Yama Rising

This was the first thought that occurred to Ming Shiyin.

The souls of these corpses would be imbued with such strength after death that they would quickly be propelled to the levels of an incarnate revenant. To be exact, Honda Tadakatsu wasn’t a completely undefiled corpse. In his old age, he did sustain a minor wound on his arm.

He was already imbued with such strength to make him practically unrivalled among all who were of the same class of cultivation. At the very least, it was sufficient to deal with an Emissary of Hell who didn’t have any Hell’s Arts at his disposal like Qin Ye.

Unfortunately, the world of Yanluos contained no access to “Cosmos” altogether…

It was flushed with a red hue.

Ming Shiyin’s heart thumped heavily - that is, it would have thumped heavily if it actually had one.

However, this was brute human strength.

Yin energy flourished and scattered with every clash that occurred, while great blazes of netherflames filled the skies. Each entity would present themselves with the form of a human silhouette, and yet the techniques which they resorted to were mysterious and hellish. Yin artifacts would come flying out from unexpected angles and directions as well. Yet… it was completely different from Honda Tadakatsu’s display of martial prowess that enabled him to dominate every part of the deck of the cruise liner.

But that didn’t make him an underworldly emissary.

Ming Shiyin had come to these great realizations in the blink of an eye.

The hand trembled slightly. It was none other than Honda Tadakatsu’s hand. And then, he lifted off the helmet protecting his face.

His eyebrows were striking, while his nose was sharp and well-defined. The netherflames in his eyes had already vanished by now, and even someone as calm and collected as him couldn’t help but feel his breaths grow ragged.

Qin Ye peeked out from behind the umbrella-shaped spirit streamer and explained respectfully, “The Mirror of Eminence. One of the greatest treasures among the Ten Abyssal Courts of Hell. I don’t know why you want it, but… this is the ace hidden up my sleeves in this expedition of mine.”

Honda Tadakatsu gulped with great excitement and sighed wistfully. He caressed the Mirror of Eminence avariciously, sensing with great joy the tide of Yin energy hidden within it. That said… he could sense that this was a damaged artifact, and it wouldn’t be able to unleash the full extent of its abilities right now.

He would never let anyone who knew his secret live to tell the tale.

After all, there were many ways of taking a person’s life, and he happened to be proficient in the art of murder.

No… something’s not right!

This ancient mirror might be powerful, but… its presence is nowhere near that of the Book of Life and Death!

“You’re courting death.” Honda Tadakatsu looked up abruptly and poised himself to strike once more. But, just then, Ming Shiyin’s surface suddenly erupted with an all-encompassing light!

“The one who’s courting death… is you!”

“Damn it!!” Alarm bells were blaring in Honda Tadakatsu’s mind right now. He hadn’t expected Qin Ye to launch such a sneak attack at him. He dropped the Mirror of Eminence and covered his eyes with one hand, and he quickly launched a flurry of thrusts with his other hand!

Crack… crack… The deck of the ship began to crack and crumble under the great volley of spear thrusts. But this time, Qin Ye didn’t back down anymore. Instead, he stood valiantly against the wall of thrusts and dashed straight into the ferocious barrage of attacks that was pouring towards him!

Ming Shiyin also knew full well that there wouldn’t be a second chance at this if his sneak attack failed.

Certainly, he was afraid of death, but he also knew full well when life presented him an opportunity even as he teetered dangerously on the edge of life and death.

This was the difference between the products of a mighty nation and a weaker one.

It wasn't the case that he had never faced a night insurmountable resistance in a duel before. Rather, it was simply that he had never faced such kinds of resistance from a person as cowardly and crafty as Qin Ye was!

Buzz… Suddenly, the spear in his hands trembled violently, so much so that it began to grow completely illusory. Simultaneously, a murderous intent far greater than any before erupted from his body. Then, before Qin Ye could even react to the great change in the situation, a cold gleam of light appeared right in front of him, followed closely by the majestic spear. With a faint tiger’s roar, the spear transformed into a bolt of lightning and thrusted straight towards Qin Ye’s chest.

Crash… The previously impenetrable spirit streamer was actually penetrated by the powerful attack. Furthermore, the attack that approached him wasn’t the tip of the spear at all. Rather, it appeared to be the blazing charge of a ferocious tiger.

Onlookers would have seen the figure of a man enshrouded with Yin energy, standing on the peak of the waves as he went toe to toe against a towering wall of illusory spears. And then, a split second later, a bright gleam of light would instantly bolt through that man’s body. Qin Ye let out a muffled groan. The spear stopped abruptly, and the Yin energy about Qin Ye dispersed as his body promptly materialized back to his human form. A great splatter of blood dyed the mast that was located dozens of meters behind Qin Ye.

The ship deck that formed their surroundings was now filled with holes like a tattered rag, so much so that everything located under the deck was now in plain sight. The surrounding railings were already bent out of shape by the overbearing shockwaves from their powerful clash of attacks. Furthermore, there were two deep gullies carved out of the deck of the ship. No… more accurately speaking, these were deep grooves on the deck that had been created when Qin Ye dug his feet deep into the deck of the ship after having been sent flying by the great impact of their clash.

And yet, he forced a vicious smile to his face as he stood crookedly, “Honda-kun, take a look… What do you think this is?”

The pages of the book appeared yellowish. As the gentle sea breeze swept across the deck of the ship, it flipped the pages open, revealing the names of countless people written on it. The ancient book was shrouded with wisps of black and white energy. One would be able to tell at a glance that this was an artifact that was blessed by the heavens, the mortals and hell alike.

Rustle rustle… The wind continued to riffle through the pages, until the ancient book finally flipped to the final page at the end, where a fresh entry was written… Honda Tadakatsu!

He looked down at his own chest with great disbelief.

How did he do this?!

I, Honda Heihachiro, have actually been put on the backfoot and subject to the mercy of this cowardly rat?!

Whoosh… As soon as Honda Tadakatsu’s name was blotted out, his entire body instantly transformed into ash, and then slowly began to disintegrate and scatter into the surroundings.

“It’s nothing much.” Qin Ye’s vision was fading away. This was the result of extreme blood loss. However, he knew that he couldn’t afford to collapse right now. The battle between Oda Nobunaga and Azai Nagamasa was still ongoing, and he would still have to remain standing in order to greet the victor at the end of their great battle.

He panted like a bull and chuckled coldly, “I knew from the onset that I wasn’t a match for you. Thus, the first thing I did was to reveal my weaknesses to you, so that you wouldn’t be so intent on doing battle with me.”

Qin Ye covered his chest and wiped away the streak of blood trickling down the side of his lips as he stared coldly at Honda Tadakatsu. His lower body had already become completely reduced to ash by now, “But, I soon discovered something rather interesting…”

Qin Ye held onto the railing and stood up with much difficulty once more, “The natural byproduct of the reversal of Yin and Yang, is that your name would once again appear within the Book of Life and Death!”

“And that… was the beginning of your end…”

1. Reference to the Saint Seiya series.