Yama Rising

“The Yuan Dynasty was short-lived, and the Heavenly Dao that represents them is far too weak. Sure, they might well be able to summon it to bolster their defences against your attacks, but they wouldn’t be able to attack you with it at all. It would be no different from the Imperial Seal of the Yuan Dynasty. But this instance of Heavenly Dao… is far stronger than that! They… are they actually seizing the Heavenly Dao of other dynasties for themselves? Or perhaps they might have dug up some of the supreme treasures of other dynasties that gave them access to the Heavenly Dao of those dynasties!”

As the Harken spoke, nine golden pillars of light shot right out of the sea of Yin energy, followed by the emergence of nine majestic figures that seemed to surround the horse’s head peak. Countless golden lotuses blossomed in the void around them, turning the mountaintop tainted with dark Yin energy into a holy place dazzling with golden light, just like the pure land of the kingdom of Buddha.

It was carved with birds, beasts, fish and insects, and it exuded an air of ancient antiquity about it. Censers came in all shapes and sizes, including three-pronged censers, four-legged censers, round censers, square censers, and even beast-headed censers. But regardless of what they looked like, censers have always been known to exude a terrifying presence about them.

“My god…” One Sword One Mind’s jaws dropped as he stared at the dazzling light, “Is this… a censer? A Censer of the Xia Dynasty?”

This was a Censer of the Song Dynasty.

And its appearance makes it clear that the invaders were clearly already done with their probative attacks. Right now, they were striking with the intention to cause the greatest possible damage!

Li Changkong had already boarded the plane by now. Even then, he peered out of the window, looking down at the top of the clouds, where black, gold and white swirled together in organized chaos, and even he couldn’t help but lean back into his seat and shut his eyes with a soft sigh, “Unbelievable… Is this what a battle between peak powers looks like?”

Qin Ye naturally knew nothing of these things. Because as soon as the censer appeared at the mountain top, it immediately began to shower upon the Golden Horde cavalry with mysterious golden beams of light. At once, the riders disintegrated into wisps of black smoke that scattered with the wind.

What emerged from the darkness were instead countless skeletons of what appeared to be half-man and half horse, and they were all frozen in place like statues!

“Haa…” Qin Ye waved his hand, causing what remained of the huge fan around him to shrink in size and fly back to him, where they immediately transformed back into their original shape of the bone umbrella. The entire mountaintop was silent. Black clouds continued to roll through the air, while illusory souls appeared to dart through the forest of centaur skeletons, screaming soundlessly with an anguished expression. Qin Ye could only hear his own heart’s deafening thumps at this point in time.

This was the stuff of nightmares that were beyond his wildest imaginations.

“No, you shouldn’t.” Qin Ye dragged his bone umbrella behind him as he slowly marched to the middle of the clearing, “You’ve got something more important to do, so… leave this place to me.”

The Harken grew taciturn. It was only when Qin Ye was some distance away that the Harken finally nodded with approbation.

Clatter!!! Just then, the bones of the centaurs clacked wildly, and they opened their eyes, only to reveal terrifying scarlet netherflames blazing from within. At once, their surroundings were tainted with a crimson hue, almost as though they were marching out of a sea of blood. The air was instantly filled with aggressive bloodthirstiness. Then, a split second later… they charged!

The survivors nodded with chattering teeth. Who would dare to step away anyway? They could all see an ocean of devils located all around them right now, and the talismans in their hands were the only things separating them from the abysses of death.

It was a single word, and yet it triggered the most uproarious response yet! The centaurs surrounding the mountaintop roared in unison, before hurtling forward like a terrifying tsunami!

Rumble… The skies rumbled in fury. This represented the might of an entire dynasty. The centaurs moved so quickly that they appeared like dark shadows, leaving trails of scarlet light wherever they went. Qin Ye gritted his teeth as he tightened his grip around his bone umbrella. His ears twitched gently, while his heart thumped with anxiety as the battle drew close to its most critical moments.

Then, as soon as the centaurs crossed the 300 meter mark, Qin Ye suddenly snapped his eyes wide open.

The sword in his hand was clearly no more than two meters long.

Unfortunately, hundreds of centaurs were but a drop in the ocean, especially under the augmentation of the Censer of the Song Dynasty. Naturally, he felt a different kind of weight bearing down upon him!

Military formation… No wonder I’ve been told this is a necessity in any war between underworlds! Qin Ye gritted his teeth. With a loud cry, he leapt right up into the sky and let himself loose. The surroundings turned pitch black from the endless Yin energy pouring right out of his body. But, even then, from the black sphere at the heart of the mountaintop would emerge an outpouring of vicious thrusts like a pouring rain that scattered indiscriminately ahead of him.

He had managed to create a clearing through the encirclement of forces. But, unfortunately, the rest of the encirclement still remained.

And what was even more terrifying was the fact that Qin Ye could only defend against the onslaught of troops from this very position! The rest of the centaurs were still charging up the hill with the sole aim of breaching the defences surrounding the Martyr’s Shrine!

“Don’t look at me… don’t look at me!” One Sword One Mind murmured to himself like an ostrich with its head in the ground. Snot and tears were already pouring down his face by now. The centaurs whistling past his side, rushing forward under the glow of the head-turning celestial phenomenon. This was well beyond the realms of his ability, and he was scared out of his wits!

“Want to die?” Qin Ye lifted his chin with the blade. In that instant, it suddenly dawned on Qin Ye how Arthis, the Harken and the Second King Yanluo must have felt when they were looking at him.

“Look at yourselves! Have you forgotten your identities after being locked up for just a few years in this place?!”

Pshk! The tip of his sword cut through the flesh of One Sword One Mind’s throat. At once, One Sword One Mind screamed at the top of his voice, and he immediately poured every bit of true energy in his body into the talisman without reservation.

Meanwhile, the centaurs were now no more than 10 meters from the entrance to the Martyr’s Shrine!

CHARGE!!!

“Haa… haa…” “Phew…” The burst of power was followed by the ragged breaths of the survivors who were all gasping for breath. However, Qin Ye didn’t relax in the slightest. He glanced around at his surroundings, only to realize that the remnants of the bones that were flying around in the air were slowly regrouping and reassembling themselves. So long as the netherflames remained unextinguished, they would soon come back to life once more.

Qin Ye gnashed his teeth, “How long more?”

“Besides, the endowment of the Heavenly Dao has its limits as well. The Yuan Dynasty was short lived, and the endowment of the Heavenly Dao cannot possibly be enduring as well! What they’re after right now is an instant burst that will allow them to breach the defences of the Martyr’s Shrine!”

“After all, you… are more important than Ghost King Zhao.”