Yama Rising

The cave was very quiet as Zhao Yun continued his story. "That era was truly the era of the gods. It was also during that time that the Goddess Earth Mother transformed into the six paths of reincarnation; this is a piece of history that can be found in Hell. Yu Kiang was from the same era as the Goddess Earth Mother. As for how the gods vanished, there is no definite answer. However, according to my knowledge, the gods in Heaven are only a small portion of gods that remained from that era. Far too many gods disappeared at the conclusion of the primordial era, and the first King Yanluo had tried to search for them in the past, but to no avail. After all, there was no cultural inheritance at the time. His theory is that just as many prehistoric living beings disappeared throughout the passage of time as a result of natural selection, the gods were too powerful and were no longer suitable for this world. Thus, just like the dinosaurs, they were perhaps erased by the Heavenly Dao. Alternatively, perhaps they naturally vanished into the flow of history due to some major event, but in any case, there had to have been survivors among their ranks."

He cast his gaze toward the massive frog down below and continued, "Yu Kiang, the god of wind, rain, and famine, was one of them. However, never did I think that he would've resided in hiding here for 5,000 years. Was his life preserved by the blood of a divinity?"

Qin Ye's mind was feeling a little muddled. "I had heard that the Goddess Earth Mother transformed into the six paths of reincarnation during the primordial era, but I didn't think it actually happened!"

"It did," Zhao Yun confirmed with a firm nod, "There have been many instances of passages in historical poems alluding to the transformation of the Goddess Earth Mother into the six paths of reincarnation. The relevant passages and pieces of evidence could all be found in the library of Hell, but unfortunately, they've most likely been destroyed by the plague of the blight vermin."

He paused here momentarily before continuing, "The second thing I have to explain is the relationship between the Three Star Mound and Yu Kiang."

"I do have some recollection of this." At this point, Qin Ye had already composed himself somewhat, and he said, "There are modern scholars who theorize that the Three Star Mound civilization worshipped water. The first piece of evidence to support this is that the ruins of the Three Star Mound civilization were discovered near Duck River. Given the thought process of people from the ancient past and man's instinctive fear of the unknown, there is a strong motive for them to revere water. The second piece of evidence concerns the totem of the Three Star Mound civilization. Speaking of which..."

He turned to look at Zhao Yun as he continued, "Their totem is none other than a golden frog, and countless scholars have speculated that this golden frog is Yu Kiang! That would correspond perfectly with their reasons for worshipping water."

He took a deep breath as he looked down at the giant frog, and all of the puzzle pieces finally fell into place as he said in a trembling voice, "In reality, they were indeed worshipping Yu Kiang, but the Yu Kiang they were worshipping wasn't an imaginary deity; it was a true god! Yu Kiang once lived in the civilization of the Three Star Mound, and he exists to this very day!"

Everything makes sense now... Answers to many of the unsolved mysteries of the mortal realm had been found in the Underworld. Was this a result of the law of interaction between the two realms?

Countless thoughts flashed through his mind like lightning, scattering the fog of uncertainty and allowing him to think of even more things.

For example, why was it that all of the bronze artifacts unearthed from the Three Star Mound were so strange?

There were humanoid bronze sculptures with bird heads and frog heads, as well as many other pieces of bronze ware constructed in an extremely abstract style, completely different from the bronze ware of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dynasties! There was no way that the styles could've changed so drastically in such a short time, and this was one of the main unsolved mysteries of the Three Star Mound.

However, with the new information that had just come to light, there was now a very simple explanation.

The fact of the matter was that they most likely weren't even crafting their sculptures based on humans! Instead, they could've been based on the gods that ruled over the world at that time!

Yu Kiang was residing here, so there must've been many weaker gods or half-god, half-human living beings that had gathered here. During the primordial era, humans were on the lowest tier of the pecking order, so they would naturally choose to make sculptures of the things that they worshipped.

A fervent look appeared in Qin Ye's eyes as he appraised Zhao Yun. The reason for Yu Kiang's presence here had been determined, so now, all that was left was the question of why the Holy Grail was here, and why it was crushing Yu Kiang.

"The third thing that I have to explain is the divine artifact dilemma. This is something that the second King Yanluo wouldn't have known about as he never experienced that era. The basis of the so-called divine artifact dilemma stems from the fact that all divine artifacts had to be held by living beings with sentient will. Otherwise, they would be like trees without roots and water without origins. Over time, their divinity could even regress. All of the creation-grade divine artifacts were even more aware of this than normal divine artifacts, so they would automatically choose owners for themselves."

A thought suddenly occurred to Qin Ye upon hearing this.

Back then, the fragments of King Yama's Seal had voluntarily flown toward him. At the time, he had been quite perplexed by this, but thinking about it now, he realized that it had to have been because the judgment of the fragments of King Yama's Seal had been affected by Granny Meng's visit. Furthermore, it was incomplete, so only the fragments without an owner would turn to him.

"However, creation-grade divine artifacts are far too powerful for ordinary people to suppress. Hence..." Zhao Yun paused here momentarily before continuing, "It could perhaps choose you, but if it discovers that you're not a suitable owner, it would attempt to suppress its owner, and that leads me to the final topic that I have to explain: mutual devouring."

Even without requiring an explanation from Zhao Yun, Qin Ye already understood everything, and he cast a meaningful gaze toward the giant frog on the lakebed.

Following the arrival of the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn in Cathay, its last owner, that pure and virtuous individual, had already disappeared. Thus, in order to prevent the regression of its own divinity, it had to choose a new owner for itself. It naturally didn't dare to choose anyone from Hell, but to its surprise, it found a better target beneath the Underworld: a hibernating ancient god.

"Perhaps he wasn't necessarily hibernating. Instead, it's possible that Yu Kiang managed to survive the primordial era, but had sustained severe injuries and was forced to rest and recuperate. After the passage of several thousand years, he made a full recovery..." Qin Ye slowly paced along the rim of the chalice with his hands clasped behind his back as he mused, "But he didn't dare to come out. At that point, this place was already under Hell's rule, and he could sense just how powerful Hell was. If he had emerged at that time, then the outcome would've been quite difficult to foresee. Surviving the tribulation of the primordial era had already been an arduous feat, so he naturally didn't want to place his safety at risk. Thus, he chose to bide his time and continue to cultivate..."

He continued along this train of thought. "However, no one could've predicted the arrival of the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn in Cathay through the Silk Road. On top of that, it chose Yu Kiang as its owner, so it entered this space."

Zhao Yun took over from here. "But in the end, it discovered that Yu Kiang wasn't a suitable owner, so it decided to turn the tables and suppress Yu Kiang..."

"However, Yu Kiang is an ancient god from the primordial era, and he certainly wasn't going to allow himself to be dominated..." Qin Ye sighed as the two of them continued to piece together the truth. "This battle for supremacy raged for thousands of years, and it's still ongoing even to this very day. So what was that burst of Yin energy that transcended beyond the Yama-King level? Did that come from Yu Kiang?"

"No, it came from both of them," Zhao Yun replied, "Having endured a long journey to arrive at a top-tier underworld, the chalice's powers had been severely debilitated. In contrast, Yu Kiang was fighting on the land that he was familiar with and held the home advantage. As a result of these factors, a peculiar process of fusion commenced between the chalice and Yu Kiang. Regardless of which one of them secured the final victory, a divine artifact that transcended beyond the creation-grade would perhaps ultimately emerge. Alternatively, perhaps their fusion would result in a being that transcended beyond the Yama-Kings, reaching the same level as the freak that was the second King Yanluo."

He pointed a finger upward before continuing, "The crack through which the blood of a divinity was dripping down was most likely the crack that the chalice had created upon its landing."

Qin Ye's brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.

At some point - perhaps it was ever since the Hungry Ghost Festival - he began to detest this feeling of not being in control of his own fate.

As the King Yanluo, he would struggle to sleep at night if a potential time bomb like this were lurking in his empire.

"How do we get rid of this thing?"

"Why would we want to get rid of it?" Zhao Yun turned to Qin Ye with a stunned expression. "My Lord, this is a massive opportunity!"

Qin Ye was quite befuddled to hear this, yet before he had a chance to ask any questions, Zhao Yun explained, "My Lord, if we were to take the chalice now, Yu Kiang would immediately awaken. His powers already transcend beyond the Yama-King level, so I'm sure you're just as aware as I am of how much trouble he could cause."

Qin Ye gave a slight nod in response.

"I wouldn't be able to slay Yu Kiang. He has resided here for thousands of years and absorbed some of the chalice's divinity, pushing him beyond the threshold of a Yama-King, and it would be far too dangerous to release such a formidable ancient god."

"So you're saying... we shouldn't release him?" Qin Ye asked.

"Of course." Zhao Yun cast a fervent gaze toward the Holy Grail and the giant frog down below as he said in a voice that was brimming with excitement, "My Lord, now that the Underworld has been united, there are three things that you must do as soon as possible. Firstly, you must officially found a nation, decide on an era name, a dynasty title, a flag, a style, a national emblem, a national flower... All of these things are very important. They will be the voice of the Third Era of Hell, things that will allow you to spread your name far and wide on an international basis in the future. For example: style. Do we go with a modern or an antiquated style? What color is going to represent our nation? What is going to be our national flower? These things are all very important. Secondly, you need to track down the Judgment Pen. Without the Judgment Pen, you won't be able to judge good from evil, nor decide on where Yin spirits are to go. All Yin spirits must receive a ruling from the Judgment Pen before they can enter reincarnation. Thirdly, you must reconstruct the six paths of reincarnation and the 18 abysses of punishment, and the former must be completed before the latter. There is a process of reciprocation between Yin and Yang. Even though the second King Yanluo was able to defy the will of the Heavenly Dao, preventing it from governing the reincarnation process of Hell for 100 years, there's a limit to how long this can last. Only with the six paths of reincarnation ready and the Judgment Pen recovered can Hell truly be considered to be complete, and only then will you be able to set your sights on the rest of the world..."

Zhao Yun pointed down at the giant frog before continuing, "And this will be the foundation for the six paths of reincarnation!"

What? How does that work?!

Qin Ye blinked in a puzzled manner. "What do you mean?"

Zhao Yun explained in a methodical voice, "The six paths of reincarnation were formed by the Goddess Earth Mother..."

This simple reminder was like a key that opened up a brand new world to Qin Ye, and his eyes immediately lit up. "Are you saying that the six paths of reincarnation must be formed by the physical body of a god?"

Zhao Yun nodded in response. "Not just their physical body, it can also be their bloodline or skeleton. As long as it's complete, it'll be a sufficient foundation. I was really concerned about where we were going to find such a thing, but now, it's being presented right before our eyes! This is a living ancient god! I had considered that there might still be undiscovered bodies of ancient gods buried in the Cathayan mortal realm. Some have formed mountains and valleys, some of their bloodlines have formed lakes and rivers. I was prepared to dig them up bit by bit; all that would've taken was an extended period of time. However, none of that would've been able to compare with a living ancient god!"

Qin Ye finally understood why Zhao Yun was so ecstatic.

The Goddess Earth Mother had transformed into the six paths of reincarnation, thereby setting a precedent which mandated that the six paths of reincarnation had to be formed by a vessel of divinity. In other words, an ancient god. But where were they supposed to find an ancient god? They could only search for the remains of such gods, which was bound to be a very lengthy process. However, who could've predicted that the divine artifact's dilemma of the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn would lead them to the final living ancient god in the Cathayan Underworld?

The Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn would also have to act as part of the foundation for the new six paths of reincarnation. Otherwise, if a being above the Yama-King level were to be awakened, the consequences would be utterly catastrophic. It was quite a pity that they couldn't take this creation-grade divine artifact with them, but this was undeniably the best use for it.

Thus, the final mystery was solved just like that.

Why hadn't Dong Zhuo used the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn? He didn't dare!

Under these circumstances, he could only pray that the attack from Hell's army would awaken this monster, and that was his true final trump card. Thus, he had to make Lotus City the site of the final battle. He had already guessed from Qin Hui and Su Daji's betrayal that Hell was far more fearsome than he had imagined, but at the same time, he was completely unaware of what state Yu Kiang and the Holy Grail were in.

Thus, even until the moment of his death, the trump card that he had been banking on still failed to activate.

Qin Ye cast his gaze toward the eyes of Yu Kiang, and he was full of sympathy toward the ancient god. He had been hibernating for so many years, and now, his slumber was about to become eternal.

How about Hell lends you a hand and puts an end to the mutual devouring between you and the chalice?