Yama Rising

Zhuolu?

Qin Ye and Zhao Yun felt as if a huge bombshell had just been dropped onto their heads.

This was an extremely renowned place. It was here that the Yellow Emperor had defeated Chiyou, thereby giving rise to the people of Cathay. That was the most significant and spectacular battle between demons and gods that had taken place during Cathay's 5,000-year-long history.

The fact that the inner demon had produced what was suspected to be a piece of Chiyou's remains was a sign that those evil ghosts were perhaps subordinates of Chiyou, but never did they anticipate that this place would be Zhuolu!

This was Shanxi Province, which was several hundred kilometers away from Zhuolu Town of Hebei Province!

"Are you sure you're not mistaken?" Qin Ye asked with tightly furrowed brows. This was such a shocking answer that he was struggling to believe it.

"I'm certain of it." With a dismissive wave of Lishan Laomu's hand, all of the servants around her quickly left the room, following which she stepped forward with a serious expression before extending a slight curtsey. "Nice to finally meet you, Yanluo Qin."

Qin Ye nodded in response, then immediately cut to the chase as he asked, "Can you explain to us what's going on here? We are currently in Yuncheng of Shanxi Province, which is nowhere near Zhuolu of Hebei Province!"

Lishan Laomu heaved a faint sigh. As an ancient goddess who had lived for several thousand years, she had many, many secrets, and this one was undoubtedly her most important secret.

She opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it again without uttering a word.

Zhao Yun said, "With all due respect, even if you don't say anything, we can just ask the Goddess Earth Mother."

Even though Zhao Yun was more powerful than Lishan Laomu, all of the beings in Heaven's retirement homes were extremely lofty in status. As King Yanluo, Qin Ye could regard them as equals, but the same didn't apply for Zhao Yun.

"There's no need for that." Lishan Laomu shook her head as she heaved a faint sigh. "I knew this day was going to come, and it's about time all of this came to an end anyway."

Everyone fell silent again.

Inside the screen of water, Lishan Laomu was standing atop a cloud as she slowly paced back and forth within her palace, as if she were arranging her memories. After a long while, she finally began her story.

"I know that almost all historians believe that Zhuolu is the same Zhuolu of Hebei Province. In fact, this idea began to spread as far back as the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, and at this point, virtually everyone regards it as the truth. However, have you considered the situation from back then?"

She turned around, and the gentle sunlight of Heaven shone down onto her face, basking her in a warm glow.

She gently traced her fingers through the air, and soon, a map of the provinces of Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Hebei appeared in mid-air. Shaanxi was situated in the northwest, and it was connected to Hebei by Shanxi.

"Those were extremely primitive times, where wandering out of one's settlement was considered to be no different from committing suicide. Even though there were powerful beings like us during those times, we were opposed by all types of immensely powerful beasts, evil ghosts, and demons. The Jiuli Tribes and the Xuanyuan Tribe were active in Shanxi and Shaanxi. This has already been proven by modern historians, and they've even uncovered ruins of those civilizations. They are correct in that assessment. Bodies of water have always bred civilizations, and almost all civilizations on Earth have been established along rivers, lakes, or seas. Thus, an extremely important problem arises."

Qin Ye had already identified this problem, and he asked, "Is it distance?"

"That's right!" Lishan Laomu replied in a serious voice. "According to the segregation of historians, the area in which the Xuanyuan Tribe was active at the time was over 900 kilometers away from Zhuolu of Hebei Province, which means that they were over 800 kilometers away from the Jiuli Tribes. Given how perilous the world was back then, why would those two tribes go into battle on a battlefield that was close to 1,000 kilometers away?"

Qin Ye's eyes gradually lit up upon hearing this.

Indeed, given the state of the world at the time, there was no way that they would travel close to 1,000 kilometers just for a battle!

While it was true that there was an abundance of powerful beings back then, low-grade cultivators were still unable to survive without food, nor were they capable of flight.

In fact, that could only be achieved after reaching the Infernal Judge level. Thus, if this were true, then the only possibility was that the Battle of Zhuolu took place between only the most powerful beings of the two tribes.

However, that was not the case according to any historical records.

Aside from those powerful beings, each side also had a massive army, and even if every single soldier in those armies were cultivators, what ranks would they have reached? Surely there was no way that both sides had massive armies consisting entirely of Infernal Judges!

Would they not require supplies?

Also, with such massive armies, there was no way that they would be able to travel very quickly.

Furthermore, during those perilous times, were they not concerned that their tribes would be attacked after they left? If their tribes were attacked while they were locked in battle, were they supposed to retreat or continue the battle and sacrifice their tribe?

No matter how one looked at this, it simply didn't make sense that they would go such a long way for a battle.

This was quite a startling revelation to Qin Ye. If Lishan Laomu hadn't pointed out all of this to him, never did he think that there would be such a massive problem with this theory, which had already been accepted to be the truth for several thousand years!

Even the sharpest and most brilliant of minds could be dulled by mob psychology…

Zhao Yun also felt as if a whole new world had been opened up to him, and he immediately asked, "So where is the true Zhuolu? Is it in Yuncheng?"

"That's right!" Lishan Laomu replied in an implacable voice. "In fact, Zhuolu should be spelled as Zhuolu instead." [Here, she's saying that 涿鹿 should be spelled as 浊陆. Both of them have the exact same pronunciation, but obviously, different characters are used.]

She slowly wrote the correct spelling of Zhuolu in mid-air.

"This is the correct spelling." A reminiscent look appeared on her face as she sighed, "In ancient times, the Weihe River and the Yellow River converged at Tongguan, and the water there is quite murky, thereby accounting for the 'zhuo' in the name. Back then, when looking out at Fenglingdu from Tongguan, one would see a vast highland that stretched for several dozen kilometers, and that is the 'lu'." [In Chinese, 浊(zhuo) translates to murky, and 陆(lu) translates to land.]

Tongguan… Zhuolu…

Qin Ye was quickly assessing the map of Shanxi in his mind, and several seconds later, he drew a sharp breath as he abruptly raised his head to look at the screen of water.

If his memory served him correctly, then Zhuolu was situated right at the foot of Lishan Mountain. Furthermore, according to historical records, the territory of the Xuanyuan Tribe wasn't far away from that of the Chiyou Tribe.

Thus, it was very much possible that a battle could've taken place between them at Zhuolu, and Zhuolu was certainly a large enough place to facilitate such a battle!

"Thus, the true Zhuolu isn't in Hebei Province at all. Instead, it's right beneath your feet!" Lishan Laomu declared. "The ancient battlefield of the Battle of Zhuolu is located in the southwestern area of Ruicheng County of Yuncheng, in a place known as Fenglingdu. It was also there that the two parts of Chiyou's body were dragged away in two different directions by longmas. After I ascended to Heaven, I set up my tomb here to seal all of the demonic deities buried in Zhuolu. At the time, Chiyou's army had 82 branches and 4,320 cultivators. Thus, I created the Qimen Dunjia to seal them all near my tomb!"

The story was very simple and concise, and it was over very quickly, but Qin Ye and Zhao Yun were still reeling from what they had just heard.

Who could've imagined that a nondescript city like Yuncheng would be harboring such an astonishing secret?

Up to this point, all of their questions had been answered.

Why had the inner demon stayed in Yuncheng for so long? Where had these unknown Yama-Kings come from? Why was it that the skeletal wall had kept the inner demon and the others in the half of the city where Ruicheng County was situated?

Also, why had Lishan Laomu participated in that battle from all those years ago?

She wasn't one of the Yellow Emperor's subordinates. In fact, she was his teacher. She was all alone, but she was extremely powerful, and even if she didn't actively participate in the battle, there was no way that the Yellow Emperor or Chiyou would engage her in battle.

At the time, she simply had no choice.

Their armies were already on the doorstep of her Bodhimaṇḍa, and if she didn't pick a side, the safety of her Bodhimaṇḍa would be under threat.

Upon picking a side, she had an agenda that she had to fight for.

At the time, the Yellow Emperor had just so happened to have been trapped by the Wind God and the Rain God, and Lishan Laomu had saved him from that predicament. As a result, she had earned herself a lofty status, ranking below only the Three Pure Ones!

She preferred to keep a low profile, so she wasn't all that renowned, but that didn't mean that she wasn't one of the most important figures when it came to shaping the history of Cathay!

So why exactly had the inner demon come here?

The answer was already very obvious at this point: he wanted to release all of the demonic deities that had been sealed here!

Why had it chosen to ally itself with Chiyou's subordinates? It was because the Jiuli Tribes were natural enemies to the entirety of Cathay!

The very existence of this nation was a constant reminder of their defeat and humiliation! If they couldn't destroy this nation, then they would be bringing shame to their bloodline!

They were perfect allies for the inner demon and extraterrestrial gods!

I see…

Having finally made sense of everything, an enlightened smile appeared on Qin Ye's face. He described the situation in Yuncheng to Lishan Laomu, then asked, "What is the inner demon trying to do now? Would you be able to impart your wisdom upon us?"

"I wouldn't dare to say I have much wisdom," Lishan Laomu replied with a modest smile. "According to what you just told me, it's clear that the inner demon knows what it's doing and has kept the half of the city that includes Ruicheng County for itself. If I recall correctly, the final device that can allow Chiyou's forces to make a return can be found in Ruicheng County, and that is the Myriad Soul Pagoda. It's said that if Chiyou's body were reunited with his head, then he would be able to be resurrected in the Myriad Soul Pagoda. This is an indestructible array created by Chiyou and all of the demonic deities under his command, and once activated, Chiyou will begin a revival process. However, it can only be used once every 1,000 years."

Qin Ye nodded in response.

The Myriad Soul Pagoda was most likely the inner demon's final trump card. However, the inner demon didn't possess both parts of Chiyou's body, so it was most likely only aiming to take advantage of the indestructible nature of the array to outlast the Southern Purple Palace 10-sided Array, which could only stand for four days.

"Are you sure there's no way for Chiyou to be resurrected?"

Lishan Laomu paused momentarily before replying, "Theoretically speaking, it's not impossible. Longmas are impossible to catch in this world, but one person has seen the longmas in the past and even stroked them before."

"Who is it?" Zhao Yun asked in a stunned voice.

"It's the one who released the longmas, of course," Lishan Laomu replied.

"Someone had to have tied Chiyou's body to the tails of the longmas. In that person's eyes, the longmas are always right in front of him, and he could easily reach out and touch them at will. They are the only person capable of that in this world, but who knows if their bloodline still exists after these past thousands of years? It would certainly not be an easy task to trace back thousands of years to try and track down a single person. At the very least, no one in Heaven would be capable of doing that."

Qin Ye sighed as he repressed that thought, and just as he was about to bid farewell to Lishan Laomu, she suddenly said, "Please wait, Yanluo Qin."

Shen then gently pointed a finger forward, and two specks of golden light passed through the screen of water before landing in Qin Ye's grasp.

One of them was a bamboo scroll, while the other was a jade hairpin.

A forlorn look appeared on Lishan Laomu's face, but it quickly faded as she said, "This event is directly related to me as well. It was I who assisted the Yellow Emperor in defeating Chiyou all those years ago, and now, the burden should fall upon me to resolve this matter once and for all. Perhaps it was meant to be that you stumbled upon all of this in Yuncheng. That bamboo scroll is a list of all of the powerful cultivators under Chiyou's command, including the four ominous stars, the 12 demonic spirits, and more. As for the jade hairpin…"

A faint smile appeared on her face, and the screen of water slowly vanished, dripping back down into the pond. "I have a feeling that there will come a time where you'll have to use it."