Yama Rising

In this instant, the sound of piercing alarms rang out within all of the Special Investigations Department branches throughout Cathay.

"Alert! Alert! Yin energy readings in excess of 100 million have been registered!"

"Alert! Alert! Yin energy readings have exceeded 300 million... one billion..."

A cup fell onto the ground, but no one moved. Everyone was completely rooted to the spot like inanimate statues.

"1.5 billion... 1.7 billion... Yin energy readings in Shanxi Province have exceeded two billion..."

Zheng Shuguo abruptly raised his head to stare at the computer with a stunned expression. In this instant, the same notification was ringing out from all of the helicopters, tanks, and computers around Zhuolu.

No one said anything, and several seconds later, Zheng Shuguo rushed out of the tent before casting his gaze toward Zhuolu.

His pupils immediately contracted drastically at the sight that he was greeted by, and several seconds later, he uttered a single word in a trembling voice. "Fuck..."

All of his colleagues quickly rushed out after him, and a string of gasps rang out, followed by complete silence.

After what seemed like an eternity, someone finally said in a trembling voice, "My god..."

What is going on here?!

The entire sky above them had turned completely white. However, it wasn't from clouds, nor from light. Instead, countless paper cutouts had filled the entire heavens and were revolving around the top of the Myriad Soul Pagoda as if they had been summoned there!

There were at least hundreds of millions of these paper figures, and countless more of them were still converging toward this place from further away in the distance!

"Where are these things coming from?!" Zheng Shuguo suddenly turned toward the investigators who were still in the tent as he yelled, "Launch an investigation right away! We have to find out where these things are coming from!"

"Already on it!" Inside the tent, a middle-aged man was quickly typing on his keyboard, and a few seconds later, his hands suddenly came to a rest as he drew a sharp breath. "Director Zheng..."

Before he had a chance to say anything else, Zheng Shuguo had already rushed over to the computer.

On the computer screen, a clear image was being displayed.

Zheng Shuguo was completely dumbfounded as he stared at the image. He had envisioned countless possibilities, but this was most definitely not one of them!

On the screen, the entire tomb of Lishan Laomu was depicted, and it was rapidly disintegrating into paper cutouts that were flying up into the sky.

The entire tomb was folded out of paper!

After a few seconds of stunned silence, he asked, "What about the true energy readings?"

"Each paper figure only has five to 10 points of true energy..." the middle-aged man replied in a trembling voice. "But the total true energy reading has already exceeded two billion, and it's still increasing!"

………………………………………………..

The inner demon was looking directly ahead with a stunned expression.

In the instant that it unleashed that intended killing blow with its finger, a piece of paper flew into the finger, followed by countless more. In the blink of an eye, the finger was struck millions of times, thereby knocking it to the side!

A burst of dazzling light swept over a corner of the top of the pagoda, completely erasing that corner. However, the inner demon knew that its attack had failed to strike its target.

Where is he?

The inner demon hurriedly inspected its surroundings to search for Qin Ye, and as it did so, it was completely stunned by what it saw.

Paper cutouts were raining down from the heavens, and there were still more flocking to the scene before converging to the top of the Myriad Soul Pagoda.

Millions of Divine Heavenly Guardians were arriving by the second, and they concealed the entire sky, forming layer upon layer of paper with their paper swords pointed directly at the inner demon. It was as if heaven and earth had transformed into a cage of paper, and the paper cutouts that formed the cage were quite comical to behold, but the inner demon was in no mood to laugh because it was unable to sense Qin Ye's Yin energy!

"This is... the Qimen Dunjia!" it spat through gritted teeth, then immediately swept its right hand through the air without any hesitation. Countless Divine Heavenly Guardians to its right instantly exploded, flying through the air as countless shreds of paper. However, the shreds of paper formed a barrier that even its consciousness was unable to penetrate, and after descending onto the ground, the shreds of paper quickly stood up once again!

There was no end to them!

The inner demon's gaze swept through the world of paper around it like a sharp blade, and several seconds later, a cold smile appeared on its face. "So this is the ruler of Hell? The so-called King Yanluo?"

It squatted down like a coiled snake, ready to spring and pounce at any moment to deliver a lethal blow. A cold sneer appeared on its face as it chuckled in a mocking voice, "You're nothing but a cowardly turtle! I killed tens of thousands of Hell's Yin spirits and wiped out the entirety of Safesoul City, yet you don't dare to do anything to me! You don't even have the courage to face me!"

Its voice rang out like rumbling thunder across the top of the pagoda, but it received no reply.

Its ears were twitching slightly as if they were radars, trying to capture even the slightest sound around it, and a few seconds later, it exhaled as it stood up straight again, then scoffed, "What a useless coward you are."

I can't do anything through these paper cutouts, and he won't come out...

It seemed that this was a predicament with no solution, but the inner demon quickly cast that thought aside and returned to the center of the pond of blood.

The paper cutouts had covered everything, but were unable to cover the pond of blood in which Chiyou's head was situated, and it was as bright as a star in the night.

The inner demon stopped at the edge of the blood pond, then cast its gaze toward the statues on the four corners of the top of the pagoda, which the paper cutouts had also failed to conceal, and in doing so, it discovered that the final flame, that of the White Tiger, had already been ignited.

"We're into the final hour..." The inner demon licked its lips as it cast its gaze toward the head in the blood pond, which had already opened its eyes. "You must be very much looking forward to returning as well, right? After all, you've been absent from this world for so long..."

Around three kilometers away, Qin Ye was watching intently.

The paper cutouts could cut off the inner demon's senses, but they didn't affect him at all.

The Qimen Dunjia was a type of concealment art to begin with, and this was the original version created by Lishan Laomu, so its protective and concealment properties were top-notch.

However, what was he supposed to do now?

It wasn't that he hadn't been enraged by the inner demon's provocation, the problem was that he would simply be offering his head up on a platter if he were to rush out now! Even though his fingernails were digging into the palm of his hand, such was the force with which he was clenching his fists, he didn't move at all.

He had to endure this and remain calm...

He gnashed his teeth together tightly as his mind began to race.

Seeing as the inner demon had given up on attacking him, he was fully confident that he would be able to last until Zhao Yun arrived. However, even after that, would they be able to defeat the inner demon within an hour?

He wasn't sure about that. In fact, he was rather pessimistic about their chances.

Unless the Heavenly Dao decides to intervene, there's no way any of us will be able to kill the inner demon!

However, the Heavenly Dao had told him that the inner demon was currently protected by the fortune and faith of Chiyou, thereby rendering Them unable to attack it.

In that case, how could he remove the inner demon from this protection?

The Myriad Soul Pagoda is the final trump card left behind by Chiyou... Could it be that the inner demon will be protected by Chiyou's fortune and faith as long as he's in the Myriad Soul Pagoda?

He didn't know the answer to that question, but it was the only glimmer of hope.

If they could kill the inner demon within the final hour, there would be no one to complete the resurrection of Chiyou, and even if they only had a minute left, they would be able to seal him again!

He didn't allow himself to be swept up by emotions as he knew that he most likely only had one opportunity. If he couldn't make that opportunity count, then he would have to face the inner demon directly with Zhao Yun by his side. The inner demon wouldn't be able to defeat them, but it certainly wouldn't be a difficult task for it to stall out the rest of the hour.

Time was quickly ticking down, and Qin Ye closed his eyes as he considered how to proceed.

10 minutes quickly passed by, and the thoughts of the inner demon's speed and power were constantly swimming through his mind. The origin rune of emotions and desires was rapidly changing shape behind him to repress the agitation in his heart, and only after a full 15 minutes had passed did he finally reopen his eyes.

He was crouched down onto the ground like a leopard about to pounce, with his eyes locked firmly on the inner demon.

At a time like this, courage was more important than strategy, and it was the only way to proceed!

In the next instant, he shot forth like a speeding arrow directly toward the inner demon.

Right as he sprang into action, the inner demon immediately raised its head, casting its gaze toward the direction that Qin Ye was coming from.

……………………………………………………

Boom!

Yin energy erupted into the heavens in all directions, and the devastating power reduced thousands of Yin soldiers to netherfire.

The ground was littered with broken weapons, and a group of Yin soldiers who only had half their bodies remaining struggled to their feet, but they were no longer able to battle.

Half of Qin Hui's head was missing, and there was also a hole running through his chest. The netherfire in this remaining eye was like a candle in the wind, looking as if it were about to be snuffed out at any moment.

Su Daji's lower body was gone, and both of her arms were completely twisted. The bright red color of her eyes had faded, and her mouth was gently spasming, but was incapable of opening or closing.

Zhou Yu had a spear punched through his body, and he was frantically trying to pull the spear out of himself with both hands, but to no avail. Bao Chao had been nailed to a mountain by a massive ax, and his hands were dangling limply beside him, while his flailing legs were unable to reach the shaft of the ax. Half of Chang Yuchun's body had disappeared, and he was holding his saber with his remaining hand, but no longer had the energy to wield it.

The countless broken flags and destroyed weapons all presented a clear image of just how brutal this battle had been.

Resentment's chest was heaving violently, and his crimson eyes were filled with shock and fury.

This group of Abyssal Prefects and Infernal Judges had managed to stall him for an entire army! In addition to that, his entire army had been decimated, and even he had sustained significant injuries.

"I can't allow them to catch their breath..." He gritted his teeth tightly as he rose to his feet. "Even if our king is resurrected, they will only act as obstacles to him!"

However, right as he was about to step forward, a clear phoenix cry suddenly rang out, and a silver figure flew through the bronze gate to arrive on the fourth level!

In that instant, it was as if time had fallen completely still.

Resentment looked on in astonishment at the mighty fiery phoenix flying directly toward him with peerless heat and radiance.

Lust is dead!

That was the first thought that occurred to him, and he knew that the enemy was flying toward the top of the pagoda to reunite with Qin Ye!

"You're not going anywhere!" Resentment didn't hesitate even for an instant as he released all of his Yin energy violently and positioned himself in front of the bronze gate.

An earth-shattering boom rang out as powerful shockwaves swept through the area, and Zhao Yun flew straight into the bronze gate as a streak of light, while Resentment was sent flying back several hundred meters amid an agonized cry.

"Damn it!" he panted as he gritted his teeth and struggled to his feet.

Right as he was about to rush toward the bronze gate, he stopped cold in his tracks once again before turning around with a stunned expression.

Two bursts of incredibly powerful Yin energy had appeared at the entrance to the fourth level right on Zhao Yun's heels!

One of them was basked in nine-colored light, while the other was surrounded by countless vengeful spirits. They didn't pause even for a single moment as they rushed toward the bronze gate up ahead with unstoppable might!

Envy and Lust are both dead as well...

In this instant, Resentment felt as if his heart had been plunged into a glacial pit, but he didn't hesitate at all as he immediately rushed toward the bronze gate after them.

One could imagine just how perilous the situation at the top of the pagoda was going to become.

All of Chiyou's remnant forces and the 73 immortals had been slain. Having sustained such heavy losses, the only thing that could make up for this would be the resurrection of their king. Otherwise, even if he could survive this battle, there would be no reason for it to continue living.

This was the final showdown. The vendetta that had spanned thousands of years, involving Nothingness, Lishan Laomu, Hell, the Jiuli Tribes, the inner demon... It was all going to come to an end here!