Yama Rising

Judging from the current leads that he had extrapolated, he had failed the first trial because he had delayed the timing of his grandfather's return to the mountain, and that delay may have resulted in a failure to encounter the Taisui fungus.

This was the most direct outcome. Otherwise, there was no way to explain why he had failed the trial just by refusing to drink the soup.

It was also because of this that his instincts were telling him that there were some hidden circumstances behind the emergence of the Taisui fungus.

There were no clear leads to follow in this trial of inner demons, so he could only extrapolate little by little, making the most of the signs presented to him. Furthermore, he didn't know how many times the trial could be reset, and what consequences would await him if he were to fail it too many times.

He rushed out of the room, and the familiar sight of the village appeared before his eyes.

The barren farms, the dilapidated and uninhabited homes, and the city in the distance beyond the mountain… Everything was so familiar.

This was a true village, one that was different from most of the so-called villages in the 1900s and 2000s. It was virtually completely isolated from the rest of the world, and in order to scale up and down the mountain, there was only one well-trodden path to follow.

It had already been seven years since the founding of the new Cathay, and they were living in the mountains to avoid the chaos of war. However, their village still hadn't been graced by the radiance of socialism yet, so their lives were very difficult. Even the province of Guangxi, which was a coastal province, had been experiencing a massive famine at the time, let alone regions that were further inland.

There were far too many people who were starving.

All of these pieces of information were flashing through Qin Ye's mind, and right as he emerged from the house, he discovered a man in a Mao suit standing in front of the entrance.

In the instant that Qin Ye caught sight of the man, his expression instantly changed slightly, following which he immediately lowered his head.

In this timeline, he was still his 18-year-old self, who hadn't yet consumed the Taisui fungus. As an 18-year-old who had lived in this village his entire life, there was no way that the authoritative gleam of the Cathayan Underworld's King Yanluo would appear in his eyes, and he wasn't sure if he would be deemed to have failed the trial again if he were to put on an expression unbefitting of his age and status.

"Hell, child." This was a middle-aged man who was quite thin and pale, and he wore a warm smile as he asked, "Is this the Liu Clan's Village?"

Qin Ye's head remained bowed, and he didn't reply. The long shadow cast by the man under the sun was large enough to completely conceal Qin Ye's shadow.

The time at this moment was somewhere between 11:30 AM and noon.

He had never seen this man before, nor was this person actually a human!

He still possessed all of his powers as a mid Yama-King, so he was able to instantly determine this without any need for verification.

This was a living corpse.

He could see that an extremely complex Yin rune had been inscribed onto the man's back, and that he had already "lived" for many, many years.

Furthermore, this wasn't just a normal living corpse. Beneath the skin, there were no bones, no organs, nor any flesh!

In the face of a Yama-King, no apparitions or supernatural creatures could hide their true form.

He could clearly see that the so-called bones beneath the man's skin were nothing more than a series of bamboo battens!

The craftsmanship was extremely exquisite.

A living corpse has visited the Liu Clan's Village before? And they came before the Taisui fungus appeared? What's going on here? Who would create a monster like this?

"Did you hear me, child?" The man's smile remained unchanged as he asked again, "Is this the Liu Clan's Village?"

"Yes," Qin Ye replied as he finally raised his head.

The man nodded in response, then asked, "There's a Taoist temple on this mountain, right?"

Indeed, there was.

Qin Ye put on an innocent expression and nodded in confirmation, while rapidly recalling back to what that Taoist temple looked like.

It was an ancient Taoist temple from the distant past. Most of it had already collapsed and been covered in greenery. Only a small section of it remained, and the statue that was worshiped in the temple remained completely undamaged, but it was crawling with vines.

The ruined temple was one of the few places for the children of the Liu Clan's Village to explore, and it was also the origin of all of the village's supernatural tales.

Right at this moment, a loud cry suddenly rang out. "Who are you? What are you doing here? Stay away from my grandson!"

Qin Ye's grandfather, Qin Zhongguo had appeared on the path, and as soon as he caught sight of the living corpse, he immediately raised the sickle in his hand with an enraged expression, transforming from a benevolent elderly man into a ferocious lion.

The man was still smiling. It seemed as if his expression were incapable of changing. However, he politely stepped away from Qin Ye until they were over a meter apart. If it weren't for the fact that Qin Ye could see him for what he truly was, there was no way he would've guessed that this man was nothing more than an empty shell.

Qin Zhongguo quickly rushed over and positioned himself in front of Qin Ye as he watched the man with a wary expression in silence.

The man continued to smile as he said, "I'm just asking for directions."

A cold smile appeared on Qin Zhongguo's face. "Directions? There's nothing here in this godforsaken village! What are you trying to find?"

The man took another step backward as he replied, "We're here for the Taoist temple on the mountain. If you're willing to lead the way, we can give you 50 kilograms of top-quality rice, or 50 kilograms worth of food stamps of your choice."

He reached into his pocket, then pulled out a stack of colorful food stamps as he spoke.

Qin Ye's brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, but he had already concealed himself behind the door and was eavesdropping on the conversation from there.

Upon opening a diary from the past and reading through its entries, one would always find that they had forgotten some details. However, upon recalling those details, one would find that their memories of those events would begin to slowly transform into something different.

Food stamps were the product of a long-gone era.

On the 25th of August, 1955, during the 17th plenary session of the State Council of the People's Republic of Cathay, the bill for food stamps was passed, and right after that plenary session, all types of food stamps flooded into society. They had become the main source of purchasing power in society, and they were even more valuable than the Cathayan currency itself.

This memory was from 1956. Qin Ye was 18 years old at the time, and it had only been just over a year since the release of food stamps, which meant that they were still extremely sought-after. In fact, there were widespread food stamp shortages across the entire nation. This was true even in the capital city, let alone a rural area like the one Qin Ye was living in.

Only those in the top echelons of society had access to food stamps.

This man was wearing a brand new Mao suit, and it was clear that he held a lofty status in the political system. At the very least, he had to be an important figure in the ministry of food.

There didn't appear to be anything amiss about this. However, everyone was oblivious to the existence of a certain department: the Special Investigations Department, once known as the National Divine Guardian Division.

Qin Ye knew that in the beginning of the republic era, the Special Investigations Department had already reformed. During the period of war and unrest, countless people had died, and their souls had no place to go due to the collapse of Hell.

During that period of time, there had been a massive spike in supernatural disasters, and everything had been filed away in the records of the Special Investigations Department.

He recalled a set of statistics that he saw back in the Academy of Cultivators.

Between the years 1949 and 1959, the Special Investigations Department had a total of 54,000 registered investigators, which was comparable to the number of investigators there currently were. However, after 1960, the number of investigators sharply declined to less than 20,000!

Among those who survived, most of them went on to become high-ranking members of the Special Investigations Department, such as Zhou Yunlong. However, over 40,000 investigators had perished during the span of just 10 years!

That statistic alone was enough to reflect just how fierce the conflict between the mortal realm and the underworld had been. It has most likely gotten to the point where both realms were engaged in full-scale war!

The branches of the Special Investigations Department were always situated not far away from the government buildings, which meant that they had to be close to the ministry of food.

Despite this, they had failed to discover this living corpse, who was clearly serving as a high-ranking official of the ministry of food, and this meant that the person who had created it was most likely more powerful than an Infernal Judge.

Furthermore, Qin Zhongguo wasn't unaware of the dangers that lurked on the mountain. Not only were the people starving in this era, the animals were also starving. However, for the sake of the 50 kilograms worth of food stamps, he decided to take a risk in order to feed his grandson.

Qin Zhongguo's hands began to tremble slightly as he looked at the stack of food stamps.

He didn't have any food stamps, but he would occasionally go to the city, so he naturally recognized them.

"How about it?" the man asked with a smile. "Just take us to the temple, and the food stamps are all yours."

Qin Zhongguo gritted his teeth before nodding in agreement. There was no way he could refuse this offer.

"When do we set off?"

"How about now?"

"No!" Qin Zhongguo shook his head in response. "I just picked some wild vegetables, and it's been days since my grandson had a hot meal!"

Behind the door, Qin Ye closed his eyes, and his tear ducts were beginning to throb again.

Unbeknownst to him at the time, that trip up the mountain would be an eternal farewell.

If only both of them had returned from that trip.

If both of them had become immortals, he wouldn't have been so lonely during this past century.

Tears began to flow down his face in silence. He wasn't a man who shed tears easily, but for the first time in over 100 years, his tears began to flow.

However, he knew that this wasn't the time to be getting caught up in emotions. He stepped out from behind the door and said, "Grandpa, I'll go with you."

He had to ensure that the exact sequence of events from back then was perfectly replicated.

He recalled that Qin Zhongguo had been very hesitant to take him.

Thinking back now, his grandfather was most likely worried that these people would try to hurt him, which was why he wanted to leave him behind.

Sure enough, Qin Zhongguo's brows furrowed slightly as he skirted around the topic. "Let's have some food first."

Qin Ye didn't say anything further. However, another question had popped up in his mind.

He hadn't seen this living corpse at the time, so how had his grandfather led this man up the mountain? Why hadn't he seen this man back then?

Before he had a chance to ponder this matter any further, the man said, "Then we have ourselves a deal."

Qin Zhongguo nodded in response. "May I ask your name?"

"My name is Ye Xianzu," the man casually replied. "You can just call me Mr. Ye."

Ye Xianzu? I seem to have heard this name somewhere before…

Qin Ye's brows furrowed even more tightly as Ye Xianzu continued, "All you need to do is lead the way, and we'll follow along behind you."

Qin Zhongguo nodded once again. "It takes a bit longer to cook in a rural village like ours, so you'll have to wait for me."

"That's not an issue," Ye Xianzu replied. "We've already eaten, so we'll be waiting outside."

He then turned toward another direction and said, "I've found a guide for us, everyone, but we'll have to wait for a bit before we set off."

Qin Ye cast his gaze toward the same direction, and as soon as he did so, his pupils immediately contracted slightly.

Ye Xianzu had been saying "we" this entire time, but Qin Ye hadn't taken much notice of that quirk in his speech. Only now, as he turned toward the entrance of the village, did he catch sight of a group of people standing outside.

No, those weren't people…

All of the "people" were wearing long white robes and pointed white hats, as if they were a group of mourners.

Every single one of them had their heads lowered, and they were standing in silence.

However, Qin Ye could see that all of these "people" were actually paper figures draped in human skin!

Beneath their human skin, all of the paper figures had their eyes closed. They had bright red blush applied to their cheeks, as well as bright red lips to match.

Furthermore, they were traveling during the day!

Who created these things? Only Anitya Hellguards are able to travel during the day, and there are over 10 of these puppets here! How many more undiscovered secrets are there in this village?