Yama Rising

Advancement to an Infernal Judge - postponed.

Coordinating the next developmental plan of Hell - postponed.

Qin Ye gnashed his teeth and rushed back to the mortal realm like a vicious, barking dog. One second later, he desperately got into character, stirring slightly in bed and slowly opening his eyes in a pretentious manner as he murmured sickly, “Who am I… where am I…”

Ah, I mean… flower baskets.

Fortunately, he could tell that he was still in a hospital ward right now.

The atmosphere was somewhat awkward.

“You…”

But before he could even finish speaking, Ye Xingchen shot to his feet and dashed out of the hospital like a mad man.

Qin Ye gulped nervously as he scanned his surroundings. Alright… I see some plants at my bedside table… plant + patient… a perfect match?! Are you suggesting that I’m already in a vegetative state right now?!!

Although he wasn’t wholly devoted to teaching and instructing, he had still been involved with these duties for close to a year. Throughout the course of the year, he had accrued sufficient goodwill for the students to be sending him well wishes and even watch over him on a rostered basis. It was a heartfelt, stirring sight.

He felt a thread of pure true energy enter his body. He cast a complex glance at Zhou Xianlong - This man… the incident with Li Jixi cannot be completely unrelated to this man, but… given his stature, I guess it’s understandable. On the other hand, the concern that he’s showing for me right now is undeniable.

Unfortunately, the true energy which Zhou Xianlong sent probing through his body was completely incompatible with the cultivation system which Qin Ye practised. The only silver lining was the fact that the shard of King Yanluo’s Seal was barely able to keep the source of Yin energy in his body masked. Ten minutes later, Zhou Xianlong finally opened his eyes and sighed wistfully, “Does it feel uncomfortable anywhere?”

He didn’t intend to say anything at first. But as soon as he turned to look at Zhou Xianlong with a glazed look in his eyes, his parched lips immediately parted and gave way to a hoarse voice, “Thirsty…”

Holy crap?!

He puckered his lips and drank from the cup with much difficulty. Then, he muttered hoarsely, “Hungry…”

That said, Zhou Xianlong didn’t even react with the slightest bit of hesitation. He got up to his feet and made his way straight to the kitchenette, before soon returning with a piping hot bowl of porridge in hand. He picked up a small spoonful of it and brought it to Qin Ye’s lips, “Come, open your mouth.”

Qin Ye opened his mouth with a pitiful expression in his eyes. And then--...

Clink. There was a loud crisp sound, and the pain accompanying the clash between teeth and the porcelain spoon nearly caused him to jump right to his feet. Bloody hell… I shouldn’t have celebrated too soon… this guy obviously isn’t used to serving other people…

Speak of the devil. As soon as he said those words, the door to his ward immediately opened up. Tao Ran led the way, followed closely by a handful of doctors. As soon as the doctors noticed the alertness in Qin Ye’s eyes, one of them immediately exclaimed, “This is a medical miracle…”

“Do you remember who you are?” An old doctor asked with a pleasant disposition.

“That’s good. There are neither blood clots nor bruises in the brain.” The old doctor sighed softly, “Instructor Qin, you’d already been lying unconscious in your room for a full day before you were discovered by Instructor Lin. And since then, it’s been two full weeks. Over the last two weeks, we’ve run multiple tests on you, only to discover that your brain doesn’t seem to respond to any external stimulus. Thus, after ruling out all other possibilities, we’d concluded back then that you were brain dead. Your heart was still beating, but every other bodily function apart from the excretion of bodily waste had ceased to work. Thus… we all thought you would never wake up again.”

Qin Ye nodded.

Bloody hell… ‘Every other bodily function apart from the excretion of bodily waste had ceased to work’?! Doesn’t this mean that Local Bully has been handling my untouchables all this while?!

The fear in his heart instantly shot through the roof, and he nearly couldn’t resist the urge to interrogate that fool called Lin Han.

I can’t mention teaching credits right now… that would only paint me in a terrible light…

What a great instructor. To think that he would still be concerned about his duties and his students at such a time as this. How can we possibly afford to push an instructor as dedicated as this beyond the edge?

Don’t just say it’s fine! Tell me how exactly it’s fine! I’m not going to be blowing all of my teaching credits like this, am I?!

So long as the students are fine, his teaching credits would be intact. In other words, he was practically doing all he could to check on the status of his teaching credits in as indirect a manner as possible.

Dear, that won’t do!

Qin Ye’s heart was filled with bitterness. He nearly couldn’t resist the urge to strangle the two cultivation buffoons at the same time - Can’t you open your eyes and take a good look at me?! How can you pass up on such a dedicated instructor to the school and the students?! Can’t you see the tears that I’ve managed to squeeze out from the corner of my eyes?

Buzz! His ears buzzed with an incessant ringing, while the pain… felt no different from being torn asunder from within. A pitch-black netherflame blazed from his chest so powerfully that it appeared to vaporize the blood in his body. Within moments, it consumed all of his internal organs and engulfed him with a heartstopping pain.

What timing. To think that it would strike at this very moment.

“Hang in there!” Zhou Xianlong immediately snapped back to his senses and sent a wave of true energy rushing over to Qin Ye. But as soon as it met the netherflame, it reacted no differently from cold water meeting lava, and it instantly dissipated into a cloud of white mist. Surprisingly, the white mist generated from the clash was somewhat material in nature, and it instantly sent Zhou Xianlong recoiling back into the wall.

“I’m fine, but true energy can’t penetrate the wall of netherflames at all!” Zhou Xianlong gritted his teeth, “We can only hope that… he can pull himself through this ordeal… What the hell is going on anyway? This hints at a Prefect-class evil ghost! Why hasn’t he said anything about this before?!”

“AAARRRRGGGHHHHHH!!!” The miserable scream reverberated throughout the corners of the room. His cry came approximately twenty seconds into his flare up. Fortunately, the Immortals at the Magpie Bridge soon subsided and faded away. (TL: If memory serves me well, the first two flare ups seem to have taken place in Hell, while this is the first time it has happened in the mortal realm. The author had previously mentioned that he would die after it flares up three times, so I can only conclude that either the ones in Hell didn’t count, or Arthis and/or the Book of Life and Death has managed to suppress the effects of the curse so that Qin Ye can survive for a longer period of time.)

Qin Ye pushed them away weakly. He knew that they needed an explanation for this strange phenomenon. Incidentally, it was the perfect means to bring closure to the matters that had taken place at New Hale City.

After all, Li Jixi had once mentioned that the Albatross would never let a task remain unfinished. To make matters worse, not even Li Jixi himself knew what the other Albatrosses looked like. Each one of them had their own point of contact, and they were trained never to disclose their true appearances to others - not even their colleagues. Naturally, they would put on a different mask or appearance whenever they were meeting others.

Zhou Xianlong held his hand tightly and interjected, “Don’t say anything… You must have been afflicted with a curse of sorts. Rest well. I’ll immediately look through the Special Investigations Department’s docket of talented personnel. There must be someone in there who would be able to help you out.”

Tao Ran’s gaze flickered, and he promptly waved his arms, instructing all of the doctors in the room to take their leave. It was only after they had done so that Qin Ye finally continued feebly, “Back in New Hale City… we’d encountered… a Prefect-class evil ghost…”