Yama Rising

Time passed quickly.

Cao Youdao’s expressions went from fanatical and venomous to that of absolute tranquility.

He was waiting.

He was eagerly awaiting Qin Ye’s arrival. He knew that Qin Ye would most definitely come for him.

Forty minutes in, a soft knock sounded at the door, “May I come in?”(TL: This was spoken in english.)

“To think that you would recall my international affiliation.” Cao Youdao laughed, “Come in.”

The door swung open, yet the person who entered didn’t look like a human being at all.

It was still Qin Ye’s physique. However, his irises were now black, while his pupils were white. His long white hair danced about on its own without any wind, and his skin appeared incredibly pale.

The quality of his uniform looked far better than it had ever been before, as though it were made of soft, rolling silk. The asymmetrical black robe was embroidered with three round black-and-white patterns, and he wore a black fretwork chinese skullcap on his head. Over and above that, he now wore a plaque around his waist that he never had before. Two words were inscribed on the plaque in blood-red lettering - Soul Hunter.

Qin Ye walked into the room slowly. As expected, there wasn’t a single Yin spirit that remained in this place. His entire army of Yin spirits had been caught at the heel by the mortal realm’s army. There was simply no means of retreat for them.

Then again, now that there was a fully-fledged Soul Hunter in the vicinity, the Yin spirits would no longer be subservient to Cao Youdao in any event.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk…” Qin Ye carried a 1.5 meter scabbard on his back. He glanced about at the mess within the Orchid Clubhouse and exclaimed, “Such extravagance! Mr Cao, you’ve just smashed up a few million dollars’ worth of decor and equipment… But I’ve got to applaud the fact that you didn’t vomit blood despite the intense fury stirring in your heart. How cultured.”

Cao Youdao’s lips stretched out into a thin grimace, but he remained silent.

The two stood on opposite ends of the pit - one at the north, while the other at the south. Cao Youdao placed his hands on the hilt of his sword. The sword was already unsheathed. Cao Youdao had earlier stuck it into the ground. His uniform fluttered wildly on its own as intense Yin energy poured out of his sleeves and his seven apertures.

Qin Ye was the same as well. That said, Qin Ye’s expression looked far more vicious. His black irises and white pupils were akin to a declaration that he was a completely different being from Cao Youdao altogether.

“Do you know something?” Cao Youdao finally spoke up with a calm and tranquil voice, “I’ve thought about it for a long time, and I’ve come up with three possible answers.”

His voice was somewhat hoarse, “Firstly, I didn’t expect the treasure of Hell in your possession to be able to conceal the aura from your body. Secondly, I’d underestimated your shamelessness, and the fact that you would deign to hide under the protection of the mortal realm, completely abandoning the sacred creed that Hell and the mortal realm should never mix with each other. You’ve got no bottom line.”

Qin-mercenary-Ye was displeased.

What do you mean by shameless?

It’s called a tactical decision!

Cao Youdao continued his spiel, “Thirdly, I’d never expected you to possess… the genuine proof of identity of an Emissary of Hell!”

“This is the only way you can be promoted directly to a Soul Hunter without personally writing your name into Hell’s Records at all. All of the conditions are stacked against me. I’ve lost in an unjust battle.”

Nobody spoke up for a while after that. There was complete silence. Then, finally, Qin Ye adjusted his expressions and sighed wistfully, “I can’t bear to make a move against a former colleague of mine either…”

“Can’t bear to do it?” Cao Youdao sneered, “Nobody in this world would ever accept the existence of another person like himself.”

“If I don’t perish today, I’ll definitely turn things around and do everything in my abilities to kill you.”

Qin Ye smiled faintly, “That’s right. The truth of the matter is that I never wanted things to be like this. If not for the fact that an old granny forced me into a corner like this, I’d never bother to make a move against you. And now that I think about it, I must say that that old granny is truly skillful to have struck at my g-spot so accurately…”

Cao Youdao laughed, “If you became the next Yama-King, you would probably be the most unprincipled Yama-King in all of history, wouldn’t you?”

“That’s too much of an exaggeration. I simply don’t want to die. If anyone tries to kill me, I’ll strike back without mercy. If the world is at peace, you’ll find me like a harmless little fish swimming happily in my little pond. Well then…” Qin Ye set down his saber’s massive scabbard on the ground, “Any last words?”

Cao Youdao raised his sword with a faint smile on his face, “One last question.”

“Didn’t you encounter the Hellguard-class officer from Sierra City when you broke through the Soul Hunter rank earlier? Why didn’t he kill you there and then?”

Qin Ye chuckled, “It’s simple… I’d naturally crossed paths with him. How could I possibly outrun him? That said… I’d used the treasure on my body to disguise my appearance as another Anitya Hellguard, and I’d also told him that I would personally come for your life. Thus… he let me off without another question.”

“It’s far more powerful than the Hell’s Records in my possession.” Cao Youdao exclaimed with a smile. In the very next second, a blade shot through the air and flew straight towards Qin Ye’s throat!

“How dare a newly ordained Soul Hunter act defiantly in front of his senior!” Qin Ye leaned his head to the side, and strands of white hair were sliced cleanly in two. Cao Youdao bellowed, “Today, I’ll take it upon myself to teach you what the true power of a Soul Hunter is!”

In an instant, the long sword in his hand shattered into a thousand gleams of cold blades. Everything was different this time. Qin Ye could hear the cries of a thousand ghosts coming from each particle in the air, constantly messing with his mind.

Boom!! The saber was quicker than the sword. The massive demonhead saber was a full one foot three inches wide, and four feet five inches long. The blazing green flames around the saber clashed powerfully against the rain of blades.

A massive noise resounded. Cao Youdao’s eyes widened with astonishment as he was knocked three meters back with a muffled grunt. He struck the wall with a dull thud.

The sword was light and agile, while the saber was thick and powerful. Without the genuine proof of identity on his side, Cao Youdao had undoubtedly failed to take the upper hand in the clash of might.

The green flames continued to spread like a poisonous snake. Before Cao Youdao could even shake off the embers in front of him, a blast of energy made the air in front of him suddenly turn corporeal with a loud rushing sound. Without hesitation, he let out a loud whistle and released two green spots of light from his sleeves. The green spots of light clashed powerfully against the blast of energy.

There was a loud bang, and green flames shot everywhere. Cao Youdao’s body crashed into the wall behind him. But at the very least, he had managed to avoid a potentially fatal blow.

“Haa…” He heaved a sigh of relief. Then, gnashing his teeth, his body suddenly exploded and transformed into a massive Yin gale and swept violently around Qin Ye.

Almost simultaneously, Qin Ye’s great saber landed heavily on the ground. The powerful impact earlier had caused a massive crack to appear on his saber.

Right now, a full set of skeletal bones had already extended out from the skull at the hilt of his sword, almost as though it were creeping onto the body of the blade. Its presence added an ashen, pearly white gleam to the blade, accentuated only by the ghastly green flames that burnt ceaselessly.

Coupled with the striking Hell’s Emissary uniform, Qin Ye presented himself with an impeccably netherworldly charm. His appearances right now were a perfect representation of an archetypal Hell’s Emissary.

In the very next moment, the Yin energy materialized and transformed into a six meters large Yin vortex that wrapped fiercely around Qin Ye. At the same time, countless dreadful jasper spots of light appeared within the vortex like a sea of stars, and hurtled towards Qin Ye.

Clang clang clang! The sound emitted was like rain striking a lute. Qin Ye’s blade dance engulfed him within a sphere of flames. But as soon as he made first contact with the jasper lights, his eyes immediately widened.

Heavy…

He couldn’t tell what exactly these jasper lights were, but each and every single one of them contained enough power to cause his demonhead saber to recoil with trembling. One could only imagine the damage caused if a single one of these lights struck his body - they would break more than just his tendons and bones!

“Idiot!!” Just then, a voice that had been silent for a long time yelled out again, “Who told you to block those things head on?”

Arthis?

Such vigor and energy. She must be fully awake again…

Unfortunately, Qin Ye didn’t have the time to respond, because the jasper lights had begun to converge from all directions, transforming into a wall of light that was closing in on him!

“Shit!!” Qin Ye cursed as he released a sea of soul shackles spinning rapidly around him, just like an iron barrel concealing his body.

BOOM!!

Green flames shot everywhere, and the jasper lights that filled the room like stars were deflected away. However, the jasper lights quickly swam back into the vortex as though they were fish in the ocean.

“What the hell is this thing? How could I be losing to an Emissary of Hell who’s had his license revoked?” Qin Ye exclaimed.

“Yin artifact.” Arthis muttered placidly, “Certain objects, if exposed to an area filled with Yin energy for a long time, would begin to be nourished and pervaded by the Yin energy around it. With the effluxion of time, these objects will gradually transform into Yin artifacts. Truth be told, any Emissary of Hell who attains the Soul Hunter rank would immediately gain access to Hell’s arts. Unfortunately, he doesn’t possess the proof of identity, and the natural orders of the world don’t recognize him as such. Naturally, he remains unable to tap into the secrets of Hell’s arts.

“Then, I…”

“Idiot…” Arthis gritted her teeth, “As a genuine Emissary of Hell, every single thing you have on you is a Yin artifact! And each of them are of far higher grade than the artifacts he possesses! These are all authentic bestowments from Hell that have been bathed in Yin energy for eons! Run the saber across your palm and you’ll be able to suppress him immediately!”

Qin Ye rubbed his palm across the back edge of the saber.

And then he looked blankly at the soul sphere that floated out in front of him.

“I’ll be @#($*&@(#^)$$!!!” Arthis was hopping mad, and she fiercely repressed the thunderous fury boiling deep within her heart, “Use! The! Blade!!”

Qin Ye gulped nervously, before cautiously slicing his palm with the blade, grimacing as he watched a drop of blood drip onto the saber.

“You…” Arthis gritted her teeth, “I guess I should really praise you for standing your ground in front of Cao Youdao and not entertaining any thoughts of escape… I’d really thought that you’d changed for the better…”

“But what do you know! Have I ever backed down when it was time to fight? This is a completely unnecessary wound!” “It’s almost like you’re impervious to pain in a massive car crash, yet you’re incredibly daunted by the prospects of a small prick on your finger at the doctors’ to guarantee your health!”

“... Why does it feel as though you’ve become filled with confidence ever since I’ve awakened? Do you actually have the energy to complain so much while facing an opponent that is on the same rank as you are?”

Just as his blood fell onto the blade of his saber, the demonhead saber immediately shone with a glaring red light. As a chilling gale filled with a blood stench swept across the room, the surrounding Yin energy was immediately dispersed. Cao Youdao’s body returned to his corporeal form, and his face was filled with an expression of horror.

A rosary made of 81 human skulls wrapped around his body, while the skulls continued to blaze with an eerie green glow in their eyes.

“An Emissary’s blade release…” Cao Youdao stared resentfully at the saber that was now stained with blood as he gnashed his teeth, “You’re just a newly-minted Soul Hunter… How could you possibly know of such things?!!”

Whoosh… Before he finished speaking, a scarlet red light filled the entire Orchid Clubhouse, and a human figure slowly rose from the blade.

He was only an inch tall, yet Cao Youdao trembled and retreated into the corner like he had just witnessed the most horrific thing. The rosary of human skulls also dimmed under the oppressive glow of the scarlet light.

The humanoid figure looked somewhat sleepy as it turned and bowed respectfully to Qin Ye. Then, it turned back to face Cao Youdao.

“No…”

Before Cao Youdao could finish his sentence, a sudden gust of wind shot through the room, and Cao Youdao’s head landed on the ground!

Fast.

Incredibly fast!

Qin Ye didn’t even see how the humanoid figure had made his move. No… in the first place, how could such a small being cause such a huge impact? That instant just now didn’t only affect Cao Youdao. Even Qin Ye’s uniform and hair were swept around by the gust of wind earlier. A layer of goosebumps crawled all over Qin Ye’s skin.

This was absolute suppression!

He suddenly felt as though the saber in his hands was like a dog.

A dog that was dragging along its warlock...