Yama Rising

Local Bully was displeased.

“Yup.” Su Feng responded indifferently, “The next semester is also the final academic semester before we delve into actual combat training. There’s still quite a fair bit to cover. So, even if I’ve finished preparing the lesson plans, I’ll still need to spend the next several days reviewing it… Speaking of which, can you please make sure you’re not dragging the name of the Blaze Squad through the dirt? What else do you have to show for it apart from your appearances? Qin Ye here has already maintained his top spot in the rankings for an entire semester. Haven’t you ever thought about playing catch up for once?”

The other two instantly felt a prickling sensation on their hearts.

“But that’s not the point!” Local Bully couldn’t hold his attention span for longer than five seconds, and he immediately stood on his bed, exclaiming with great passion, “So what about teaching credits?! I don’t care for that! Is there even any meaning in being someone comparable to Einstein? What’s most important is the social tonight! There’s going to be a total of thirteen female instructors joining the Combat Faculty! I’d treated them to a week’s worth of milk tea before they finally agreed to invite me to the social, and you guys aren’t even interested in attending it?!”

To make matters worse, he hadn’t even finished going through the contents of the first Qiankun Pouch he had opened.

It all began with the inception of ideas and theories of Yin soldiers, to the appearance of the first batch of Yin soldiers when Goddess Mother Earth transformed her body into the six paths of reincarnation, and then down to the details of the finest considerations involved the Yin soldiers’ ongoing process of adaptation and transformation. It even discussed how talismans should be drawn, why they chose a particular style of weapons, and why a particular material was even chosen. It was completely enthralling, yet it also kept Qin Ye’s hands tied.

But before Qin Ye could even respond, Lin Han immediately raised a finger and pointed it straight to his face, “Don’t say a word! I knew you were up to no good! Just look at that worn-out expression on your face! Come clean - which female student have you hooked up with this time?!”

“They’re only trying to get another week’s worth of free milk tea off you. They like the fact that you’re no different from a loyal dog. If you ask me, we’d be no different from their accessories at the social.” Su Feng propped up his glasses, “Whatever the case might be, I’m not attending. On that note, I’ll be applying to write a thesis paper next semester as well. I intend to compete with Qin Ye for the top spot… Speaking of which, Local Bully, we’re both products of the SRC, so why does there seem to be such a huge chasm between our respective images?”

Su Feng appeared knowledgable and exuded the vibe of an elite, while Lin Han appeared as though he was on the other end of the spectrum - he was one who should be broken apart and studied as a specimen.

With that, he left Lin Han’s room and returned to his own dorm room.

The part of the scroll that remained unopened was approximately one meter thick, and it dragged out across the ground. The part on the bed was filled with countless words and the drawings of various bizarre talismans. Arthis sat on the other side of the room, sorting through the other Qiankun Pouches. Qin Ye drew a deep breath and sighed in resignation as he picked up the scroll and continued reading where he left off.

“... Year 249 of Hell. Three million Yin soldiers marched against Shikoku of Nippon, and the Nipponese Yin solders were crushed instantly. Their artillery could not even breach our defensive formations and break our ranks. Izanami, goddess of the Nipponese underworld, surrendered in the same year. Thenceforth, the eastern and northern parts of Cathay were ascribed as Hell’s territory…”

Naturally, these weren’t the only words written on the scroll. If it were, it wouldn’t have weighed more than over a dozen pounds.

“The old Hell was particularly focused on technological development.” Arthis took a break from her sorting duties and poured herself a cup of coffee, “The Yin Conflagration Cannon is the smallest weapon of mass destruction, and it looks no different to an ordinary cannon in the mortal realm. However, the crossbow and the coffin are weapons that are in the region of twenty to thirty meters in size. Furthermore, they’re so dense and heavy that regular Yin spirits cannot possibly shift them about. Only Judges possess sufficient strength to shift them about. Unfortunately, most Judges are commanders of an army in their own right, so they would never condescend themselves to executing such a simple, menial task like this.”

“Yin beasts.” Arthis leaned over and pointed to the scroll, “Yin beasts would generally appear when Hell expands into the size of a county. Then, as Hell expands, so does the strength and variety of Yin beasts that do. Thus, you can only imagine the strength and size of the Yin beasts that would appear by the time Hell reaches the size of an entire district. Some of these can even be tamed and used as part of the main force on the battlefield.”

Qin Ye nodded thoughtfully. He was getting a clearer picture of the old Hell with each day that passed.

He wasn’t certain of the extent of technological advancements of the other underworlds at this point in time. However, given the rate of technological growth in the mortal realm, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that the underworlds couldn’t possibly be far behind.

Money!

Who’s going to work for you if they don’t get paid? I’ve just been encouraging them to save up and work towards the purchase of real estate in Hell, so wouldn’t I be giving myself a tight slap in the face if I don’t pay them their wages in the very next breath?

Qin Ye rubbed his swollen eyes and set down his pen. His fingers were going numb with all the scribbling he had done.

“I used to think that all the high-ranking officials of the country did was to saunter about, flaunting their authority and power as they indulged in wine and other forms of debauchery. But I’ve only just discovered that that’s not the case…” Qin Ye massaged his temples and furrowed his brows, “What’s Su Dongxue doing? Isn’t she done with the reorganization of the government just yet? Do I really have to go through everything over here?”

Whatever happened to the promise of relaxing drinks by day and the company of models at clubs by night?

Just then, almost as though she could detect Qin Ye’s despondent thoughts, Arthis suddenly paused and stared daggers at Qin Ye, sizing him up from top to toe with a murderous gaze.

And then, there was the Scarlet Sunset Senior Citizens Welfare Group that was applying for the establishment of a pension scheme for old folks. I’ll be damned! What the Hell does the age of one’s body have to do with the ongoing existence of Yin spirit altogether?! Are you tempting me to destroy humanity altogether?!

“A single factory building requires hundreds of thousands of square meters… If I’m going to be allocating a hundred hectares of land as reserve for these purposes… and I still have to locate it some distance away from Qin Gardens Phase One…” Qin Ye slumped back weakly onto his bed, as though he were sinking deeper and deeper into the mires of despair, “There’s just not enough space to go around… A village sized Hell just isn’t big enough right now…”

No… no, and still no… Qin Ye’s heart was on fire. He was practically on the verge of calling back to Hell and demanding that the entire system be completed by tomorrow… Then, just as he was about to retract his hand from the stack of reports, he suddenly paused and did a double take at the very last document in the stack.

“Urgent report?” His eyes twinkled brightly as he picked it up.

“Report on the establishment of Hell’s monetary system - working report number one.” Qin Ye was immediately filled with a bad premonition of what was to come. He promptly flipped the report to the last page.

Sender: Huang Liangchuan.