Yama Rising

Arthis didn’t respond.

“Tell me!” Qin Ye was sweating from the head. It had taken him so much courage just to muster enough courage to bear the burden of reestablishing Hell, yet Arthis was now telling him that there are three existences on the same level as Abyssal Prefects that had crawled up out of the depths of Hell?

What are Abyssal Prefects?

When Arthis had earlier unleashed her display of authority in Clear Creek County, the projection of her image stood indomitably across the lands, blanketing the entire province with overwhelming pressure. An Abyssal Prefect was well above that level, and their authority extended across an entire district altogether…

Qin Ye couldn’t help but tremble at the thought.

For once, Arthis didn’t blame him for feeling this way at all, “Kid… the ghost kings that have been suppressed by the six paths are nefarious and evil, through and through. At least we know that one of them exists in the west. It’s… it’s a good thing you’d left that area quickly. Otherwise… the next entity coming for your life might well have been his right hand men…”

“Are you certain it’s them?” Qin Ye could feel his eyes twitching uncontrollably, “What has Ksitigarbha been eating?! He brought together with him all of Hell’s officials upon ascension, yet he left behind several high ranking ghost kings?! And he even left behind a scourge like you!”

Arthis sighed softly, “Ascension… How many bodhisattvas have dreamed of this? Yet at the same time, bodhisattvas have their own intentions and plans as well… Ksitigarbha’s great vow had mentioned ‘hell’, but ‘hell’ might not have meant ‘Hell’ as we know it. ‘Hell’ could also refer to the Eighteen Abysses of Punishment, the Ten Abyssal Courts, as well as all of Hell’s officials. After all… there’s no doubt that each and every one of Hell’s officials are part of the dead…”

“I can confirm that all of ‘hell’s’ ghosts and officials have indeed been swept up to paradise with Ksitigarbha. As for the rest… such as the ghost kings of the six paths, he’s also done his level best to sweep three of them away with him as well. I guess you can say that he’s already taken advantage of the loopholes in the Heavenly Dao.”

Qin Ye felt the onset of a splitting headache. He clutched tightly at his ink-black hair, making it look as messy as straw in a chicken coop.

To date, he was the first person to learn of just what kind of enemies the mortal realm was faced with.

They were three ghost kings of the path of the beast, the path of the hungry ghost, and the path of the asura, each of which were at the level equivalent to that of an Abyssal Prefect!

If the three ghost kings had decided to join forces, they possessed the power to wreak havoc across half of Cathay.

“How will this affect me?” Qin Ye muttered after a long while.

Yet there was no response.

Qin Ye was on the brink of breaking down, “I’m warning you! Don’t hide anything for me! Otherwise whoever wants to rebuild Hell can go do it himself! I’ll just take the shards of King Yanluo’s Seal and fly off into the distance as far as I can!”

“That’s just like you....” Arthis finally responded, “Fly away? And where can you fly to?”

“Without the shard, you will die. With the shard, your existence will eventually be discovered by the daolord of the path of the beast who currently resides in Westriver. There’s no place to run, and no place to hide.”

Qin Ye rubbed his hair and stood up slowly. He too knew full well that his earlier words had been no more than a ventilation of his frustrations.

“Then, what should we do?” He mustered all the strength to suppress the roiling emotions within as he asked in all sincerity.

“Reestablish Hell!” Arthis declared, “You’ll never be able to fathom depths of the strength of these Prefect-class ghost kings… Just think about the extent of devastation of the great drought and famine in the ‘60s… That said, as long as you’re able to reestablish Hell, you’ll have the advantage of absolute suppression against them!”

“Hell is order, approved and undergirded by the Heavenly Dao. Hell’s collapse means that the natural order of the world is now missing a piece of the puzzle. The sooner you put things back in order, the earlier these ghost kings will be subject to the suppressive forces of Hell once more - regardless of how powerful they may be!”

Qin Ye grew taciturn.

His eyes quivered as he quickly adjusted his thoughts.

Arthis had left many things out, but one need only read between the lines and consider the implicit meanings and implications of her words to understand everything.

As soon as the reestablishment of Hell began, the three ghost kings would immediately feel the suppressive forces of Hell, and understand that Hell was currently being rebuilt. Naturally, they would do everything in their ability to locate the person responsible for reestablishing Hell and cut him into a million pieces.

“But… there’s still one location that they would never show up at unless they’re prepared to go toe to toe against the forces of the mortal realm.”

He locked eyes with Arthis, and both declared with gusto at the exact same moment, “The City of Salvation!”

Home of Cathay’s First Academy of Cultivators!

Cathay’s first stronghold against the netherworldly forces!

This was a banner and a beacon - one that would remain flying high and shining brightly until the day Cathay was defeated!

Arthis went on, “And it makes all the more sense given the thirty million Yin existence that hides in this place. If you can turn it into Hell’s perpetual energy generator… then there’s truly no other place that would be more suitable than this.”

Who would have thought that the new order of Hell would be founded right underneath Cathay’s first stronghold against the netherworldly forces?

Even if they were to comb through the nooks and crannies across all of Cathay, the three remaining daolords of the six paths might not even consider the City of Salvation as a possible location at all!

Qin Ye deliberated for some time, before glancing back at the emblems, “Something extraordinary must have occurred that night which led to the three daolords of the six paths discovering the terrifying existence here. The leakage of Yin energy must also have caused a mutation in the fourth hunting zone. The three daolords must have sent their own forces to set up a barrier here so that the mortal realm wouldn’t discover the mutations.”

The puzzle pieces were finally all coming together.

Qin ye chuckled bitterly, “They had thought that all of the loose ends would’ve been tied up that night. Unfortunately…”

Arthis glanced at Old Huang, “Unfortunately, the owner of this hunting zone was actually a corpse fiend dog. Furthermore, it seems to have taken a liking to you. It’s probably due to the fact that dogs are by nature affectionate towards human beings. Naturally, a corpse fiend dog that has fulfilled its dying obsessions would all the more be affectionate to Emissaries of Hell.”

Shk… Qin Ye lifted the demonhead saber and pointed it at the mirror, “Is this the heart of the formation array?”

He didn’t make decisions lightly.

But having already made a decision, he would never change his mind.

If Hell must be reestablished, then he would do everything within his ability to see it through!

And the first step was to uncover the exact location of the thirty million Yin existence, so that he could see where the cornerstone of his kingdom should be laid!

Just then, the surface of the mirror rippled as though it were water. There, amidst the gentle ripples, Qin Ye saw Lin Han, Su Feng, Li Runxue and Zhuo Qinfen standing in the midst of roiling Yin energy, each of them duking it out with an evil ghost on a similar level to the nurse Qin Ye had just disposed of.

“What nonsense is this? I thought you guys said you were S-class agents?” Qin Ye furrowed his brows.

“Do you think everyone’s an Emissary of Hell like you?” Arthis chuckled, before adding with a somber expression, “A barrier comprises the heart of the formation array, as well as several fulcrums. Shatter the heart now, and your teammates will no longer be blinded by Yin energy. Shatter the remaining mirrors in their rooms, and the entire barrier will be completely broken through.”

She paused for a moment, and then added, “If the terrifying existence with thirty million Yin is really here, its location will definitely be revealed at that moment!”

Crash!

Before she even finished speaking, the demonhead saber cleaved straight at the mirror. With a loud, crisp sound, the surface of the rippling mirror immediately shattered into innumerable pieces that scattered everywhere.

At the same time that the mirror was shattered, the entire nursing home howled eeriely like a ghost in the distance. The entire nursing home was still the same as before, but everything appeared much clearer than ever before, almost as though a translucent film had just been removed from the lenses.

As soon as the peculiar darkness dissipated, sounds of combat could immediately be vaguely heard coming from above. Without another word, Qin Ye lifted his demonhead saber and ran upstairs.

………………………………………………..

Fifth floor, room 533.

Unlike the bathroom that Qin Ye had just been in, the entire place was dark and unlit. The entire room was filled with a dense river of Yin energy, and a hidden figure darted about the sides of the room, relentlessly attacking Su Feng who held his ground in the middle of the room.

Su Feng’s expressions were unwavering and unyielding. An inch-long peachwood sword hovered about his body. Su Feng didn’t need to control or instruct it. Regardless of where the attacks came from, the peachwood sword would swiftly shoot towards the attack and parry them, sending brilliant sparks scattering about in the air as it did so.

“There’s a barrier within the hunting zone?” When Su Feng saw the obscured figure blend into the sea of Yin energy for the umpteenth time, he began to grow frustrated. Then, just as he was about to reach into the inner pocket of his robe, a voice suddenly resounded at the door.

“Do you need help?”

Qin Ye?

Su Feng was startled, and his pupils immediately dilated.

It’s him?

How did he escape?

The set-up of the barrier is simply ingenious. Even I didn’t realise it when I first stepped into it. Could he have… found the eye of the formation array?

“Yes.” He didn’t have to think twice, and he immediately sought Qin Ye’s assistance despite the resentment in his heart.

BOOM!!!

As soon as he finished speaking, the door crumbled, and a radiant blade shot straight into the room like a furious gale, plunging straight into the obscured figure with unerring accuracy.

What a swift attack… Su Feng gasped. He pulled out a copper bell from his bosom and was about to shake it when he suddenly realized… that the Yin energy in front of him had already scattered.

He was stunned.

Completely and utterly flabbergasted.

When Qin Ye entered the room, he noticed Su Feng holding a copper bell on his hand, and yet Su Feng’s expression was incredibly pale, almost as though he had seen a ghost. Just then, Su Feng belatedly noticed it…

A pair of green military gloves.

A green military helmet.

A pair of green leather boots.

Red scarf, and red goggles.

It was a human Teemo…

He wanted to laugh, but he couldn’t bring himself to do so. After being stunned for three whole seconds, he finally managed to compose himself once more.

“A single strike?” His voice was somewhat dry and filled with disbelief.

Qin Ye responded with genuine surprise, “Should I be taking more strikes?”

That cuts… straight to the heart…

Su Feng coughed dryly as he kept his copper bell, attempting to maintain as straight a face as possible. However, his heart was complaining incessantly - That’s unscientific! That’s far too outrageous! We’re both Hunter-class experts, and we’re both S-class agents, yet something I’d been struggling against for tens of minutes had just been disposed of by a single strike?!

His entire worldview was turned completely upside-down! Is Qin Ye really only a Hunter-class expert?

He quietly followed Qin Ye downstairs. Spirits following Qin Ye: 1.

Ten minutes later, on the fourth floor.

With a loud bang, the door to the room was hacked down violently. A bright gleam of blade light shone as though an immortal had descended from the heavens. Lin Han’s jaws dropped as the dense Yin energy around him was instantly swept away with a single slash of Qin Ye’s saber.

“Bloody Hell…” He couldn’t help but curse under his breath as he turned around mechanically and stared at Qin Ye. His expression was exactly the same as Su Feng’s right now. Their lips trembled, but none of them could say a single word.

Chasm.

The chasm was far too large.

He had just unleashed incredible ferocity against his opponent, yet everything he had done could hardly be compared to a single, casual strike from Qin Ye?

His lips trembled for several seconds more as he gazed blankly at the saber on Qin Ye’s back as Qin Ye left the room. Finally, Lin Han gave Qin Ye a thumbs up, “Awesome. You’re the boss.”

Spirits following Qin Ye: 2

12.45 a.m. With a dazzling gleam of blade light, a massive crack appeared on the ground. The flying daggers that were originally sandwiched between Li Runxue’s fingers all fell to the ground with crisp clangs. Her red lips were slightly agape as she watched the three people leave in complete bewilderment.

“It’s not that I don’t approve. It’s just that I haven’t approved of you.” She repeated the words that she had said before.

What she refused to recognize was Qin Ye’s strength and ability.

Her pride had just been swept away and scattered into the surroundings by Qin Ye’s simple attack.

“What kind of person is this… fraud? Even the S-class agents in Yan capital can’t do something like this, right?”

Spirits following Qin Ye: 3

1.00 a.m.

The female ghost was reduced to a cloud of Yin energy which dissipated right in front of Zhuo Qinfen’s eyes. He looked at Teemo, and then in front of him, and then blankly repeated this course of action for several seconds, before finally giving a huge thumbs up. He sighed in admiration and followed behind Qin Ye obsequiously without another word.

Words weren’t needed in the face of absolute strength.

The human Teemo and his four mushrooms[1] now stood in the center of the first floor. The breaking of the barrier caused the entire building to tremble slightly. Then, a muffled yet continuous sound of shattering resounded through the air.

The Yin energy in all directions scattered like a receding tide. Qin Ye’s red scarf fluttered wildly with the billowing Yin gale.

Fifth floor, fourth floor, third floor, second floor…

The immense darkness was slowly giving way to the dim illumination of moonlight, and the remaining Yin spirits instinctively scattered to find shelter in the remaining shadows in the building. The Yin gale roared through the hallway. Then, as soon as the tide of Yin energy receded from the first floor, the entire space trembled and depressed slightly.

“That’s it!!” Su Feng was jolted back from his stupor and exclaimed excitedly.

“What a terrifying feeling…” Qin Ye drew a deep breath as he looked intently at the ground below.

It was right underneath his feet… It was only by stepping in this very place that it dawned upon him that it was as if… he was standing right on the body of a tyrannosaurus rex!

Yin energy.

Boundless Yin energy flowed just underneath their feet, just like a rushing, roaring ocean!

The thirty million Yin existence was right underneath their feet!

1. The author uses the word mushroom here because Teemo’s ultimate skill allows him to plant mushrooms.