, as well as his knife, were extremely strict.

Yet Zhe Huali slowly left further and further away from his opponent.

Qi Jiuyi still stood in the same spot without moving. The space taken up by the phoenix feathers grew, forcing Zhe Huali to continuously fall back.

The feathers were his divine arts, not his spirit weapon. With just his divine art, he made Zhe Huali unable to get close!

Not only that, the phoenix feathers gradually formed a kind of apparition.

It was a tree, an ancient parasol tree that was overflowing with light.

It stood tall behind the youth, its crown covering the sky. The light flowed down in various colors, and Qi Jiuyi was like a god under the tree bathed under a colored light.

The people observing the battle couldn’t help the grim expressions that surfaced on their faces. It was especially evident on Granny Si.

Her spells were the strongest in Disabled Elderly Village, and she had great comprehension of divine arts. After experiencing the baptism of the heart devil, she was on the verge of entering the path with spell divine arts, which meant that her future was bright.

Her divine arts could be ranked first in Disabled Elderly Village and in the whole Eternal Peace Empire.

Yet Qi Jiuyi’s divine art made her see an even more beautiful and profound level of attainment in divine arts. The ancient parasol tree wasn’t the divine art that Qi Jiuyi had comprehended, but a divine art of his technique.

Qi Jiuyi had only used what he learned, yet the power of the divine art surpassed all those on the same realm.

Just based on the exquisiteness of the divine art, Granny Si admitted that she was inferior.

The ancient parasol tree was condensed from countless feather divine arts. The construction was so exquisite that it was something she had never seen before!

And Qi Jiuyi’s power was finally ready!

“Mu’er, listen to your Grandpa Cripple and admit defeat,” Granny Si said to Qin Mu. “He is yet to use his spirit weapon, and he is already able to do this much; his cultivation is terrifyingly dense. His spell divine art can already be called a Dao spell! You won’t be looked down upon if you admit defeat.”

Qin Mu fisted his hands tightly while staring nervously at the battlefield. He was oblivious to her words.

The ancient parasol tree was being nourished more and continued to spread out, becoming even more perfect.

There was even a phoenix’s nest on among its branches, constructed from feathers. At this moment, Zhe Huali was already fifty yards away from Qi Jiuyi. Even though his attacks were fierce, they no longer posed any threat to Qi Jiuyi.

Once the phoenix’s nest was constructed, a phoenix gradually took shape within it!

Indescribable pulses went out as the phoenix grew more and more perfect. It was a nine-headed phoenix with nine slender and elegant necks that were either raised up or hung down from the nest as it examined the surroundings.

Qin Mu had felt the aura of a prehistoric beast from Qi Jiuyi’s body, and this was most likely the reason.

The pulse became stronger and stronger, and the nine-headed phoenix also became more and more beautiful, more and more real!

The nine-headed phoenix and ancient parasol tree didn’t pressure only Zhe Huali. It was extremely terrifying to everyone watching the surroundings.

“Brother Qin, didn’t you want to take a look at my divine arts?”

Under the ancient parasol tree, Qi Jiuyi’s expression was incomparably sacred. Zhe Huali finally exploded under the huge pressure, and he slashed down with his knife. It was the first knife move he had created after he had entered the path!

A huge demon eye appeared behind his back and opened up. A beam of light shot on the knife with which he had slashed, and its power instantly increased drastically. It had the power of Qin Mu’s Opening Calamity Sword that could conquer every obstacle!

‘Superb knife skills! He has the ability to fight me!’

The thumb and index finger of Qi Jiuyi’s right hand pinched together, and the mudra which was like a phoenix head smashed toward the knife light that had broken through the crown of the ancient parasol tree!

A clear phoenix’s cry rang out, and the nine-headed phoenix flapped its wings. However, it didn’t fly towards Zhe Huali, but rushed toward Qin Mu like flowing light!

Zhe Huali’s demon knife welcomed the mudra of Qi Jiuyi. Once it was out, the ancient parasol tree fell onto the demon knife. Qi Jiuyi actually unleashed his strongest attack at Zhe Huali and Qin Mu at the same time!