Yama Rising

The employee continued to take records as he said, "In the first year, the connection wasn't drawn, but in the second year, it was the exact same cause of death at the exact same time. All of the victims were sliced cleanly in half along with their cars by something invisible. Isn't that strange?"

He then heaved a faint sigh before continuing, "If the victim was just a normal person, then there wouldn't be such a big fuss, but do you know who died this time?"

Qin Ye was inspecting the mourning hall as he asked, "Who?"

The employee leaned in a little closer, then said in a quiet voice, "The eldest son of County Party Secretary Li."

He then stole a glance behind him before continuing, "You see the police officers inside? They say that he was just driving on the road when he was suddenly dismembered, and his body was sliced cleanly in half. I heard that it took the mortician a lot of work to get his body back together... What the hell? Where did he go?"

Right as he turned back around to face Qin Ye, his soul was almost jarred out of his body from fright. Qin Ye was already nowhere to be seen, and there was only a flurry of paper money for the dead fluttering down from above in his place. The employee's back was instantly drenched in cold sweat, and all of the fine hairs all over his body stood up on end. His throat had suddenly become parched, and he gulped nervously before making his way toward a place where there were more people.

Qin Ye hadn't actually left.

A living human would only be able to see an underworld emissary if the latter wished to be seen. If Qin Ye didn't want to be seen, then no one would be able to detect his presence, even though he was standing mere meters away from the front desk.

At this moment, his gaze was locked firmly on the center of the hall. A series of spirit banners and obituaries were littered throughout the hall, and paper money was flying everywhere. All types of food offerings were placed in front of the coffin alongside burning incense, and the sound of chanting and the knocking of wooden fish were ringing out incessantly.

Qin Ye wasn't looking at any of that. Instead, he was staring into the coffin.

Right as he rose up into mid-air, the corpse of the deathly pale young man in the coffin abruptly opened his eyes before looking directly at him.

There were no whites in his eyes, only inky-darkness, like the boundless, pitch-black night.

The two of them were separated by the coffin and a decent distance, but both of them could sense that each of them had seen the other.

Inside the dark coffin, a menacing smile slowly appeared on the corpse's face, and it silently mouthed the words "long time no see".

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

All of a sudden, all of the surrounding sticks of incense were snapped in unison, and the monks that Taoist priests who were chanting opened their eyes at once. All of them shuddered involuntarily, then immediately rose to their feet without any hesitation. "Run!!"

Before the grieving family had a chance to realize what was happening, all of the paper money on the ground rose up into the air, then shot forth like speeding arrows without any warning!

"What on earth is happening?!"

"My god, what's going on?!"

"This place is haunted!!"

The entire funeral home instantly erupted into a panicked frenzy, and the mourning family members were weeping just a moment ago, yet they were all fleeing in fear and alarm now. The paper money that had flown up into the air seemed to have been given a life of their own, knocking over the wreaths one after another like dominos. At the same time, a gust of dark Yin wind converged out of nowhere, revolving around the flying paper money to form a Yin cloud vortex that was several dozen meters in radius!

A derisive sneer appeared on Qin Ye's face as he casually swept a sleeve through the air, and all of the paper money in front of him was instantly ignited by netherfire before being burned to ashes. He then cast his gaze directly forward and said, "This is an extremely unoriginal welcome that you've prepared for me."

He wasn't looking at the coffin. This trick to temporarily possess a corpse wasn't intriguing to him at all. Furthermore, considering how weak this display of power was, the inner demon had to be controlling the corpse from very far away.

This made sense, considering this was the origin site of the first riot three years ago, so it most likely had already long since moved on from here.

What Qin Ye was looking at was the room across from the coffin.

No one could see the room as it wasn't open, and it was completely concealed behind the black curtain at the back.

Only he could see that there was a smaller red coffin in that room!

In contrast with the simplistic black coffin, this one was extremely intricately crafted with designs of dragons and phoenixes, as well as the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl engraved onto its surface. There was also a large table of offerings placed in front of it, but all of these offerings were pieces of makeup, and every single one appeared to have been used before.

It was clear that there was something strange residing there.

Furthermore, the door of the room was locked from the outside, and there were all types of furniture in there, including a large, antiquated, wooden bed, a mirror that was as tall as a person, a dresser, a lamp, as well as tables and chairs. However, all of those pieces of furniture also appeared to have been used.

It was as if there were something living residing in that locked room.

BOOM!!

The door was abruptly blown open, and a figure arrived amid a gust of Yin wind. Behind her were around a dozen more figures, and a burst of pure Yin energy that belonged exclusively to Hell swept through the entire room, causing all of the light fixtures to flicker unsteadily. In the next instant, an authoritative voice rang out across the entire room. "By Hell’s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse!"

The voice wasn't very loud, but it was like a death sentence being pronounced in the ears of evil ghosts.

Arthis was standing at the forefront of the group, accompanied by the dozen or so underworld emissaries she had taken with her. The room was completely silent, but she could clearly see that there was a woman in an antiquated red wedding dressing lying curled up into a ball in the coffin, resembling a frightened kitten.

She was so horrified that her face was even paler than the average evil ghost, and her fingernails had already dug deep into her palms, yet they were drawing no blood.

This was a corpse, a living corpse.

The coffin exploded amid a resounding boom, followed by a scream from the bride. An invisible, giant hand then seemed to close itself around her neck, hosting her up into mid-air.

"Spare me! Please!!" If a normal person were to have their neck constricted so tightly, they wouldn't be able to utter any sound at all, yet the bride was able to scream at the top of her lungs. "Please don't kill me, Your Excellency! I've never had any blood food! I'm only residing here temporarily!"

As soon as her voice trailed off, she received a slap to the face that was so vicious that her head turned around 180 degrees, but it instantly turned back as if she had no spine. She wanted to continue to beg for her life, but the sight of Arthis's menacing expression convinced her that it was wiser to remain silent.

Arthis cast a cold gaze toward the bride as she asked, "Do you recognize me?"

The female ghost shuddered, and her lips were trembling as she replied, "I do. Y, you're the esteemed warden..."

This doesn't make any sense! Why am I so unlucky? The number of posthumous weddings that take place in the Cathayan Underworld is at least in the double figures, why am I the one who's been caught? And why is the warden here in person?!

As soon as she sensed Qin Ye and Arthis's almighty Yin energy descend upon this city, she was already petrified, and she was so horrified to hear the words "by hell’s dictum, all rabble shall disperse", that she almost disintegrated on the spot!

Right at this moment, a voice rang out from behind Arthis. "Don't kill her."

The evil ghost shuddered upon hearing this, then cast an incredulous gaze forward. In the next instant, she collapsed to the ground with a dull thump, looking as if all of the bones in her body had been pulled out.

King Yanluo was here in person!

Never had she been so terrified before, and she felt as if her soul had been plunged into a glacial pit. She wanted to stand up, but her legs were too weak to move, and in the end, she struggled into a kneeling position before kowtowing to the ground.

"Your Majesty, please spare me..." she sobbed. "I'll never do this again..."

Qin Ye ignored her and sat down in front of the table with Arthis.

He doesn't seem angry?

Hell had implemented strict laws against communicating with the mortal realm, yet there were still Yin spirits like her who slipped through the cracks. Due to her selfish desires, the inner demon was able to extend its influence into the Cathayan Underworld, thereby leading to the destruction of several villages.

However, what could he do now?

Was he going to throw a tantrum at this female ghost, who was only a Netherworld Operative and didn't even know what the inner demon was? What would that accomplish? It would only make him even more enraged and powerless.

"Do you know how many netherworldly citizens of the Cathayan Underworld were destroyed because of your posthumous wedding?" Qin Ye asked.

The evil ghost was too horrified to speak, so she could only shake her head.

"Your crimes are unforgivable," Arthis said with a cold expression. "However, you can still redeem yourself. Your life will not be spared, but if you don't want to enter the six paths of reincarnation as well, then you'd better answer my next questions truthfully. If you refuse, I can search your soul right here, right now, and still ensure that your soul is intact and can be thrown into the 18 abysses of punishment, so if I were you, I would cooperate."

"Yes..." The female ghost kowtowed once again.

These were two of the most powerful beings in Hell, and in the instant that she saw both of them, she realized that her death was sealed.

The room fell silent.

Qin Ye was gently drumming his armrest with his fingers while stroking his own chin with his other hand. He didn't immediately begin the interrogation. He had no interest in knowing this evil ghost's name, but she may not be able to tell him about the things that he was interested in.

She was simply too weak.

The inner demon could easily keep her completely oblivious to what it was doing. However, why was it that a curse seemed to have been placed onto this area?

Three years ago, the first riot took place, and the inner demon extended its tendrils into the underworld for the very first time, laying waste to the village of Large Green Mountain in the process. It had already achieved its objective, so why was it still claiming a victim in the same place on the annual anniversary of the event?

Was this its grand script of death? Was it hoping to create a legend as part of a grand script of death?

That was a possibility, but if that were the case, then there was something else that didn't make sense, which was the existence of this female ghost.

She was the same female ghost that was arranging the posthumous wedding in Large Green Mountain, that much was clear to Qin Ye. However, who was supporting her?

She had been staying in this room in this funeral home for three whole years. Who would do something as pointless as to support her during this time?

"The lock hasn't been opened before," Arthis said to Qin Ye in a low voice. "When I entered the room, I touched the lock, and it was covered in dust, which means that she hasn't left the room since she first came in."

Qin Ye nodded in response. Once again, the inner demon had done something inexplicable.

There was no apparent need for it to destroy Large Green Mountain so thoroughly, yet it did so anyway. In doing so, it didn't have enough time to send the newly formed riot to Copper Flower City, and it was intercepted on the way there.

Here, it should've immediately destroyed everything and eradicated everyone involved, yet this female ghost had been left alive.

Qin Ye finally turned toward the female ghost as he asked, "What's your name?"