Chapter 1828: The Shepherd God
In the Chaos Hall, Qin Mu and the Founding Emperor Qin Ye talked for a long time before finally having Zhan Ji send the Founding Emperor Qin Ye away.
"Yankang... should be fine, right?" Qin Mu murmured softly.
"Are you well?" was the first thing he said when he met the Founding Emperor Qin Ye earlier. For the Founding Emperor Qin Ye, those words were just a polite greeting, but for Qin Mu, they meant far too much.
He had been separated from the Founding Emperor and the others for sixteen cosmic epochs, spanning trillions of years. He had walked through endless storms and witnessed the formation, existence, decay, and emptiness of sixteen universes.
The history he had experienced was magnificent and stirring, surpassing even Yankang, with even more brilliance and excitement.
He was afraid of forgetting Yankang, of forgetting his old friends. After all, in the Seventeenth Epoch, he was only three and a half billion years old—far too short compared to trillions of years.
But that place was his homeland.
"Yankang... must be fine."
Qin Mu revealed a smile, lifted his spirits, and walked out of the Chaos Hall: "Ling Yun, Ling Tianzun, and Yue Tianzun and I have prepared for so long. Yankang cannot possibly be bad!"
He stood before the hall, gazing at the Miluo Palace. The Miluo Palace's doors were still tightly shut.
"Teacher, the future you saw never happened."
Qin Mu murmured softly: "Because the moment you turned back into the Destruction Calamity of the Sixteenth Epoch, the future was no longer what you saw. But you were right about one thing: if I want to surpass you, I must indeed return to the First Epoch—not to its Destruction Calamity, but to its Creation Calamity. Seventeen cosmic epochs, yet only sixteen Creation Calamities... that is indeed very strange..."
Before, Qin Mu had lacked the necessary skill to return to the beginning of the First Cosmic Epoch's creation. Now, he had enough mastery.
In the Miluo Palace, situated within the Destruction Calamity of the First Epoch, Dao sounds rang out everywhere. It was the fluctuation of Qin Mu's Chaos Dao as it searched for the Creation Calamity of the First Epoch.
The Creation Calamity was the great calamity of heaven and earth's opening. The First Epoch had a long history of eight hundred billion years. Logically, within the Destruction Calamity of the First Epoch, no one could sense such fluctuations. However, for Chaos, the fluctuations caused by the creation of heaven and earth had always been there.
These fluctuations were deeply imprinted into the background of the universe, becoming extremely subtle, so much so that even the Destruction Calamity could not erase them.
After a long time, Qin Mu's expression shifted slightly. One by one, Chaos Reincarnations spun wildly, slicing into the past, cutting into the eight-hundred-billion-year history of the First Epoch!
Qin Mu walked within the reincarnations, finally entering the immeasurably long time of the First Epoch!
The magnificent epic of the First Epoch appeared before him. He traveled backward through time within the Chaos Reincarnation, witnessing all the heroic and tragic events of the past.
Qin Mu did not stop, did not linger, and continued to trace backward.
Finally, when his strength was nearly exhausted, he arrived at the time before the First Epoch had even been created.
Perhaps the solution to the Great Silence of the Seventeenth Epoch could be found here!
After Qin Mu left the Seventeenth Epoch.
The war between Yankang and the Miluo Palace's Dao Achievers and Hall Masters continued. Without the Third Young Master Lingxiao and the Fourth Young Master Zixiao in the Jade Capital City, and without Qin Mu in Yankang, the war fluctuated repeatedly.
The Jade Capital City even attacked near the Yuan Realm. Because of this powerful enemy, Yankang's reforms once again burst forth with vitality.
Hundreds of millions of years later, Dao Ancestor Lan Yutian finally comprehended Young Master Taishang's Heavenly Connection Well, broke through it, and resolved the Taishang divine artifact, leaving the Hall Masters and Dao Achievers of the Miluo Palace without their support.
At this time, the Boundless Elder re-emerged, entrenched in the Beast Realm on the reverse side of the Yuan Realm. The roots of the World Tree pierced through the past, causing prehistoric powerhouses to descend continuously.
Prehistoric powerhouses achieved Dao, and more Great Luo Heavens appeared in the Ultimate Void. The two sides engaged in a series of fierce battles.
Yankang was caught between two enemies, forming a three-way melee. Yankang's reforms finally continued with great momentum. More and more Dao Achievers emerged in Yankang, suppressing both major forces.
At this time, Wuji reincarnated and achieved Dao for a second time, recreating the Guixu Abyss and slaughtering in all directions. Among the Dao Achievers of the three factions, few could match her.
Just as Young Master Wuji was about to become invincible under heaven, Young Master Taishang and Taiyi finally revealed their astonishing combat power, fighting fiercely against Wuji.
Young Master Wuji was no longer invincible, but Taishang and Taiyi could do nothing to her either.
On the other side, the Miluo Palace stabilized its foothold and began to occupy parts of the heavens, selecting outstanding cultivators to teach them divine arts and Dao methods, trying to take root in the Seventeenth Epoch.
The Boundless Elder also took root in the Beast Realm, carving out a territory. The three-way war, coupled with the opposition between Wuji and Taishang and Taiyi, made the Seventeenth Epoch even more splendid and colorful.
Yankang once tried to destroy the Miluo Palace and the Boundless Elder. However, just as they were about to succeed, the Boundless Elder would help the Miluo Palace, and the Miluo Palace would help the Boundless Elder.
And Taishang and Taiyi would also help the Miluo Palace or the Boundless Elder to oppose Yankang!
But when Yankang faced a dead end, Young Master Wuji, Taishang, or Taiyi would also come to help Yankang!
This drove Lan Yutian, Xu Shenghua, and the others crazy.
Time was merciless, and matter evolved. Even though there were many Great Luo Heavens in the Ultimate Void, they could not stop the expansion of the void.
One by one, the heavens became wider and grander. The distance between them grew larger and larger. The Xuan Du became immensely vast, covering the Four Extremes Heavens and all the heavens and myriad realms. New stars continuously emerged to fill the vast starry sky.
Even the all-powerful Heavenly Lord could not manage such a vast Xuan Du. The Miluo Palace and the Boundless Elder immediately seized the opportunity to invade the Xuan Du and occupy territory.
This was the one hundred billionth year of the Seventeenth Epoch universe. The universe's vastness had already surpassed the First Epoch.
As the Miluo Palace Master had foreseen, such a vast universe made the Seventeenth Epoch as brilliant as the First Epoch. Heroes rose everywhere, and no one had the power to unify the universe. Even the Yankang Heavenly Court could not govern such a vast cosmic starry sky.
This was exactly what the Boundless Elder most wanted to see. His World Tree covered an extremely wide area. Any place Yankang could not govern would become his territory.
But as time passed, even the Boundless Elder found it increasingly difficult to cope with the ever-growing universe.
The vastness of the Seventeenth Epoch universe surpassed the First Epoch and was still expanding.
The wars between the various factions continued, but the scale and frequency of battles became smaller and smaller. They discovered a terrifying truth.
As the universe grew wider, the spiritual energy and spiritual power in heaven and earth became thinner and thinner. Most wars between factions were no longer about ideological disputes but often became battles for holy lands rich in spiritual energy and power.
Gradually, no new Dao Achievers emerged in the universe for billions of years.
In the two hundred billionth year, Lan Yutian and Xu Shenghua sought out Young Master Wuji, Taishang, and Taiyi to discuss the universe's prospects. They convinced the three to go together to find the Boundless Elder, and finally, they all arrived at the Jade Capital City.
The giants of the Seventeenth Epoch universe finally sat down to discuss how to deal with the expansion of the void.
"Only by abandoning our prejudices and letting the Dao Achievers' Great Luo Heavens be imprinted in the Ultimate Void can we stabilize the void's expansion!"
The Boundless Elder said: "The Ancestral Court Dao Realm system is also a Dao realm system. Yankang's Dao Achievers achieve Dao internally, which can be changed to achieving Dao externally, imprinting their own Great Luo Heavens into the Ultimate Void. Coupled with Young Master Wuji's Guixu Dao, which can devour the Ultimate Void, and with the Dao Achievers of me and the Miluo Palace, we can surely stop this expansion trend."
The giants of the Seventeenth Epoch finally joined forces. This was historically called the First Miluo Palace Alliance.
One by one, Great Luo Heavens soared into the sky, imprinting themselves into the Ultimate Void of the universe. The most powerful beings of the Seventeenth Epoch attempted to prevent the arrival of the Great Silence. This was the first attempt.
However, the evolution of the Ultimate Void did not stop expanding as they had predicted, nor was it crushed into Chaos by the Dao Achievers.
The power of the void continued to advance. The Ultimate Void merged with the other thirty-five layers of void. The Great Luo Heavens of tens of thousands of Dao Achievers could not crush the Ultimate Void. Instead, their Great Luo Heavens were torn apart, expanding outward with the void's expansion!
At the Second Miluo Palace Alliance, Young Master Wuji said: "Cultivating the Guixu Dao can restrain the void. In this way, we can continuously devour the expanding void and halt its expansion."
She unreservedly taught her Guixu Dao to the world.
The Dao Achievers' second attempt began. However, when one Guixu Abyss after another appeared in the void, trying to devour the void, the Guixu Abysses continuously evaporated and decomposed on their own.
Seventy billion years later, the second attempt was declared a failure.
At the Third Miluo Palace Alliance, Lan Yutian said: "Yankang achieves Dao internally, containing the universe within. This can avoid being voided."
But by this time, the Seventeenth Epoch universe had reached its three hundred billionth year. The spiritual energy and power in heaven and earth had become extremely thin. Not only were there no new Dao Achievers, but even new gods were becoming rarer. Cultivators became the most powerful force in the secular world.
There were no new Dao Achievers.
After the Third Miluo Palace Alliance, a series of wars for holy lands broke out. Eventually, the Holy Land Wars ended.
What ended the Holy Land Wars was not the rationality of the giants but the breadth of the universe.
The expanding universe made even waging war extremely difficult.
Spiritual Energy Transfer Bridges, the innovation that had once caused a qualitative change in Yankang's reforms, were now useless. As the Spiritual Energy Transfer Bridges between the two nearest heavens broke, traveling to other heavens became a luxury.
Connections between the various heavens gradually severed.
Despair spread through all the heavens.
Just then, the Thief Saint found Lan Yutian and Xu Shenghua and said: "After I was rescued, I went to steal many treasures from the Boundless Elder and the Miluo Palace, hiding them in the chaotic space of Chaos. These treasures might be able to emit spiritual energy and power, delaying the Great Silence for a while."
Xu Shenghua shook his head: "No matter how many treasures, they will only delay it for a very short time."
"What if they are Chaos treasures?"
The Thief Saint said: "Chaos told me that he and the Daughter of Chaos once collected treasures from the Chaos River during the Destruction Calamities of sixteen cosmic epochs, hiding them in chaotic space and the filthy ground. Perhaps they will be useful in the future, to solve an urgent need."
Xu Shenghua and Lan Yutian's hearts stirred. They went to chaotic space and the filthy ground respectively.
Even though they were the most powerful Dao Achievers, it took them hundreds of thousands of years to reach these two places.
The treasures hidden by Chaos and his daughter became the lifeline of the Seventeenth Epoch universe. When those Chaos treasures were retrieved and brought back to the various holy lands, the spiritual energy and power of those holy lands became abundant again, extending the universe's life.
But even Chaos treasures would one day exhaust their spiritual energy and power.
That day would eventually come.
In the four hundred billionth year, most stars in the universe had extinguished and evaporated. Only a few holy lands still emitted spiritual energy and power, sustaining life.
On this day, a strange vibration came from the universe, its waves spreading through the cosmic wilderness.
Lan Yutian sensed this vibration and said to Xu Shenghua: "The World Tree has collapsed. The Boundless Elder was torn apart by the power of the void. He has transformed into Dao."
Xu Shenghua felt the faint sadness emanating from the depths of the universe and shook his head: "The Boundless Elder did not transform into Dao. His Dao foundation was unstable. His Great Dao was evaporated by the void and no longer exists."
For this enemy, they felt only sadness, not resentment.
The Boundless Elder's existence had allowed this universe to last much longer.
Without the Boundless Elder, the Great Silence would likely have arrived sooner.
After the Boundless Elder perished, a strange vibration came from the void. Xu Shenghua and Lan Yutian saw that in the void's filthy ground, new universes were actually being born! They were shocked and bewildered!
Young Master Taishang and Taiyi found them and said: "That is Taiyi's physical body, along with the Heaven-Opening Multitude. They are Dao Achievers who were suppressed by Chaos in the sixteen cosmic epochs. Chaos sent them to the filthy ground, where they escaped the Creation Calamities. Now, the Creation Calamity has caught up with them."
Taiyi said: "My physical body and Tian Du's physical body are also there. Our physical bodies are undergoing the Creation Calamity. This is Chaos's backup plan, using this method to extend the life of the Seventeenth Epoch."
Taishang said: "I used to wonder why he did these things—why he collected so many Chaos treasures during the Destruction Calamities, why he targeted the Heaven-Opening Multitude and Taiyi so much, why he put those prehistoric powerhouses into coffins. Now, I finally understand."
He was filled with emotion. Chaos had begun laying his plans as early as the Destruction Calamity of the First Epoch, which was nearly two trillion years ago.
What moved Taishang even more was that this was the future the Miluo Palace Master had not seen—the changed future!
Xu Shenghua and Lan Yutian's hearts trembled.
Nothing in the void's filthy ground could escape the Creation Calamity; it was only a matter of how long it was delayed.
By having these prehistoric powerhouses, the Heaven-Opening Multitude, and the physical bodies of Taiyi and Tian Du undergo the Creation Calamity, Qin Mu was injecting the final spiritual energy into this dying universe.
However, this final spiritual energy could not extend the life of the Seventeenth Epoch for too long.
Five hundred billion years later, the last sun went out. The remaining holy lands gradually lost their energy.
The Yuan Realm, the Xuan Du, the You Du, and the Tian Yin Realm no longer existed. One by one, the heavens decomposed in the void, turning into nothingness.
Another strange vibration came from the universe. Young Master Taishang and Taiyi said nothing. Only Lan Yutian spoke: "Young Master Wuji, that old rival, has evaporated in the void. The only holy lands left in this world are the Jade Capital City and Yankang."
Yankang lived within the Ancestral Court's Hundun Cauldron. The Jade Capital City was a heavy treasure refined by the Miluo Palace Master and the various Young Masters. These became the last two holy lands of the universe, where life could still continue and reproduce.
However, even the Dao Achievers of these two holy lands felt their own Great Dao gradually voiding.
Sooner or later, their Great Dao would shatter bit by bit. They would become mortals, and like other mortals, they would turn into void.
After Young Master Wuji evaporated, the Ancestral Court's Hundun Cauldron and the Jade Capital City also began to split and expand, filling everyone with boundless despair.
They looked around. The universe was pitch black.
The sky had gone dark.
"Is chaotic space still not blooming?" Xu Shenghua asked, his hair white. He was also beginning to age.
The void's filthy ground that Qin Mu had left behind had completely disappeared. Apart from the Jade Capital City and the Hundun Cauldron, only chaotic space remained in the universe.
Countless years after Young Master Wuji's death, Ling Tianzun and Yue Tianzun returned.
"Mass-Energy Invariance cannot change the void. My Dao is also voiding."
Ling Tianzun said: "I can use my divine arts to maintain the Jade Capital City and the Hundun Cauldron, but I am not sure how long I can hold on."
Ling Tianzun's arrival delayed the void's evolution for a long time, but it was also futile.
Six hundred billion years later, her divine arts failed. The Hundun Cauldron and the Jade Capital City began to decompose, and the Great Dao gradually turned into void.
And chaotic space still had not bloomed.
After Ling Tianzun's divine arts failed, the Mass-Energy Invariance divine art became completely useless. This divine art had lost all its power.
Just then, Chaos energy surged in the void. The mighty Chaos River rolled in, injecting the final energy into this universe.
Qin Lingyun, leading Zhan Ji, stepped onto the Chaos River and came to the edge of the crumbling Hundun Cauldron. She said: "My father told me that sacrificing the past sixteen universes could temporarily delay the Great Silence."
Young Master Taishang sighed. The Daughter of Chaos had finally come.
He also understood another thing: why Chaos had insisted that the pregnant Ling Yuxiu cross the sixteen Chaos Rivers. Qin Lingyun was born in the Destruction Calamity, absorbing the power of sixteen Destruction Calamities.
One year of her life was one year. She grew up in the Destruction Calamity. Only she could pull the sixteen Chaos Rivers to inject the final energy into the Seventeenth Epoch.
However, it was likely that the sixteen cosmic epochs would also be destroyed along with it.
He also understood another thing: why the Miluo Palace Master had insisted that they return to their respective universes and not try to go to the Seventeenth Epoch.
It was because the Miluo Palace Master had likely seen this future too!
If they returned to their respective universes, then the Silence would come later.
But...
Taishang suddenly shuddered: "But, if Teacher saw this scene, then hasn't the future never changed? All the efforts of the Seventeenth Epoch, all the efforts of Chaos, have already been seen by Teacher? The future has never changed!"
He despaired. He returned to the Jade Capital City and entered Nirvana, dying.
He finally died of a broken Dao heart, just like the Miluo Palace Master. But no one laughed at him for imitating his teacher anymore.
Taishang's funeral was simple. Lan Yutian and Xu Shenghua also attended. Taiyi cried bitterly there. His rival across two lifetimes had still died in despair.
Lan Yutian looked around. The Jade Capital City was full of white-haired old people. Those former rivals had also aged.
"Are you my mother?" Qin Lingyun found Ling Yuxiu, who was lying on a sickbed, wrinkled and white-haired, and asked.
Ling Yuxiu hugged her and cried. Her life was also coming to an end. Finally, in her dying moments, she saw her own flesh and blood.
"I will protect Mother until the day Father returns."
Qin Lingyun was very confident: "The sixteen Chaos Rivers can sustain the Seventeenth Epoch for a long time."
The voiding of the Sixteenth Epoch's Chaos River came faster than she had expected. This universe, due to the invasion of stowaways, had not had much energy to begin with.
A million years later, the Sixteenth Cosmic Epoch was like a painting spread flat in the void. The people and things in the painting were vividly clear.
People in the two holy lands could look up and see this painting. A few years later, the Sixteenth Cosmic Epoch gradually dimmed, and the people and things in the painting disappeared without a trace.
The Fifteenth Epoch's Chaos River lasted a little longer. Eventually, that scene also gradually disappeared.
Taiyi saw Young Master Wuzong in the scene of the Thirteenth Epoch. Wuzong also turned into nothingness as the void extended.
When the Great Silence invaded the Tenth Epoch, Yue Tianzun looked up and saw Young Master Zixiao and his wife. The two were embracing in the scene in the void. Smiles bloomed on their faces. They looked very happy.
Vaguely, Yue Tianzun seemed to hear that zither melody again. It was very beautiful, containing emotions she did not have.
As the Chaos Rivers were voided one by one, Qin Lingyun gradually became weaker. The disappearance of each Chaos River caused her to lose power.
"Father will return. He said that chaotic space would explode like fireworks, the most beautiful light in the void." She said weakly to Ling Yuxiu.
The Destruction Calamity of the First Epoch universe was also gradually turning into void. That was the last barrier of this universe.
But the Destruction Calamity of the First Universe could not stop the void's silence either. Qin Lingyun became weaker and weaker because of this. When the void invaded the Miluo Palace, it finally met resistance.
A skeleton sat in the Miluo Palace, revealing its form. Its Dao Tree shone brilliantly, and its Dao Fruit radiated light, resisting the void's invasion!
"Teacher!" Taiyi bowed to the skeleton.
The surviving Dao Achievers in the Jade Capital City also bowed to the skeleton, tears streaming down their aged faces.
In the end, the Miluo Palace Master's skeleton, Dao Tree, and Dao Fruit could not stop the void. He also turned into void. The long, eight-hundred-billion-year history of the First Epoch spread out like a scroll in the void, slowly fading.
In the scroll, the Miluo Palace Master was peerlessly elegant. His gaze seemed to be looking toward chaotic space. Chaotic space was still there, but it had not bloomed.
His gaze dimmed, and he disappeared into the void along with the scroll of the First Epoch.
In the Jade Capital City, the Hall Masters and Dao Achievers of the Miluo Palace bowed down one by one. The moment they bowed, their forms turned into void.
The Jade Capital City unfolded like a painting beside the Hundun Cauldron, gradually becoming blurry.
"There is still a way to live."
The aged Lan Yutian lifted his spirits and said: "The Ancestral Court Dao Realm system achieves Dao internally. We can turn ourselves into Ancestral Court Great Luo Heavens, letting all living beings live within our Great Luo Heavens to sustain life. This way, we can hold on for a long time!"
"We won't last long. We will soon turn into void too."
A Dao Achiever shook his head: "To do this for mortals..."
"Gods are for the people."
Xu Shenghua revealed a bright smile: "Fellow Daoists, fellow brothers, we are gods! The last gods!"
The Dao Achievers fell silent.
After a moment, one by one, Ancestral Court Great Luo Heavens lit up in the dark cosmic void. Without their power, the Hundun Cauldron turned into an infinitely vast scroll.
Those Ancestral Court Great Luo Heavens formed self-contained miniature universes. Life continued within those miniature universes. The Dao Achievers of Yankang used their last strength to protect each pure land.
When it gets dark, don't go out.
This was the warning the Dao Achievers gave to the living beings inhabiting the closed miniature universes.
In the dark void, these lights flickered on and off. As the void stretched, the lights became fainter and farther apart, gradually becoming imperceptible.
Eight hundred billion years later, the Seventeenth Epoch universe fell into complete darkness.
Matter no longer changed, because all matter had been torn apart by the void. The entire universe was infinitely expanded, with no signs of life left.
There was no light, no sound, no color.
Only the boundless, cold, silent void.
In this despairing coldness, chaotic space also gradually became blurry, as if it too would dissolve into the void.
Without matter, time also disappeared.
Suddenly, in the boundless darkness, light appeared, shining on the universe that had turned into void.
It was the light produced by the explosion of countless Chaos dreams in chaotic space, like a final swan song. One by one, the Chaos dreams shattered and broke, as brilliant as fireworks.
Chaotic space had finally exploded.
A figure walked out from the place where chaotic space had broken, walking through the boundless darkness. He looked around. Everywhere was nothingness, only darkness.
Only darkness.
He walked on the membrane of the void and shouted loudly.
Is anyone there?
Is anyone still there?
I'm back! Is anyone still there?
There was no more light in the void.
Ling Yun, I'm back.
Yuxiu, I'm back.
Lan Yutian, Xu Shenghua, I'm back.
Qin Ye, I'm back.
...
He walked for a long time, calling out again and again, but there was still no response.
Just as he was about to despair, a point of light lit up in the dark void. It was a Dao Achiever's Ancestral Court Great Luo Heaven, lonely and tenaciously existing in the void, flickering on and off.
He stopped. His withered Dao heart gradually revived.
At that moment, one by one, lights in the dark void lit up like lamps in the darkness, dots of light, scattered like stars on a chessboard.
He revealed a smile.
*The Story of the Shepherd God* — The End.
PS: An afterword will follow shortly.
PSS: Side stories for *The Story of the Shepherd God* will be updated on Zhaizhu's public WeChat account. Please search for the public account "Zhaizhu" and follow it early.
PSSS: Zhaizhu is preparing to do a live stream for the book's completion. Search for zhaizhu2008 on Douyin and follow him first.
**Afterword of the Shepherd God**
Ah, you're here again. Habitually clicking in to see if there's an update. Are you still waiting for the next chapter of *The Story of the Shepherd God*?
*The Story of the Shepherd God* has already concluded.
It's not so easy to change a habit formed over two years, is it?
Me too.
But since you're here, stop and take a look. By the way, cast the votes in your account.
They're useless anyway, so give them all to the completed *The Story of the Shepherd God*.
Where should we start?
Right. When it gets dark, don't go out.
This story is about reform and change, about gods being for the people, about human life being greater than heaven, about the sage's way being in the daily use of the common people.
Zhaizhu's ambition was great, but his writing skill is shallow. The story was a bit long. Over two years, it made you tired, and it made Zhaizhu tired too.
I learned a lot from the story, writing and learning at the same time. I also experienced a lot over these two years. I became a Platinum author on Yuewen, experienced the monthly ticket wars, sold the copyright, and then the industry downturn meant the copyright wasn't bought back (tears streaming).
After experiencing ups and downs, I finally settled down to write books.
The results of *The Story of the Shepherd God* are not particularly good, not particularly bad. On Qidian, sales are always in the top few. On QQ Reading, it's around the top twenty.
On browsers, it's been number one in sales for seven or eight months. On WeChat Reading, it's also been number one for about seven or eight months.
Royalties? Just enough to get by.
Let the copyright be. It's fate. Anyway, it's not as much as the royalties. If it happens, it's icing on the cake. If not, forget it.
Publication encountered a crackdown and fell through. Changed to another publisher. When it will come out, I don't know.
The manhua is updating on Tencent Comics. Whether you like it or not, you can go see it for yourself. Anyway, I've been watching it.
Side stories, I will update on the WeChat public account. They won't be uploaded on Qidian. Follow Zhaizhu's public account. If you want to see whose side story, or a side story about which event, there will be a vote on the public account.
My next book will probably be uploaded at the end of the year. Still on Qidian, still here.
I haven't thought about the next book yet. I will rest for a few months, travel around, look for inspiration, and accumulate knowledge for the next book. Don't rush me. When it will be released will be announced on the public account.
Regarding *The Story of the Shepherd God*, if fellow Daoists still have questions, Zhaizhu will do a live Q&A on Douyin. Welcome to follow: zhaizhu2008.
When will the live stream be?
How about tomorrow afternoon?
Because Zhaizhu has been unkempt these days, with a stubbly beard, staying up late, not sleeping well, and his hair has grown long. He needs to tidy up before meeting everyone.
Tonight, have a good sleep, everyone!
See you tomorrow!
Wait, remember to vote.
**First Live Stream Content Summary**
For the first live stream, many people couldn't find Zhaizhu's real account. Here's a summary of the content for book friends who missed it. There will be a second live stream on September 10th.
**Talking about Characters**
1. Who is Si Qin's father?
Si Qin's father is Qin Mu. But I can't write this directly because my wife is also my reader, and she's been watching beside me. Actually, there's a chapter in the book that already wrote about it. The Painting Saint, the Deaf Man, saw that painting, the one Qin Mu gave to Lang Wo. At that time, the Deaf Man said the painting was incomplete. Why was it incomplete? Because the people on the painting were imprinted. That is, at that time, the two of them, Qin Mu and Lang Wo, reenacted the scene of their first meeting, imprinting each other's figures onto the painting. Si Qin was not created; he was born. Qin Si Qin... I can't say anymore. I can't write it in detail.
2. Who are the Fifth and Sixth Young Masters? Is their description too sparse?
The Fifth Young Master is Wuzong. The Sixth Young Master is Zhan Ji. Zhan Ji is female. Wuzong is male. The reason Wuzong and Zhan Ji weren't written much in *The Story of the Shepherd God* is that they are not related to the main plot. Characters unrelated to the main line are basically just mentioned. The ones with high relevance are Taishang, Wuji, Lingxiao, Zixiao, and Chaos. The Fifth and Sixth, one was schemed against, schemed by Chaos; the other was too obedient to the teacher.
3. Are the Great Venerable and Yun Tianzun still alive?
The Great Venerable is already dead. Yun Tianzun is also already dead. Yun Tianzun is indeed dead and cannot be saved. Yun Tianzun ultimately died together with the Second Young Master Wuji's clone, severely wounding Hao Tianzun, causing Hao Tianzun's Dao heart to never recover, leaving an indelible shadow. Because of this, his soul couldn't contact Chaos, couldn't reach the Chaos River, so Qin Mu had no way to save him. The Great Venerable did not reincarnate. He should have fallen into the You Du. Given his sins at the time, his primordial spirit would have been eaten by Tu Bo.
4. Ling Tianzun, Yue Tianzun, Shanghuang Sword God Bai Qiu'er, and Qin Mu
I think that if people like them ended up with the male lead, getting married and having children, it wouldn't fit their identities or their personalities. So this kind of ambiguous state is also good.
5. Who is the Slender Tall Monster?
The Slender Tall Monster is the one who killed the Lame Man. When the prehistoric powerhouses descended, the Lame Man died protecting Qin Mu. The prehistoric powerhouse who descended was the Slender Tall Monster. He had only one large eye, in the position of his brow.
(Did the Lame Man die?)
The Lame Man didn't die. This is written very clearly. The reason the Lame Man didn't die is that Qin Mu found this Slender Tall Monster, and then Qin Mu taught him how to cultivate the vertical eye on his brow. This led to a consequence: everything the Slender Tall Monster was proficient in was taught by Qin Mu. Qin Mu could make modifications in his techniques, and then he saved the Lame Man.
6. Is Taiyi good or bad?
Taiyi is definitely a good person for the Seventeenth Epoch. But for other cosmic epochs, he might not be a good person. Taiyi's relationship with the Heaven-Opening Multitude is ambiguous. Taiyi's past life was the Lord of Tian Du, and he was also their leader. Taiyi didn't want to kill the Heaven-Opening Multitude. But the Heaven-Opening Multitude did many evil things in history. They were mad scientists, extremely crazy, not bound by ethics or morality, completely disregarding all human relations. They researched all sorts of strange things, going down an extreme path. Before Taiyi returned to the Fourth Epoch, they had interactions. In the Seventeenth Epoch, Taiyi is indeed a good person.
7. Why do the Miluo Palace Master and Qin Lingyun feel like tools?
I rarely wrote about the Palace Master. If I were to write him as the main character, the ink spent on past cosmic epochs would be too much. The proportion would be too large, and the book would be severely unbalanced. *The Story of the Shepherd God* is not about past universes, not about how the Miluo Palace Master struggled and sought survival, nor about how Qin Lingyun saved the world. It's about Yankang's self-salvation.
8. About why Lan Yutian is closer to the Dao
Why can Lan Yutian be so close to the Dao? Because everyone is born unequal. Some have high talent, some have low talent. I know someone from an event I attended. He was very impressive. At eleven or twelve, he went to the University of Science and Technology of China. Graduated at 17. Became a professor in his twenties. Later, he went to make movies. In his forties, he had already won many awards. Do you say this person is a reincarnation of someone with high talent? It's just that he is very impressive. There are such people in the world. Some people are just more impressive and smarter than us ordinary people. We have to accept this reality. Others have good innate conditions. What can you do? You can be like Qin Mu, believing that you are the "Overlord Body," that no one can compare to you. Once you have this confidence, you can strive to catch up and surpass them. If you think you can't do it from the start, then you definitely won't be able to. Back to *The Story of the Shepherd God*, Lan Yutian and Xu Shenghua are just smarter than others.
9. Is Taiyi of the First Epoch the Palace Master?
The Miluo Palace Master is the first living being of the First Epoch. Think about it, who would the first living being of the First Epoch be? It must be Taiyi, because Taiyi was born first. The Taiyi of the Second Cosmic Epoch is Taishang. After that, the Taiyi and the Five Greats of the cosmic epochs were mostly possessed. Because their birth origins were too good. The first Taiyi was the Miluo Palace Master. The second was Taishang. How could people who lived to the Second and Third Epochs resist possessing these five big fools? The Five Greats have no hierarchy, but their births are ordered by the sequence of the universe's creation.
10. Who does Qin Mu love the most?
This is hard to say. The person Qin Mu likes the most is Lang Wo, the Divine King Lang Wo. She is the one Qin Mu likes the most. But liking and loving are different. The most unforgettable is Bai Qiu'er. But the longest-lasting relationship is with his first love, the Seventh Princess Ling Yuxiu. They have the deepest feelings and have gone the furthest. These three feelings are different. Childhood sweetheart is Ling Yuxiu. Unforgettable but eventually calming down is Bai Qiu'er. Wanting to obtain but unable to due to his own heart is the Divine King.
Womanizer. Yeah, Qin Mu is a womanizer!
11. Were Lan Yutian and Xu Shenghua as powerful as the Young Masters in the end?
They were all at the Young Master level in the end. In the last chapter, when the two of them went together to find Young Master Taishang and Taiyi, they were on the same level as Taishang and Taiyi, and on the same level as the Boundless Elder and Wuji. Taishang and Taiyi, the two brothers, wanted to maintain balance. After being tricked by Qin Mu, they had some complaints. To maintain the balance of the Seventeenth Epoch, they occasionally helped Yankang, occasionally helped Wuji, occasionally helped the Boundless Elder. Without strength, Taishang and Taiyi wouldn't have helped them.
**Talking about the Plot**
1. Is the future the Miluo Palace Master saw the real future?
The Miluo Palace Master did see the future, and the future never changed. But he didn't see the further future. He only saw up to eight hundred billion years. What he didn't expect was that after eight hundred billion years, matter no longer existed, time no longer existed, and time stood still at that point. So he couldn't see Qin Mu's arrival.
The Miluo Palace Master's Dao heart did not revive in the end. He still died, dying of despair without seeing hope.
2. Did Qin Mu have a way to solve the final cold silence? How was it solved?
Qin Mu did have a solution. After he returned to the present, it meant there was a solution. But Zhaizhu doesn't have a solution, because the final cold silence was based on scientific conjectures—the Big Rip and Heat Death. There are many guesses about the fate of the universe. Some say collapse, where the universe expands to its limit, then gravity causes it to collapse towards the center, shrinking back to a singularity, then exploding. But the more popular hypotheses recently are Heat Death and the Big Rip. The Big Rip would cause matter to completely shatter into the smallest pieces (Planck length). Heat Death is similar, where matter moves away from each other, forming a very thin void with no matter at all, so nothing exists.
I wrote based on these conjectures. But after checking these hypotheses and guesses, none of them say what happens after Heat Death or the Big Rip. Current scientists don't know, and I don't know either. But Qin Mu knows how to get through the final cold silence of *The Story of the Shepherd God*. But I, this idiot, can't write it. Maybe some readers have figured it out. I'll take a lazy way out (laughs happily).
3. Is the ending of *The Story of the Shepherd God* an open ending?
In the end, Qin Mu thought of the final solution. He returned to that point in time, to the point of the final cold silence, and saw that the people of Yankang were still alive. Most of the people of Yankang were gathered in the final Great Luo Heavens of the Dao Achievers. Qin Mu returned and saw that one by one, the Great Luo Heavens were still lit.
So, this is not an open ending, but a fixed ending. The people are still alive. He found a way again. After that is how to deal with the ultimate cold silence. On QQ Browser, in a poll with 3000 participants, 88% of book friends were very satisfied, and the other 12% clicked "water," indicating dissatisfaction. But in the review section, many book friends expressed dissatisfaction with the ending of *The Story of the Shepherd God*. Zhaizhu finally made a thirty-character modification, writing out the blank spaces that were left.
4. If matter is gone, why are the Great Luo Heavens still there?
You can look at the last chapter. It wrote a part. The Great Luo Heaven is an internal universe, not an external universe. The external universe is constantly expanding outward. The Great Luo Heaven is an internal, self-contained system that can temporarily delay the final cold silence.
5. Did Yun Tianzun leave any treasures at the Dao Ancestor's place?
Wasn't that the Tai Emperor Seal? There was also another item related to the Tai Emperor—the Tai Emperor Altar. Another item was given to Qin Ye—the method to enter the Tai Xu Land.
At that time, Yun Tianzun, along with Yue Tianzun, the three of them entered the Tai Xu Land to help the Creators there eliminate the Tai Emperor. Yun Tianzun used the lives of millions of Creators as a sacrifice to trap the Tai Emperor. Then Ling Tianzun broke the Great Luo Supreme Divine Sense Domain. Another thing Yun Tianzun did was watch Lang Wo enter another layer of space in the Tai Xu Land, the Other Shore World. Yun Tianzun left the Tai Emperor Seal and the Tai Emperor Altar for Qin Mu. The method to enter the Other Shore Space was given to Qin Ye. Why is this method also considered a treasure? Yun Tianzun was leaving a backup plan for the human race. He believed that if the human race was defeated and faced extinction, the backup plan was in the Other Shore World of the Tai Xu Land. Later, this method was passed from the Dao Ancestor to the Founding Emperor Qin Ye. Later, the Founding Emperor used his Carefree Sword to create the Carefree Village there.
Although it's not explicitly written in the book, these inferences can be made. The Crimson Emperor used his life to leave a backup plan for the Crimson Ming Era. The Shang Huang Era was the worst, because Yue Tianzun was severely wounded, and Ling Tianzun was beaten into Immutable Matter. They didn't have time to leave a backup plan.
6. Before the Blood Sacrifice Method was developed, how did the Miluo Palace get to the next cosmic epoch?
There were two ways. One was by relying on their own abilities, like Taishang and the Miluo Palace Master. The function of the Miluo Palace and the Jade Capital City was to resist the Destruction Calamity and the Creation Calamity. Did everyone notice a passage in the book? When Qin Mu and Young Master Lingxiao stood in the Creation Calamity, they saw how many "Ones." Among them, Qin Mu was One, the World Tree was One, Guixu was One, and the Miluo Palace and the Jade Capital City were One. Many Dao Achievers used the Miluo Palace and the Jade Capital City to get through the Destruction Calamity and the Creation Calamity. But after the Miluo Palace Master moved the Miluo Palace back to the First Epoch, only the Jade Capital City and the Seventy-Two Halls remained in the Jade Capital City. It could no longer be that "One."
7. Is the world of *The Story of the Shepherd God* a flat earth?
No, *The Story of the Shepherd God* is not a flat earth. But some of its holy lands are. The Ancestral Court is a continent, divided into front and back sides. The Yuan Realm is; the Yuan Realm is a continent created by the Earth Mother Yuan Jun. The Heavens and Myriad Realms are; the Heavens and Myriad Realms are worlds created by the Creators. But other places are not. Other places are planets. Perhaps we are in the world of *The Story of the Shepherd God*, living on a star among the Heavens and Myriad Realms. Next to a sun, there is a small Earth orbiting it.
8. Who broke the Divine Bridge?
The Divine Bridge was broken by gods in the Heavenly Court. The Divine Bridge is hereditary. The Seven Divine Treasures are all hereditary. The Heavenly Palace is also a type of Divine Treasure, the eighth Divine Treasure. If you cut off your Divine Bridge, your descendants' Divine Bridges will also be broken.
**Talking about the Ending**
1. Any thoughts on the next book?
I haven't thought about the next book yet. Look, my hair turned white writing this one. So I need to wait a couple of months before considering the next book. Recently, I want to rest first. I've been writing continuously for two years and three months. I'll rest first, then consider the new book. I also need to gather materials for the new book, then carefully consider and ponder the beginning, prepare the materials. I estimate it will be around the end of the year before the new book comes out. Of course, that's the end of 2019.
2. Any plans for side stories?
Around September, I will write a side story for *The Story of the Shepherd God*. Which one specifically? Everyone can follow my WeChat public account. There will be a vote to see which aspect everyone wants me to write about. I'll write the one with the most votes.
3. Will there be a sequel to *The Story of the Shepherd God*?
There will be no sequel to *The Story of the Shepherd God*, only side stories. I say this to everyone solemnly: I will not write a sequel to *The Story of the Shepherd God*. If one day I go to write a sequel to *The Story of the Shepherd God*, it means Zhaizhu's previous book flopped and he came back to live off his old achievements. You can come and hit me then.
The next book will not use the cosmic system of *The Story of the Shepherd God*.
4. Did the female lead, Ling Tianzun, and Yue Tianzun survive in the end?
They all survived. The female lead could live in the Dao Achievers' Great Luo Heavens. Yue Tianzun as well. Ling Tianzun's final Mass-Energy Invariance divine art couldn't be used in the Great Silence, but within those Dao Achievers' Great Luo Heavens, it could be used. They could all survive.
**Other Aspects**
1. When can we see the physical book of *The Story of the Shepherd God*?
For the publication of *The Story of the Shepherd God*, we've changed to a new publishing company. The previous one had many things I wasn't satisfied with. They were slow and dragged things out, and they wanted to change many things. What I was most dissatisfied with was that they wanted me to change a lot. Characters like the Blind Man, the Deaf Man, and the Mute Man had to be changed to "Blind Person," "Deaf Person," etc. Another thing to change was the part where young Qin Mu peed on the statue in the Crippled Elderly Village. In the section about breaking the god in the heart, I said if you delete this, the basic tone of the book is gone. I hope the new publishing company will be better.
2. Is Pig Master satisfied with the manhua? Will there be an anime for *The Story of the Shepherd God*?
The manhua and anime are not things I can decide personally. The manhua has to be drawn by a manhua company. I've also seen the manhua. Many readers are not very satisfied with it. Actually, I think it's okay, it's passable. At least it follows the plot, follows the plot in the book, without creating its own plot out of thin air.
The only thing is, I'm not satisfied with the Deaf Man in the manhua. He's different from what I imagined. My conception of the Deaf Man is that he is a very rigid person, but a very normal person. He is the Tian Tu Crown Prince. The Tian Tu Crown Prince has a very special temperament. He is the aloof type, not the strange-looking type. His ears are not those exaggerated ears. His ears are iron ears, the same as human ears, with the same auricle, the same shape. But his ears are made of iron and can be taken off.
There's a socket inside. This is the bone conduction iron ear made for him by the Mute Man. This way, he can hear sounds from the outside. He is no longer deaf. When he doesn't want to talk to you, he pulls off his ears and becomes earless.
3. Does Pig Master still read web novels?
I read relatively few web novels. I read more news. I spend about two hours reading news every day. Then I scroll through Bilibili. On Bilibili, there are some professional content, explorations of the universe, philosophical understandings of the universe. I watch some, follow some. Occasionally, I also scroll through Douyin.
4. There's no need to write about the Creation Calamity of the First Epoch. It's not related to the main plot. If I wrote it, you would scold me for padding.
5. Do you really want to know if Zhong Yue from *The Way of Humanity* is alive or dead? I don't think you want to know Zhong Yue's final ending, because it's a sad ending.
6. Zhaizhu? Zhaizhu is just a writer who wrote *The Story of the Shepherd God* for you. What does he know about *The Story of the Shepherd God*?
7. Qin Mu's strength at the end is the number one person in the seventeen cosmic epochs.
8. There has never been an Overlord Body in this world. The Overlord Body is fake, a lie told by the Village Chief to deceive people. It is also not divided into male and female.
9. The Chaos River is not a river. It is the last chaotic space created after a universe is destroyed.
10. Qin Mu only has one wife.
11. Razor blades? Sending razor blades? Very good. I've been planning to get rich by selling razor blades for a long time. You'd better buy ten or eight tons and forge them into a forty-meter-long big knife (subtext: you keep saying you'll send razor blades, but you never do!).
12. Black Mountain Great Venerable? There's nothing more to say about him. He is just a writer who wrote *The Story of the Shepherd God* for us, right?
13. Jiang Nan, Ye Xu, Zhong Yue, Qin Mu. It's hard to compare the protagonists of these four books. But in my heart, Jiang Nan should be the strongest.
On September 10th at 8 PM, if you still have questions, you can come here again. I will do another live Q&A.
In the next few days, I will publish some creative insights on Qidian. I'll write whatever comes to mind. Stay tuned.
**Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! Mooncakes are here! Come see if you've won!**
**Completed Book Review Activity Prize List**
**Guess the Ending, each person receives a 100 yuan cash red envelope. (5 people)**
Yu Yong, Take You on a Trip Yinuo, Cangqiong Xiaoyi, Tangtang Xiaosi, Book Friend 160201221238124.
**First Prize Book Review, each review receives a 288.88 yuan cash red envelope. (3 people)**
Qidian: Tangtang Xiaosi.
Reading: Xiu Zhi Ming.
WeChat Reading: He Chen.
**Second Prize Book Review, each review receives a 188.88 yuan cash red envelope. (5 people)**
Qidian (4): Yini Guaiguai, Zhuoshi Jia Gongzi i, Jin Ri Ren Gongzi, Sui Bai.
QQ Reading (1): Shao Guang.
**Third Prize Book Review, each review receives an 88.88 yuan cash red envelope. (20 people)**
Qidian (18): Tian Shu Shi Shou, Tangtang Xiaosi, Zhuoshi Jia Gongzi i, Sui Bai, Bei Ming You Yu Mei You Yu, Luo Yu a, Ruo Ran Ge, Take You on a Trip Yinuo, Yu Yong, Jia Y, Yan Zhi Gui, Cangqiong Xiaoyi, Fang Niu De He Wa, Lan Shan, Lan Lu Xiao Sheng, Wo Hao Cheng A, Lun Hui Shi Wu Chang, Dao Xin Wu Di.
Book Friend Circle (1): Ben Ben De Xiao Xiao.
QQ Reading (1): Lei.
**Fourth Prize Book Review, each review receives a 28.88 yuan cash red envelope. (50 people)**
Qidian (40): Su Ren i, Lai Lai Lai Le, Bei Ming You Yu Mei You Yu, Jia Y, Zhuoshi Jia Gongzi i, Luo Yu a, Fang Niu De He Wa, Shi Zhong Hao, Yi Jian Bao Cun, Yan Zhi Gui, Jin Ri Ren Gongzi, Sui Bai, Qi Gongzi m, Fei Ji Chang Zui Bang La, Zhan Yan, Bing Ni Huo, Bing Shui Si De Wei Xiao, Jin Yan Yu Yu, Ruo Ran Ge, Yu Yong, Tu Shou Fu Cang Long, Wu Ya Er, Guo Jing Yi, Jiang You Xiao Hao, Shen Chao_ Qing Er, Zhou Hen SJT, Chen Xin Dao Ke, Shen Chao_ Ying An, Tian Yu Yi, Bu Er Ya, Maninsan, Zhi Zheng Jin Xi, Wei Wei Yu, Ti Fei De Man Tou, Lin Lv, long11111110, Qiu Shui Yi Ren 丨, , Ye Yue Xing Ming, Pao Tang Bu Pao Tang, Take You on a Trip Yinuo.
Reading (3): Hua Kai Hua Luo, Sui Yue Lun Yi, Si Shui Liu Nian, Ci Jian Nian Shao, Mu Yuan.
Browser (2): Shi Jian Fen Luan Le Ji Yi, Jason.
QQ Reading (3): Zhang Cheng Zhuo, Du Gu Bu Gu, Shen Lin He Shen Shen, Gua Gua Le, Qing Yan Hua Xia.
**Fifth Prize Book Review, each review receives an 18.88 yuan cash red envelope. (50 people)**
Qidian: Wu Ya Er, Guo Jing Yi, Da Shi Xiong Shi Fu Bei Yao Guai Zhua Zou Le, Zhou Hen SJT, Jiang You Xiao Hao, Huan Yue Tian Lan, Book Friend 20190106162242085, Chen Xin Dao Ke, Jiu Guang Nian, Zen Me Hui Chi Gua, Yi Se Qian Lan, Hui Fei De Mu Er Fen, Mi Lu De Xiao Yang Gao, Lin Lv, Pao Tang Bu Pao Tang, Ye Yue Xing Ming, emorr, Book Friend 20171021220116531, Bu Yi kk, Yi Jing Mei You Shen Me Hao Pa De Le, Chen Meng Zhi Ye De Ye, Zang Gu Shu Mo, Que Ying Yi Lan Shan, eee555, Ti Fei De Man Tou, shinDAO, Tian Shu Shi Shou, Ti Fei De Man Tou, Bei Ming You Yu Mei You Yu, Tangtang Xiaosi, Jia Y, Zhuoshi Jia Gongzi i, Luo Yu a, Fang Niu De He Wa, Shen Chao_ Ye Mo, Ji Xian Yu Lan Shan, LZ52011, Yi Shi Jie De Gou Chen, libanxian, Mao Tou Hua Wang, Xi Yang Chuang Lian, Sui Bai, Ruo Ran Ge, Yu Yong, Yan Zhi Gui, Lan Shan, Lan Lu Xiao Sheng, Jin Ri Ren Gongzi, Dao Xin Wu Di, Book Friend 160201221238124.
No book friend guessed the ending correctly. But to encourage participants, Pig selected five book reviews, each receiving a 100 yuan reward. The remaining 500 yuan from the Guess the Ending reward will be equally distributed among all book review winners.
PS: The second live stream summary will be released tomorrow! Stay tuned!
**Second Live Stream Summary: Zhaizhu's Big Secrets!**
1. Why didn't it enter the Eighteenth Epoch, but instead the Great Silence of the Seventeenth Epoch?
Let me explain. The reason there is no next epoch after the Seventeenth Epoch, no Great Silence, is that the matter of the Seventeenth Epoch was too scarce to stop the void's expansion.
Energy and matter are conserved. Energy and matter are both conserved. How much matter and energy did the First Epoch have? The Second Epoch would have the same amount. But a group of people, the Dao Achievers, the first wave started by the Miluo Palace Master, lived into the Second Epoch. More people lived into the Third Epoch.
The total mass and total energy of the universe were concentrated on more and more Dao Achievers. They occupied a large portion, causing the mass and energy of subsequent universes (excluding these Dao Achievers) to gradually decrease.
By the time of the Seventeenth Epoch, the energy occupied by the Miluo Palace and other Dao Achievers was already very large. This caused the new universe's mass and energy to decrease sharply, leading to the irreversible infinite expansion of the void.
2. Can people who have been voided be saved by Qin Mu?
No. Because after being voided, all information about that person has completely disappeared.
In *The Story of the Shepherd God*, a person's information includes physical information, primordial spirit information, and consciousness information. These are three types.
Physical information is easy to recover. For example, techniques like the Creation Mystical Art can restore physical information. And the Creation Mystical Art can restore primordial spirit information at later stages, such as recreating the primordial spirit.
The Tian Yin Realm's techniques and divine arts can restore the primordial spirit through Soul Black Sand. But after voiding, even the Soul Black Sand is gone. All information, including consciousness, has turned to ashes, turned into void.
Visualization only restores another "you," not the real "you."
3. Old Pig, the sage said "one husband, two wives, is natural and right." How many keyboards did you kneel on?
I didn't. My keyboard is very sturdy. I've never kneeled on a keyboard.
4. Pig Master, *The Story of the Shepherd God*, shepherding gods. What does it mean?
It means putting the power of gods in a cage. Shepherding gods means gods are for the people. The power of gods and the right of people to survive form a virtuous cycle.
5. Why did you write *The Story of the Shepherd God*? What was the inspiration?
The main inspiration was ancient reforms and changes, and the current reform and opening up. That's the source of inspiration.
6. Is the Chaos cultivation technique written by Qin Mu real?
It is real. The Chaos techniques and Chaos divine arts he wrote in the Miluo Palace are all real. But no one can understand them. That's not Qin Mu's fault. I taught it. If you can't learn it, it's your problem.
7. I want to see the story of Ye Shaobao going to settle accounts with Jiang Zichuan.
Actually, I can't write the story of going to settle accounts with Jiang Zichuan either.
Ye Xu can't beat Jiang Zichuan. He's no match for Jiang Zichuan.
(Can Qin Mu, Ye Xu, and Jiang Nan fight?)
Qin Mu is the protagonist of *The Story of the Shepherd God*. Ye Xu is the protagonist of *Unrivaled Under Heaven*. Jiang Nan is the protagonist of *The Emperor*. Their cultivation levels are different, their techniques are different, their backgrounds are different. The three can't fight.
8. Is Ling Tianzun the third strongest in the seventeen universes, after Qin Mu and the Palace Master?
Ling Tianzun is not the third strongest. Ling Tianzun's strength is after the Lord of Tian Du and after Qin Lingyun. She is the fifth strongest. Her talent is very, very high, but her combat awareness is not strong. This is her biggest flaw. So she can only be ranked fifth.
9. What are the full names of the Nine Heavenly Lords?
The Nine Heavenly Lords don't have full names. "Heavenly Lord" is a symbol. Whether it's the Nine Heavenly Lords or the Ten Heavenly Lords, they are all symbols.
Symbolic writing is a feature of *The Story of the Shepherd God*.
10. In *The Emperor*, it was mentioned that the Emperor's father was an evil existence who achieved the Primordial. Why couldn't he beat Jiang Nan?
This is because the Emperor's father is called Ye Xu. Ye Xu probably achieved the body four times. But Jiang Nan is different. Jiang Nan achieves once and proves forever. Once proven forever means he is the true Primordial. Jiang Nan can reach the Primordial realm with any Dao. He can even create Dao and reach the Primordial realm.
Ye Xu's one achievement, four achievements, achieving Primordial four times, cannot compare to Jiang Nan.
When the Silence Calamity arrives, Ye Xu needs Ying Zongdao to ferry him across. But Jiang Nan doesn't need that. Jiang Nan is also at the Primordial realm in the future and will not fall.
10. Why did the Joy Hall Master call Jiang Baigui a "Dao Blasphemer"?
Because the system Jiang Baigui followed was not the inherent system of the Miluo Palace. It was an acquired Dao achievement system, not relying on the Jade Capital City of the Miluo Palace.
The "Dao Blasphemer" doesn't actually exist. It was just a pretext used by the Boundless Elder to slander those who didn't cultivate the Dao Tree system. It was a way to suppress dissent. Whoever they wanted to suppress, they could call a Dao Blasphemer.
11. In the world of *The Story of the Shepherd God*, can you not survive if you can't do math?
Not just that. In the world of *The Story of the Shepherd God*, if your math is terrible, you can't even be a cultivator.
Your Seven Star Divine Treasures, even in the later Ancestral Court Dao Realm system, require a lot of math. You need math to calculate the specific geographical locations of the Heavens and Myriad Realms, the specific positions and movement patterns of the stars, and then you can open these Divine Treasures.
If you're bad at math, you can't calculate it. A cultured person who only knows poetry and songs would have a hard time getting ahead in the world of *The Story of the Shepherd God*. They would basically stop before the Seven Star realm.
Yeah, the Martial Heavenly Master Zhuo Cha, he was also the leader of the Dou Niu Heavens. His math was also very good.
12. Is Jiang Nan's universe similar to Heat Death and Entropy Increase, and Qin Mu's universe similar to the Big Rip and Hawking Radiation?
Yes, yes. The reasons for the destruction of their two universes come from these two scientific hypotheses. Hawking Radiation is an evaporation phenomenon, similar to the Guixu evaporation in the book.
13. Zhan Ji and Wuji are both Guixu Divine Maidens. So how is Wuji's lotus platform complete? Is a certain aspect of the Young Master stronger than the Miluo Palace Master? Wouldn't their achievements repeat?
Look at Qin Mu. Qin Mu also has a sixteen-grade lotus platform. Qin Mu's sixteen-grade lotus platform was not absorbed from other Guixu Dao Achievers. He cultivated it himself. Moreover, Wuji is the Guixu Divine Maiden of the Third Epoch. Zhan Ji's final achievement is not Guixu Dao achievement. There is no repetition.
14. What about wanting a folding fan peripheral?
There aren't many fans left. I can't give them to all book friends. If you want one, you can follow the public account, Zhaizhu. There will be a lucky draw to give them away.
15. *The Story of the Shepherd God* is finished. I'm reading *The Way of Humanity*. I'm running out of books. Any recommendations?
*The Way of Humanity* is already finished. It's been finished for two or three years. You can go read it. I think *The Way of Humanity* is also very good. *The Emperor* and *Unrivaled* are also very good.
16. When will the side stories come out?
What side stories do you want to see? The nine people of the Crippled Elderly Village? Qin Mu and Bai Qiu'er? Yue Tianzun and Ling Tianzun? The Heavenly Emperors of the Shang Huang? The story of Yun Tianzun? The story of the Tai Emperor? Or the story of the Fifth and Sixth Young Masters?
Which one do you want me to write?
The side story vote will start on the public account in the next few days. I'm confirming what the side story will be about. When it's sorted out, remember to come and vote.
I will try to finish the side story of *The Story of the Shepherd God* in September, then fully prepare for the new book (if you want me to write everything, then there will be no new book).
17. When will the physical book of *The Story of the Shepherd God* be released? I want to buy it for collection.
I'm also asking about the physical book. It should still be a while. When the physical book of *The Story of the Shepherd God* comes out, I will announce it on the public account. There will also be notifications in the book friend groups.
If you want to collect it, you can support it.
18. Can I get a geographical map of the Yuan Realm, the Great Ruins, Yankang, and the Ancestral Court?
I can't draw it for you. I'm not a professional artist. I'm a soul artist. I draw very, very ugly.
Just the Yuan Realm alone is very complicated. I can imagine these magnificent worlds, but I can't draw them.
Actually, there are many talented readers who have drawn some maps. They are very good.
19. The type of the new book will still be fantasy. I'm currently gathering materials. I've bought over a dozen books and am reading some professional content.
20. Samoyed? It should be Moyesa.
21. The Village Chief and the others definitely survived. Xu Shenghua, Lan Yutian, and Hu Ling'er also survived.
22. Sending bricks? Send a few more bricks. I'm waiting to build a new house (subtext: if you can, come and hit me!)~
23. TV series of *The Story of the Shepherd God*? The copyright needs to be sold first before there can be a TV series. The copyright hasn't been sold yet.
24. Chaos has no information. In Chaos, all information does not exist. Therefore, Qin Mu has no way to restore people who have turned into Chaos. It can only be said that Chaos contains infinite possibilities.
25. Yan Qiling is the disciple of the Heavenly Emperor. I originally wanted to write about her, but writing it would have taken up a lot of space, and readers might not have liked it. If you want to see her side story, I can write it.
26. There has never been a claim that Ling Tianzun is the Sixth Young Master. Ling Tianzun is not the Sixth Young Master. It's probably a guess by some reader that you took seriously.
27. The prototype of the Yankang National Teacher is Wang Anshi. Actually, Jiang Baigui has two prototypes: one is Wang Anshi, and the other is Zhang Juzheng. He is a combination of the two.
28. Ye Lin did not regain his memory in the new universe created by Jiang Nan.
29. Qin Mu's aesthetic is not my aesthetic. It's the aesthetic of the general male population. Don't blame me. It's you who like big breasts, like big breasts, like big breasts (say it three times)!!!
If I have to say my favorite female character in the book, it's Divine King Lang Wo.
I like all beautiful women.
What about you?
30. Who does Zhong Yue like the most?
Zhong Yue likes... Zhong Yue likes everyone.
Zhong Yue's nickname is the Great Breeding Bull of the Fuxi Clan.
31. The time span at the end of *The Story of the Shepherd God* seems very, very large. But if you treat time as a series of scenes, I have already written these scenes, written them in *The Story of the Shepherd God*.
The most important thing is the story. The story is the main body. So-called time spans are all nonsense.
Everything that needed to be explained in the story has been explained. Just go through the overall order and you'll understand.
32. Cross-dressing again? Basically not. If the next book can get the monthly ticket number one again, then we'll talk (subtext: Next book! Next book! Support me! Don't talk about cross-dressing, even running naked is fine!).
33. The advantage of the Zixiao Biluo Technique is fusion. It absorbs the strengths of other techniques and fuses them into its own technique.
That's why Yun Tianzun could turn the tables after dying at the hands of the Tai Emperor. He absorbed the Tai Emperor's techniques, perfected them, and laid the groundwork for later seizing the Tai Emperor's Dao Tree and Dao Fruit.
After Yun Tianzun was resurrected, he became the strongest existence in the shortest time. This is also related to his Zixiao Biluo Technique.
34. The Overlord Body Three Elixir Technique was a basic foundation-building technique during the Founding Emperor era. It was very common during the Founding Emperor era. But the creator of this technique was the Founding Emperor Qin Ye. At that time, Qin Ye fused all the basic techniques of the Founding Emperor era. It was refined and organized by Wen Tian Ge. The Founding Emperor did not name it the Overlord Body Three Elixir Technique.
The name "Overlord Body Three Elixir Technique" was made up by the Village Chief.
Village Chief: That's right! It was me again!
The Overlord Body was my lie. The Overlord Body Three Elixir Technique was also!
Zhaizhu has registered on Bilibili: Zhaizhu01. Just became a level one newbie. Please take care of me.
The prize list for the August completed book review activity has been released. The detailed list is on the public account, the Qidian review section, and in various book friend groups. Everyone can check it and claim their rewards in time. After the book is completed, there are still book review activities on Qidian, with Qidian coins and the "Divine Dynasty" fan title. Everyone can participate.
**Miluo's First Story: Stealing the God's Woman**
"Teacher..."
Xuan Ji had that dream again.
In the dream, he saw a chaotic primordial state, with purple light dense and pervasive. In the thick Chaos, a new universe had not yet been born.
Someone was walking towards him from the depths of Chaos. Behind that person was the magnificent scene of the universe's birth. At this time, he himself was a ball of chaotic primordial energy, without form.
"Teacher." The figure approached and called to him.
But it failed to wake him.
He heard the voice and wanted to open his eyes to see the person's face. But now he had no physical body, only a ball of energy.
Finally, the light of the Creation Calamity came from behind that person and engulfed him.
Xuan Ji woke up in a sweat, breathing heavily.
Unknowingly, he had fallen asleep leaning against a tree. His forehead, chest, back, and palms were all cold sweat. His whip had also fallen to the ground at some point.
Above his head came the bleating of a yellow goat. Xuan Ji picked up the whip, stood up, and looked up at the tree.
This tree was unimaginably huge. The roots exposed on the surface were like rolling mountain ranges. There were mountains, rivers, and seas on the tree. The tree's veins were the mountains. The dew accumulated in the leaves was the seas. On the leaves were continents, rivers, and forests. Large and small countries, cities, and villages were built on this tree.
This tree supported one heavenly realm after another.
The world on the tree was strictly hierarchical. The higher the race lived on the tree, the higher their status. They had the protection of gods and were the people of the gods.
The races living at the bottom of the World Tree had the lowest status and were abandoned by the gods.
Xuan Ji's race was at the very bottom of this vast World Tree. The people at the very bottom were the servants of the upper classes. Servants had no status, including their names and their lives. They were not their own.
Xuan Ji gathered the two-legged hopping yellow goats, counted them, and found none missing. He breathed a sigh of relief.
The yellow goats were very naughty. These two-legged goats were very agile on the World Tree, able to climb its steep places. But if they came down from the tree to the ground, they were lambs waiting to be slaughtered, easily caught by the beasts on the ground.
Xuan Ji's task was to watch these yellow goats and not let them sneak down to the ground.
A yellow goat hopped around, occasionally trying to bypass him to play under the tree.
Xuan Ji squinted, feeling the breeze with some contentment. He thought of that dream again.
This strange dream had been with him since birth. The same dream kept repeating. Xuan Ji didn't know what this dream meant.
Whenever he recalled that strange dream, a loud sound like the creation of heaven and earth would ring in his mind. With that sound, suddenly, everything in the world seemed to become exceptionally bright and vivid in his eyes.
He had been different since childhood.
He greedily looked at the surrounding scenery. Suddenly, a mysterious and wonderful feeling arose in his heart.
He could "see" the flow of wind and water, "see" the migration of energy in different things, "see" all sorts of wonderful principles quietly governing everything in the world, even life, even gods!
This was not seen by his wisdom eye, but felt in his heart.
He sensed this mysterious wonder.
This wonderful feeling filled his heart with immense joy, bringing tears to his eyes.
"That wonderful thing is flowing within the World Tree!" A passionate cry came from within him.
He lay on the ground, feeling that wonderful thing. It seemed to contain boundless energy and infinite knowledge, immersing and intoxicating him.
He "heard" the information contained in everything in the world. Everything in the world seemed to be speaking to him, telling him the knowledge they contained.
He became excited. He studied the soil, studied the flowers and plants, studied the trees, studied the branches and leaves, studied the dewdrops. From these seemingly ordinary things, he learned much knowledge he had never noticed before.
He felt that wonderful and mysterious thing. This knowledge was just an explanation of that wonderful thing.
Whether it was rocks, trees, flowers and plants, or even dewdrops, or any living being, they all contained nearly infinite knowledge. And this knowledge was an explanation of that wonderful thing!
He called it "Dao."
Studying the Dao contained in all things, he called this action "Investigating Things."
Investigating things to attain knowledge, one can obtain the Dao.
This was his great discovery!
Moreover, he had another wonderful discovery: the World Tree was a container of Dao.
The World Tree was filled with various explanations of Dao. He keenly noticed that different explanations formed different branches and different roots of the World Tree.
If he could use the World Tree to sense the Dao, perhaps he could explore the source of the Dao, obtain the Dao, and master it.
The young man became excited. Just then, the sound of camel bells came. Xuan Ji looked towards the sound and saw a team of green camels being led by black-robed people, walking from the mountain slopes formed by the World Tree's bark.
On the backs of those green camels were girls dressed in bright clothes.
"They are wizards from the upper world." Xuan Ji recognized those black-robed people. He quickly drove away the yellow goats to clear a path.
The black-robed wizards looked solemn, leading the green camels past him. The girls on the camels' backs wore red veils, their faces unseen.
These beautifully dressed girls were like brides. But the strange thing was, why were there so many brides?
Suddenly, a familiar voice came from a green camel: "A Xuan."
Xuan Ji was startled. He looked up and saw the face of a girl under a veil. It was the girl he liked, who lived in the next village. Her name was Su Su.
"Today is the day of the god sacrifice. The villagers offered me to the god."
The girl on the camel said to him: "Today, I am going to marry the god."
Xuan Ji's mind buzzed. Marry the god?
Hadn't they already agreed that she would marry him?
The wizard urged. The girl on the camel lowered her veil. The camel bells rang, and they walked towards the World Tree.
"Su Su, do you still remember those vows?" he shouted loudly.
"I remember!"
The girl turned her head but did not lift her veil: "What can you do? I am the god's woman now."
I am the god's woman now.
Xuan Ji was dazed, watching the green camels carry away the girl he loved. He looked down at the tree. A majestic god sat there.
From Xuan Ji's height, the incomparably majestic god was still extremely huge. The people building a palace around the god were as small as ants.
This god was far larger and more majestic than the gods on the World Tree.
Tens of thousands of people shouted work songs, carrying huge stones, mining giant trees, extracting divine gold and divine ore. They labored hard around this majestic god, carving stones into bricks, planing giant trees into beams, smelting divine gold into mortar to fill the gaps in the walls.
Overseers cracked long whips, whipping the exhausted people. These people were the slaves of the rulers on the tree. The high-intensity labor meant slaves rarely lived past thirty.
The status of a slave was lower than that of a servant. A servant's life and name were not their own. A slave was livestock, not worthy of a name.
A corpse cart carried several dead slave bodies towards a distant mass grave. There, wild dogs waiting to eat the corpses were howling with hunger.
The rulers and gods of the upper World Tree, to please this god sitting under the tree, would select some beautiful girls every year to offer to the god.
These girls were called Divine Maidens.
The god's women.
Girls chosen as Divine Maidens could only live their lives in the palace built by the rulers for the god. They were the god's private property.
But that majestic god had never paid any attention to these Divine Maidens. Some girls were sent to the palace at the age of eleven or twelve, but in their entire lives, the god never even looked at them.
For the rulers on the World Tree, offering these beautiful girls to the god could maintain the legitimacy of their rule. The wizards could claim to the outside world that the god had accepted their offering and tacitly approved of their rule.
How could the foolish people dare to rebel?
But for the god under the World Tree, he probably didn't care at all.
Generations of Divine Maidens grew old and died. The god never asked.
But the rulers of the upper world cared. The wizards cared. The gods of the upper world cared.
The rulers of the upper world called this god sitting under the World Tree "Miluo."
Miluo meant vast, great, profound. This god was supremely vast, supremely great, supremely profound, supremely far, immeasurable.
The gods of the upper world called him "Taiyi."
The upper-class people on the World Tree formed kingdoms that worshipped various gods, large and small. These gods protected the upper-class people in those kingdoms. The rulers and wizards were the descendants of the gods.
And Taiyi was rumored to be the first god in the world, the most ancient and powerful god.
There were five great ancestral gods in the world. Taiyi was one of them, and also the supreme among the five great ancestral gods.
He did not live in the upper world of the World Tree. He lived under the tree.
The various kingdoms on the World Tree had been building a palace for the Miluo Supreme for two or three thousand years.
In two or three thousand years, the Miluo Palace had only been built up to Miluo's waist—Miluo was sitting on the ground.
Even so, this Miluo Palace was already tens of thousands of feet high. It was the most magnificent man-made wonder, yet it was not one ten-thousandth of Miluo's size.
The rulers living in the high places of the World Tree planned to build a huge palace around this motionless god and place this majestic god inside the palace they built.
This made Xuan Ji think of the statues of gods in temples.
What a ridiculous and arrogant idea!
Which god would tolerate being placed in a small box made of bricks and stones by mortals?
The rulers living in the high places of the World Tree didn't think so. They stubbornly wanted to build this Miluo Palace and put the free Miluo inside the Miluo Palace.
Two or three thousand years passed. The rulers died generation after generation, changed generation after generation. The idea of putting Miluo in a "box" never changed.
Xuan Ji had never hated Miluo before. He even sympathized with him a little. But now, his lover was about to become Miluo's bride. He hated Miluo a little.
But he hated the rulers of the upper world even more.
Miluo had done nothing. He just sat under the tree. It was the rulers of the upper world who, to please Miluo, had torn them apart!
Suddenly, Xuan Ji jumped up, jumped onto the back of a yellow goat, and rode it towards the camel team.
"Su Su, Miluo won't care about you!"
He shouted loudly: "Miluo has too many women! But I care about you."
He shouted loudly to the girl: "I care about you! I like you! I want to sleep with you! I want to marry you, I want to have children with you, many, many children!"
Su Su's face blushed. The girl on the camel had nowhere to hide.
This young man she dreamed of day and night had an indescribable frankness and charm. He directly spoke his mind, without any tact, without any detour.
She felt the same way!
But she never dared to say it directly. She had to hint, had to probe indirectly. Every hint, every probe, made her heart race. The nervousness and joy in her heart were like doves released from a cage, wanting to flutter out.
But Xuan Ji didn't hint, didn't probe.
The young man liked what he liked, loved what he loved.
The yellow goat caught up with the camel. Xuan Ji leaned sideways and reached out his hand to her: "Let's go now! Let's elope!"
"How dare you!"
The leading wizards