Tales of Herding Gods-Webnovel - Chapter 221

Little Jade Capital in the sky?

Imperial Preceptor’s wife looked up at the sky. It was a very beautiful name.

Jade Capital, a capital city made out of jade, the city where immortals lived. It had no smell of smoke or fire as well as no atmosphere of the mortal world.

“Once, Wanderer Zhen walked out of this mysterious Little Jade Capital to stop me, but it was a pity he failed.”

Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor’s gaze still held some unanswered questions. “Before he died, he told me that I must go to Little Jade Capital and that there would be things there that might change my thoughts. And now, I’m here.”

In front of them, a beautiful paradise that seemed to have come from a fairytale appeared faintly in the mist.

Qin Mu’s treasure ship stopped at Fen Prefecture. He brought Hu Ling’er out and bought some New Years goods, filling up the entire ship. Fen Prefecture was still considered peaceful. The magistrate there was gathering divine arts practitioners to create all kinds of spirit weapons before boarding a flying ship to store away the cloud in the sky.

There was already sunlight shining in some areas, and the snow was starting to melt; however, everything looked even colder.

Fen Prefecture produced a lot of strong alcohol, so the people would normally drink it to fight against the cold. Even though it was very chilly, there were many villagers who would go up the mountain to chop down trees to keep themselves warm with the firewood.

In addition, there was an inflation in prices and the goods were much more expensive than they were in the past. Qin Mu was wealthy, so he didn’t feel any difference, but Hu Ling’er did a few calculations and told him, “Young master, the prices have multiplied.”

Qin Mu was slightly stunned and said, “This is sooner than I thought. Stabilizing the prices of goods is the job of Minister of Revenue; it’s not our problem. As long as the dark cloud disperses and the imperial court sends disaster relief, there shouldn’t be much trouble in the north. I’m just afraid that there will be people creating trouble on purpose.”

They didn’t buy enough New Years goods in Fen Prefecture, so the treasure ship stopped again at Lie Prefecture. The goods here had also inflated by several times, and there were quite a lot of merchants who started hoarding quite some stocks, waiting for the prices to inflate even more before selling them and making a huge profit.

The magistrate of Lie Prefecture had already started to deal with these merchants, using severe punishments in these troubled times. Most of the merchants who had purposely hoarded their stocks were dragged away to be executed.

After two-three days, Qin Mu’s treasure ship reached Jing Prefecture, which wasn’t far from Great Ruins. It was around ten thousand miles away and behind quite a lot of the dark cloud, which was like a piece of white paper which had many holes cut out from it. Sunshine shone down through these holes.

This place was much farther, so it had more ground and fewer people. This was why chaos was starting to ensue as mountain bandits started to appear to rob big families. Many poor people could be seen frozen to death on the road as they lay next to an extinguished fire pit.

There were also some escapees pulling their families along in this world of ice and snow. They huddled tightly to one another as they stepped on the frozen river and headed to the south in hopes of finding warmth.

People didn’t say anything when someone would fall back from time to time. These people would squat down to gather the tiniest bit of warmth, but once they squatted down, they would never get up again.

The places where the river water accumulated had turned into a large ice mountain which gave off creaking sounds from time to time. Huge chunks of ice would then slide off the body, which looked very terrifying.

Qin Mu saw that there were young people who were proficient in spells among the escapees that were taking care of the migrators. He stopped his ship on the frozen surface and made some inquiries. These young people were the disciples of Heavenly Devil Cult.

“Tell them to stop looking for a warmer climate, everywhere is frozen,” Qin Mu said.

“They won’t listen.”

One of the disciples of Heavenly Devil Cult took off the face mask that was defending his face from the cold and revealed his dark red face. He then told their young cult master under the loud whistling of the cold wind, “Once these people stop, they will have no more hope. If they continue walking, there will still be hope in their hearts that they can find a warm place.”

Qin Mu was stunned. He took out some New Years goods that could keep people warm and handed them over to the disciples of Heavenly Devil Cult. This was to have them hand it out to the people in trouble. “With the whole empire in ice and snow, the demons and monsters will also come out to look for food, you guys must be extra careful.”

He didn’t stay long in Jing Prefecture. His treasure ship rose into the sky and headed to Great Ruins.

The winter in Eternal Peace Empire was outrageously cold, and with the passage of time, it became colder and colder. Soon, numerous icicles hung on the treasure ship, and its speed decreased by a large margin, while the medicinal stones depletion grew greater and greater. Every few thousand miles, Qin Mu would have to stop the ship and knock off the icicles, only then could the speed of the ship increase once again.

Hu Ling’er stood beside the pill furnace and sent medicinal stones into it from time to time. Qin Mu maintained the direction of the treasure ship which was flying very low. He turned his vital qi into Vermillion Bird Vital Qi to surround his body with blazing fire so as to prevent himself from freezing up.

The farther west he went, the more desolate it was. The more desolated it was, the more escapees there were, and the more people were frozen to death on the roads.

Furthermore, desolated places had less divine arts practitioners, so there were more places without sun. These places were still covered by a thick dark cloud which made the weather even colder.

The power of this snow disaster was much greater than Qin Mu had expected. The number of people dying also surpassed his estimations, and the cold was only becoming stronger.

Suddenly, flames burst out from the sky as a huge snake slithered out from the clouds and spewed flames everywhere to force back the cold air.

Demonic aura poured out from the huge snake as it slithered out from the clouds.

Qin Mu’s heart leaped, and he immediately pushed the treasure ship to rise, driving into the clouds.

That huge snake looked around with a flirtatious looking man standing on its head. This man then said in doubt, “I had clearly seen that brat’s ship just now, so why has it disappeared? Sister Qiu, release the insects!”

Countless insects flew out, revealing a woman standing on a cloud of insects. With a stretch of her finger, the insects could be seen flying off in all directions and tunneling into the cloud.

Qin Mu’s treasure ship shuttled through the cloud when it suddenly came face to face with a golden insect. When that insect saw the ship, it was also shocked and immediately halted.

Qin Mu stabbed out with his finger, and his vital qi turned into sword qi and gave off a clink when he stabbed the body of the insect.

However, this insect actually didn’t die but turned larger instead, becoming almost three yards long, squeaking as it pounced at him!

Qin Mu’s vital qi sunk into taotie’s sack, and Junior Protector Sword flew out with a whizz, slicing the huge insect into two. At this moment, a chuckle reached him. “So the cult master of Heavenly Devil Cult is here!”

Qin Mu looked towards the source of the voice and saw the clouds behind him turning red. He immediately knew it was bad and shouted out, “Ling’er, turn up all three pill furnaces to the maximum!”

Boom!

Huge flames burst forth and swept through the cloud, striking the bow of the treasure ship. Qin Mu immediately grabbed the helm of the ship so that he wouldn’t be thrown off.

The treasure ship swayed and almost fell off the sky from this divine art. The bronze beasts below the ship spewed fire at their maximum power which increased the flying speed by a lot. In a few breaths’ time, they flew out of the cloud and broke into fresh air.

“So cold!”

Icy wind bombarded Qing Mu in the face, and he shivered from the cold. The Vermilion Bird Vital Qi around his body was cooled, and icicles soon covered his face and hands.

A huge bang rang out as the treasure ship surpassed the speed of sound.

Hu Ling’er turned off the pill furnaces at the bottom of the ship, and the flames spewing out from the bronze beasts’ mouths became shorter. She said, “Young master, we don’t have many medicinal stones left!”

Qin Mu looked back and saw flames pouring out from the clouds. A huge snake flew out, having followed the brilliant gold swarm of insects which were rushing over here. However, their speed was much slower than that of the treasure ship.

Even though the treasure ship’s speed was slowed, they could still forget about catching up to it.

Qin Mu calmed down and used his vital qi to wrap the ship before entering the hold. “How many medicinal stones do we have left?”

Hu Ling’er was still busy pouring the medicinal stones into the pill furnace and could only pout at him.

Qin Mu looked over and frowned slightly. He saw that almost all of the baskets were empty, besides one and a half. The medicinal stones used for Eternal Peace Empire’s flying ships were all specially prepared and wrapped in kraft paper. They just needed to throw in packets after packets in, and they would be able to maintain the flight of the flying ship.

They had bought over a dozen basket of medicinal stones which should have been enough for them to fly to Great Ruins. However because they kept stopping on the journey to melt the icicles, their stock has been depleted.

Hu Ling’er said, “The weather is too cold. If we push the power of the pill furnace to its maximum, I reckon we won’t be able to make it to Great Ruins.”

At this moment, violent tremors came from the treasure ship, and Qin Mu immediately walked out of the hold. Just as he popped his head out, he immediately closed the door of the hold. Clink, clink, clink. A series of concentrated attacks rang out as over a dozen flying swords stabbed into the hold of the ship.

Qin Mu pushed open the hold of the ship and saw a sword pellet in the sky whirling about. The deck and hold of the ship were filled with flying swords which were trembling as they tried to pull themselves out to return to the sword pellet.

Hack Sword Form!

Qin Mu raised his hand and cut down. Junior Protector Sword hacked down, splitting the sword pellet. It exploded, and a hundred broken flying swords fell from the sky.

“Superb sword!” a voice said, and Qin Mu looked towards its source only to see a scholar running towards them through the sky ten thousand feet above them. His speed could make anyone’s eyes go wide-open.

“Heavenly Devil Cult’s Cult Master Qin, your identity is revealed and you have a bumpy road ahead of you!”

That young scholar leaped forward as though he was flying and divine arts would explode behind him from time to time, pushing his ahead again and again. His voice came over steadily as he smiled. “There are many Dao friends waiting for you in front!”

Qin Mu’s gaze flickered, and he stretched his hand out. Junior Protector Sword swept over with a cold light towards the young scholar. This person had loose sleeves which he used to welcome Junior Protector Sword; however, when his sleeves got pierced by the sword light, he couldn’t help being astonished. He immediately flicked his fingers, and another divine art burst forth from his fingertips, turning into numerous sparrows that carried flames and collided with Junior Protector Sword.

Qin Mu’s sword finger whirled and turned into Spiral Sword Form, shredding all of the sparrows and turning Junior Protector Sword bright red from the heat. However, the sword continued to spin and move around that young scholar, until he was left bare, with no clothing left.

“Superb sword skill!”

The young scholar immediately stopped and distanced himself from the treasure ship. Qin Mu felt that the range in which he could control his vital qi thread had reached its maximum, so he took out the sword sheath and gave it a shake in the wind. The sword sheath turned into a fish dragon and Junior Protector Sword came flying back like a shooting star, getting swallowed by the fish dragon.

“Amitabha!”

A name of buddha came from the sky, and Qin Mu hurriedly raised his head to take a look, coming face to face with the dazzling sunlight. Among the blazing sunlight, he could faintly see a huge buddha shining with a brilliant golden color. It was descending from the sky straight towards the treasure ship!

Qin Mu’s vital qi burst forth and Junior Protector Sword flew out once again, transforming into Drill Sword Form to stab at the huge buddha descending from the sky!

“Vajra Unbeatable!”

A shout came from midair, and Qin Mu instantly felt the movement of Drill Sword Form becoming incomparably sluggish. Immense pressure came down on him and traveled through his body and onto the treasure ship. The bones in Qin Mu’s body creaked from trying to withstand the pressure, and the treasure ship also gave off a creaking sound as well as sank down.