Yama Rising

A nethergale swept across the lands, silencing even the softest whispers of life in Azurewaters City. The citizens were all holed up in their homes, trembling with bated breaths as they prayed hard that the night would pass in peace and serenity.

She didn’t dare to speak loudly. Her father hadn’t told her about the reason for the publicly broadcasted announcements that they had heard every night, but her instincts were screaming from within, telling her not to make even the slightest peep of sound.

Just then, the shadow of a procession of figures holding spirit streamers, prayer flags and scattering paper money suddenly appeared on the walls in the room. Both father and daughter held each other as closely as they could, afraid to make even the slightest of sounds. The father stared at the wall with bloodshot eyes. He could tell that the shadows were all moving as though they were drifting above the surface of the ground!

It took merely 30 seconds before the entire procession passed, and yet it felt like eons to them. Then, it was only when the procession passed that the father gnashed his teeth and carried his daughter back to the bedroom where they hid under their covers, praying that dawn would rise soon. Incidentally, it was only then that the father noticed that his entire back was already soaked through with cold sweat.

If it were any consolation to him, he wasn’t the only one this night whose heart was awash with fear. In fact, almost every resident living along the national highway could see gut-wrenching shadows of the procession of ghastly silhouettes appear on the walls of their rooms.

“Alert, alert, Judge-class Yin energy detected. Yin energy readings amount to… 12 million in total. Red alert. Repeat. Alert, alert…”

“12 million…” The branch chief sat paralyzed in his chair. He was merely a Hunter-class expert, and the current situation was clearly well beyond the league of his abilities. His mind instantly went blank.

Just then, a major of the military forces jolted him right back to his senses, “Chief Wang, now’s not the time to be speculating about these things! Immediately request support from the other Special Investigations Department in the vicinity! Director Mo is currently stationed in Qizhou! And we’ve still got the newly-minted Judge, Mr Qin, who is stationed in Martial City! I’ve read that Infernal Judges can travel at speeds that are already close to the speed of sound. It wouldn’t take them long to get here!”

“Then what are we supposed to do?!” The major slammed his fist heavily onto the table, “We’re talking about hundreds of thousands of citizens residing in Azurewaters City… Are we supposed to simply watch as they all get massacred?!”

“Understood…” Chief Wang gritted his teeth and immediately made the call. Yet the tension in the room was still at an all-time high. Everyone stared intently at the screen in silence, until one of the secretaries spoke up, “Sir… what should we do?”

………………………………………………..

As he ran, he pulled out his cellphone and immediately scrolled through his contacts to find Qin Ye’s number. Then, he abruptly paused and turned the corner to enter a small meeting room.

“We’re already aware.” Zhou Xianlong and Mo Changhao were seated in the middle of the room, surrounded by a series of talismans that contained their true energy and concealed it from the rest of the world outside.

“Stand down.” Zhou Xianlong responded placidly.

“That’s right.” Mo Changhao opened his computer and squinted at the screen which depicted a small red dot over a downtown city district.

Rather… it was the map of Azurewaters City!

He paused for a moment, and then continued, “Appears to be welcoming him…”

Just like how the delectable cuisine of meat and poultry was only possible with the death of animals. Likewise, Qin Ye had to carry his cell phone with him.

After all, his cultivation prowess meant that he would have to be on standby at all times, in order to attend to any emergencies that arose within the mortal realm. At the very least, this was the only way he could maintain the pretenses of his identity that he had so painstakingly developed. That said, the presence of his device on him also meant that the state could track him anytime they so desired.

“Sir…” Mo Changhao turned to Zhou Xianlong, but his lips were parched, and he was completely lost for words.

Then, he tapped on Qin Ye’s contact detail with a quiver in his fingers.

Azurewaters City. The procession of Yin spirits stopped at the national highway entrance.

Behind them, each Judge was followed by several Hellguards, then dozens of Soul Hunters and Netherworld Operatives. Each of these Yin spirits were flanked by humanoid paper effigies toting spirit streamers and prayer flags. The Yin spirits didn’t have any shadows, but the sheer number of humanoid paper effigies in the procession more than made up for it.

The procession completely blocked off the entire national highway. It was evident just how much importance the daolord of the asura attached to this meeting.

BOOM!!

The surrounding trees swayed helplessly as though they were on the verge of being uprooted entirely. Even then, copious amounts of Yin energy continued to pour down like an endless waterfall from the sky.

Whoosh… Suddenly, a majestic nethergale picked up out of nowhere and rushed across the national highway, instantly sweeping away the entire procession, including the Infernal Judges that led the march. Every single evil ghost in the procession was swept well behind the carriage, leaving a single carriage remaining on the massive highway in the blink of an eye.

A hand covered with livor mortis spots raised the veil of the carriage, while the man within peeked out with great trepidation. At once, his memories of the thousands of years he had spent in Hell flooded right back into Qin Hui’s mind.

Unfortunately, his reverie didn’t last long. An Emissary of Hell known as Ran Min appeared in the mortal realm to arrest him and bring him back to Hell, where he would be suppressed under the six paths of reincarnation for thousands of years, suffering from endless torment without any hope for reprieve.

He was completely helpless against Hell’s forces.

All previous thoughts of putting on airs and negotiating for the best terms and conditions had been cast right out of the window. All that was left was the reverence for Hell that had been etched into his marrows after thousands of years.

What the hell is going on?

This was the difference between the evil ghosts who had experienced Hell’s might, and the modern ghosts who were completely ignorant to that fact.

Because they knew that if they courted death… then it would most certainly be death that they got.

Dead silence.

“To be honest, when I saw you receiving me in your carriage earlier, I really thought you had forgotten what gives Hell its name.”

Even then, Qin Hui didn’t dare speculate too much. Instead, he simply continued to kowtow repeatedly to the ground, “This little one would never dare! This little one is a great sinner that deserves death. I only pray for mercy and a chance at redemption!”

Very sensible… Qin Ye tapped the sack on his back - It’s a good thing that I’ve remembered to bring this…

Qin Ye frowned. He knew he couldn’t afford to ignore the call.

“Mr Qin, it’s me.” Unfortunately, Qin Ye wasn’t aware that he was currently on speakerphone, and Zhou Xianlong and Mo Changhao were located right beside Wu Wenqing.

“Resting at home. What’s up?” Qin Ye raised an eyebrow quizzically and responded without batting an eyelid.

“Got it.” Qin Ye acknowledged the message and promptly cut the call.

There was a small line of text on the upper left corner of the screen - Yin energy reading: 62,410,000 Yin.