Yama Rising

Qin Ye held onto the bamboo scroll in silence with a contemplative look on his face.

Their conversation with Lishan Laomu had only lasted half an hour, but all of his questions had been answered. At this point, he truly knew everything that he needed to know, and all that was left was to unleash an all-out attack!

Qin Ye slowly unfurled the bamboo scroll, then gently traced his fingers along its surface. The monkey that they had just seen in the coffin was etched on the first page of the scroll.

Even though it was a very simple drawing, it captured the spirit and image of the monkey perfectly. In fact, it was several times more fearsome than the corpse that they had just seen.

Envy, a mid Yama-King who is one of the four ominous stars under Chiyou's command. He was a white monkey who attained intelligence, with three eyes, six ears, and two tails, and he perished during the Battle of Zhuolu. No records of him can be found in the Classic of Mountains and Seas.

Lust, a nascent Yama-King who is one of the four ominous stars under Chiyou's command. He was a 700-year-old pink skeleton with two faces and four arms, perishing during the Battle of Zhuolu. No records of him can be found in the Classic of Mountains and Seas.

Resentment, an advanced Yama-King who is one of the four ominous stars under Chiyou's command. He was an ox who attained intelligence after 1,300 years of cultivation, with a body as massive as a mountain, the head of a cow, the body of a human, and legs of a spider. He perished during the Battle of Zhuolu, and no records of him can be found in the Classic of Mountains and Seas.

Insanity, a mid Yama-King who is one of the four ominous stars under Chiyou's command. He was a 900-year-old mandrill with no substantial body, formed entirely by Yin wind. He perished during the Battle of Zhuolu, and no records of him can be found in the Classic of Mountains and Seas.

These were most likely the four Yama-Kings who were sealing the Yin Yang Mezzanines.

Hell also had four Yama-Kings, but Zhao Yun had to face the inner demon, so they were actually at a disadvantage when it came to top-end power.

The rest of the bamboo scroll included records of many evil ghosts that had appeared in the past. Qin Ye did a quick count to find that there were 12 Abyssal Prefects, while the rest were all Infernal Judges and Anitya Hellguards. With the 73 immortals thrown into the mix as well, the forces under the inner demon's command were far more powerful than Hell had imagined!

There was also the Myriad Soul Pagoda that they would have to contend with, and things were looking far from optimistic.

A battle definitely had to happen. This was an extremely rare opportunity, and it would be an absolute travesty to pass it up. Furthermore, if they were to allow the inner demon to get away, they would be facing fierce retaliation.

However, how were they supposed to fight such a formidable enemy?

"There won't be any chances to pick them off individually. I'm sure that they're all staying together on the other side of the wall, and if I were to go to the other side, I would immediately be detected by the inner demon," Zhao Yun said in a grim voice.

Qin Ye gently closed the bamboo scroll as he shook his head. As things currently were, they were only evenly matched with the inner demon's forces at most, and under these circumstances, it would be virtually impossible to kill the inner demon. However...

He raised his head to look up at the sky as he said, "Rest assured, we still have an important ally who hasn't arrived yet."

"Who is it?" Zhao Yun followed his gaze upward, then asked with furrowed brows, "Are you referring to the Heavenly Dao?"

Qin Ye nodded in response. This was one of the main reasons he had decided to strike.

He was over 90% sure that the Heavenly Dao would intervene!

No decision was ever made in a vacuum. Under different circumstances and at different times, different decisions had to be made.

The Heavenly Dao was a transcendent and detached being, so it made sense that They didn't care about the fall of Hell.

Even if all three realms were to collapse, They would just have to wait several million years until the next batch of intelligent living beings appeared. Perhaps those beings wouldn't even be humans, but what did that matter?

"However, things are different now," Qin Ye said. "The existence of extraterrestrial gods can pose a direct threat to the Heavenly Dao Themself. They had never shown Themself in the past, but up to this point, They had already appeared twice, with the first occasion taking place during the plot of the three Caribbean death gods."

He turned to Zhao Yun before asking, "What do you think this entails?"

Zhao Yun's brows furrowed slightly as he replied, "The Heavenly Dao is taking a more hands-on approach with the affairs of the world. Could it be about to fully descend upon the world soon?"

"That's right. The existence of extraterrestrial gods has struck fear into Their heart, so They must ensure that the three realms possess sufficient power to weather this storm. Do you know how I managed to gauge the mindset of the Heavenly Dao?" Qin Ye asked with a cunning smile. "When have you ever seen the Heavenly Dao make a request to anyone to kill a being above the Yama-King level in Their stead?"

The existence of the inner demon had already affected the balance of the three realms.

Once again, in the past, the Heavenly Dao would've simply turned a blind eye to this. However, the inner demon had chosen to collaborate with extraterrestrial gods, thereby allying itself with the Plumed Serpent God, and that was something that the Heavenly Dao absolutely could not tolerate!

"Why aren't They doing this Themself?" Zhao Yun asked with a puzzled expression.

Qin Ye replied, "You haven't directly communicated with the Heavenly Dao before, so you don't know what They're like. Let me give you an example. The Yellow Emperor had already defeated Chiyou thousands of years ago, and the era of the human race was about to begin, so why was it that Chiyou was still able to leave behind something like the Myriad Soul Pagoda? Don't you think that it's completely pointless and poses a constant underlying threat to the human race?"

Zhao Yun contemplated this in silence for a long while before replying, "Beings above the Yama-King level are able to sense many things that they were unable to in the past, such as the Great Dao. The Great Dao has a total of 50 major branches, and those major branches split up further into countless minor branches. It encompasses the rules by which the world functions. For example, when someone gets hungry, they have to eat, and when fish leave the water, they'll die, etc. However, among the 50 major branches of the Great Dao, one of them is the dao of unpredictability, and I think that best explains the Heavenly Dao's attitude on this matter."

Qin Ye nodded in response to Zhao Yun's sound analysis, then asked, "Do you think the Heavenly Dao can count as a living being?"

Before Zhao Yun had a chance to reply, Qin Ye answered his own question. "No, They are a machine. They are the epitome of the laws of the world, and They can never break Their own laws. Thus, They accepted the unpredictable element that was left behind by Chiyou's forces. At the same time, They allowed the unpredictable entity that is the inner demon to exist. Among the 50 major branches of the Great Dao, there has to be one that states that the Heavenly Dao is prohibited from interfering with the operation of the world. This is not difficult to extrapolate. In fact, it's very obvious from Their past actions. However, as the inner demon slowly transformed from an unpredictable entity to a predictable threat that had allied itself with the extraterrestrial gods, the Heavenly Dao was no longer able to remain aloof and detached. At the same time, They felt a sense of shame as the representative of the laws of the world, feeling as if They had gone against the purpose of its own existence. Thus, They chose me to kill the inner demon for them. However, we now know that the inner demon is far more powerful than we anticipated. If we fail, we won't be able to track down the inner demon again unless we kill the entire population of Cathay. If we were to do that, the three realms would be thrown into severe imbalance, and that would make this world completely vulnerable to the extraterrestrial gods. Hence, the Heavenly Dao can't allow us to fail, and I wouldn't work for Them for free, either. What do you think of my analysis, Nothingness?"

Zhao Yun faltered slightly upon hearing this, then immediately reflexively positioned himself in front of Qin Ye as a shield.

Just now, a humanoid figure had suddenly appeared behind Zhao Yun and Qin Ye, looking as if it had been standing there the entire time.

Zhao Yun immediately turned around, and with just a single glance, he was able to gauge how powerful this being was.

Its power was as unfathomable as an abyss, but without entering the abyss, one would be completely unable to sense just how fearsome its power was. Even Zhao Yun was struck by an indescribable sense of fear in the presence of the Heavenly Dao, and this was only a manifestation of the Heavenly Dao.

He instantly released his Yin energy without any hesitation, forming an inky-black wall of energy as he looked on with a wary expression.

Nothingness took a glance at Zhao Yun, then turned toward Qin Ye, and They remained completely expressionless the entire time, as if nothing in this world were capable of piquing its interest. "How presumptuous of you."

"Presumptuous? I think not," Qin Ye countered with a smile. "The fact that you've appeared here means that my analysis was all correct. You want us to take you into consideration when we're deciding on our strategy, right?"

Nothingness remained silent, and before They had a chance to speak, Qin Ye continued, "This is the third time that you've appeared. You've witnessed the entire history of the world, and even during the most arduous times for the human race, the most that you did was pass down some divine edicts in order to provide some vague guidance to our ancestors. However, you've already descended upon this world three times in less than 30 years. Is the threat of the extraterrestrial gods already this severe?"

If the Heavenly Dao possessed human emotions, it would've most likely already slapped Qin Ye across the face!

One could only get away with this type of gloating in the face of a completely emotionless machine.

Qin Ye was staring intently at the Heavenly Dao. He was further affirming his own hypothesis that the Heavenly Dao was indeed an emotionless machine. A clear understanding of the Heavenly Dao's mindset could be very useful in the future.

The Heavenly Dao paid no heed to Qin Ye's blatant probing, and perhaps They didn't care anyway. After a long silence, They finally said, "You won't be able to break through the Myriad Soul Pagoda. That is something that has inherited the fortune and faith of a generation. Truth be told, during the Battle of Zhuolu, even I couldn't tell who was going to win as their fortune was the same. The Yellow Emperor won in the end, taking away half the fortune to establish the era of the human race. Chiyou lost, and the other half of the fortune transformed into the Myriad Soul Pagoda to be buried beneath Zhuolu. What you're facing is not the inner demon. Instead, it's half of the fortune of Cathay, and the faith and worship vested in Chiyou and his forces."

"So?" Qin Ye prompted.

For some reason, Nothingness was struck by the urge to hit something, but that urge quickly faded. They couldn't understand why Qin Ye was so smug and self-assured in a situation like this.

"I will break through the Myriad Soul Pagoda for you." After that parting sentence, Nothingness's body began to fade.

"You're not going to kill the inner demon yourself?"

There was no response, and the Heavenly Dao vanished just as abruptly as They had appeared.

"Your Excellency..." Zhao Yun turned to Qin Ye, but the latter merely shook his head and remained silent.

After a long silence, Qin Ye finally mused, "Does this mean that the Heavenly Dao believes that we have the power to kill the inner demon if the Myriad Soul Pagoda is broken?"