Yama Rising

The sword energy slashed through the clouds and the heavens, yet Zhao Yun didn't even withdraw his sword before it disintegrated into countless specks of silver light that spread out all around him.

He knew that the attack he had just unleashed hadn't struck its intended target.

In the instant that the attack had come into contact with the inner demon's body, it had transformed into countless vengeful spirits, which were rapidly traversing through the countless specks of silver light like splashes of ink.

Right as it bypassed Zhao Yun, a pillar of nine-colored light suddenly erupted into the heavens up ahead, and countless paper cutouts fanned out as a vast expanse of Yin energy filled the entire space. Within the Yin energy, a giant mouth that was radiating nine-colored radiance sprang open, revealing a black hole with a radius in excess of 100 meters within!

BOOM!!

Scintillating radiance filled heaven and earth, completely eradicating the darkness.

Amid the dazzling light, the vengeful spirits rapidly disintegrated as countless black shadows shot forth in a frenzy. These shadows were all formed by Yin energy, and they came in all types of different shapes and forms, including humans and different types of beasts. Some were flying through the air, some were galloping along the ground, some were standing atop flying swords... Each of them was only around an inch in size, and they were all frantically rushing toward the pond of blood.

The inner demon knew that something extremely terrifying and irreversible was about to happen!

In this instant, the inner demon experienced fear for the first time in thousands of years. The sense of peril in its heart was growing clearer and clearer, and right at this moment, its soul shuddered as it cast an incredulous gaze toward the pond of blood. As a result, all of the tiny black shadows stopped cold in their tracks.

A figure slowly stood up beside the blood pond.

It was Kwon Kyung-ho, and there was a chain connected to his body.

The sound of the chain stretching taut rang out, and all of the miniature shadows turned around with stunned expressions to find that the other end of the chain concealed somewhere up Qin Ye's sleeve!

Qin Ye was panting heavily. If he were a normal human, the injuries that he had sustained would've already been lethal. Even as a Yama-King, he was barely able to remain on his feet, but he was still tugging tightly onto the chain.

Countless paper cutouts descended on either side of the chain like snow right as it was stretched taut.

"I see..." all of the miniature shadows murmured in unison.

In this instant, the inner demon finally understood what had happened.

Firstly, Qin Ye's attacks definitely hadn't been unleashed blindly and aimlessly. Instead, his objective was to fling all of the paper cutouts into the air.

All of the attacks unleashed by Qin Ye and the inner demon against one another had shredded countless paper cutouts, and those shreds of paper had piled up onto the ground. That played right into Qin Ye's hands as Lishan Laomu's Qimen Dunjia was about to conceal his Yin energy and that of his allies.

However, he didn't give the inner demon any time to think before launching an attack, and that was precisely why the inner demon had chosen to leave the pond of blood to try and capture Qin Ye.

Through his actions, he was implying that he was able to see the inner demon's location.

The pond of blood was at the center, and if Qin Ye couldn't see the inner demon's position, there would be no way for him to be sure that the inner demon was there. If he had launched an attack under those circumstances, he would be exposing himself while attacking completely aimlessly, and that would be no different from committing suicide.

The inner demon had immediately caught on to this, but due to how abruptly this opportunity had presented itself, the inner demon didn't have the time to consider another question, which was whether the Qimen Dunjia was concealing other people aside from Qin Ye.

The answer to that was yes!

Not only was the Qimen Dunjia concealing Qin Ye, it was also doing the same for Zhao Yun, the Harken, and Arthis, who had just made it to the top of the pagoda.

The inner demon was unaware that the other three Yama-Kings had arrived! In its mind, capturing Qin Ye presented no risk and provided it with a foolproof safety net, and in its haste to take Qin Ye as hostage, it had failed to consider just how many people there were on the top of the pagoda at this moment.

Thus, it had rushed away from the pond of blood, thinking that it would definitely have the last laugh.

In retaliation, Qin Ye had unleashed his Heavenly Dragnet, and even though it had been withdrawn shortly thereafter, one of the Soul Shackles in the Heavenly Dragnet was connected to Kwon Kyung-ho, who was moving stealthily forward with his body concealed by the piles of shredded paper, and his Yin energy concealed by the Qimen Dunjia, thereby resulting in this current situation.

Even as Qin Ye's opponent, the inner demon couldn't help but be impressed by his impeccable planning and foresight.

In what seemed like a dire situation, he had come up with the best possible plan in a very short time, and it was a flawless plan with traps laid every single step of the way.

"Well done," it sighed as it turned toward Qin Ye. "I underestimated you."

A cold smile appeared on Qin Ye's face as he said in a strained voice, "If you had chosen to remain at the pond of blood at all cost, it would've been very difficult for us to bypass you in the time that's left, so the best way was to divert you away."

The inner demon heaved a forlorn sigh.

Where did I go wrong? What incorrect decisions did I make? How have I suddenly fallen into this dire situation?

Right at this moment, an unexpected turn of events suddenly took place.

Kwon Kyung-ho was abruptly decapitated out of the blue, and there was still a stunned look on his face even as his head flew up into the air. Immediately thereafter, his body began to rapidly disintegrate.

It was Resentment!

He had arrived on the scene just in the nick of time, and everyone's attention had been focused on the inner demon, so no one had noticed him!

He was also panting heavily, and his injuries were no less severe than Qin Ye's, but he stood as determined as ever as he yelled, "Go! Don't let our deaths be in vain!"

No one had anticipated something like this, and the despair in the inner demon's heart was instantly erased as all of the miniature shadows rushed directly toward the pond of blood at an incredible speed.

It was greeted by a devastating paw strike from the Harken.

Hundreds of the miniature shadows disintegrated into Yin wind, but the inner demon didn't pause even for a single instant. At the same time, Zhao Yun flew through the air like lightning as he said, "The inner demon is hidden in one of them! The only way to track it down is to destroy all of these shadows!"

He slashed his sword through the air as he spoke, unleashing a vast expanse of sword energy that shredded countless surrounding paper cutouts in an instant.

Amid the storm of shredded paper that was falling like snow, the inner demon gave a pained groan, yet all of the miniature shadows took on a crimson color and accelerated even further!

However, right at this moment, all of the miniature shadows stopped cold in their tracks once again as they cast their eyes toward the pond of blood with incredulous expressions.

Kwon Kyung-ho had vanished, and Qin Ye had taken his place!

This was the Dusk Legionnaire's mutual teleportation ability!

"No!" The inner demon let loose a desperate cry, and Resentment also faltered slightly upon seeing this.

The hope that had just been ignited in their hearts was instantly snuffed out again as he rushed frantically toward the blood pond.

Everything seemed to slow down in this moment.

The two Yama-Kings instinctively raised their hands in unison. One of them was wielding a broken blade, while the other was holding the bloodstained Fate, and both of their bodies were riddled with wounds.

Their injuries were just as severe as one another's, and they shouldn't even have been able to move, but in this decisive moment, their determination and resilience lent them the strength to unleash one final attack.

Time seemed to stand still for a moment. In the next instant, Resentment's head flew up into the air, and his eyes were filled with deep sorrow as he murmured, "I've done everything in my power, my king..."

A burst of Yin energy rose up into the heavens, and Resentment's body disintegrated into a flurry of black butterflies.

The cultivation rank advantage that Qin Ye had over Resentment had proven to be decisive.

However, Resentment's saber had also reached Qin Ye's neck and had sliced two to three centimeters into it. Blood was gushing out of the wound, staining half of Qin Ye's entire body red, and the blade wasn't far away from decapitating him as well.

Even as the two were facing lethal blows from one another, neither of them had backed down even half a step!

Black butterflies were fluttering before Qin Ye's eyes, but he paid them no heed. He seemed to not have sensed his injuries at all as he heaved a faint sigh of relief, then plunged Fate down toward the pond of blood with all his might!

"Stop!" The inner demon was about to go insane! Never did it think that this would be the final outcome. All of its Yin energy erupted in a frenzy as it transformed into a black shadow, flying past Zhao Yun and the Harken at an unimaginable speed.

A pillar of blood erupted out of the pond, and an indignant and furious roar rang out throughout heaven and earth.

It was as if a nuclear bomb of sound had been detonated, and all of the trees across the entirety of Shanxi Province were bent backward, while shockwaves that were visible even to the naked eye instantly swept over the entire city of Yuncheng!

Fate had already transformed into a spear that had plunged directly into Chiyou's glabella in the pond of blood.

Chiyou's eyes had already sprung open, and he was staring up at Qin Ye with an incredulous expression. "How dare you?! I am the king of the Jiuli Tribes..."

Before he had a chance to finish, his head was dragged out of the pond of blood by Qin Ye, who then pulled Fate out of the head before kicking it away with all his might.

The head was sent flying out of the pagoda like a shooting star, fading rapidly into the distance.

"No!" the inner demon screeched as it flew past Qin Ye. Even though it passed by extremely close to Qin Ye, it didn't take even a single glance at him.

If Chiyou were dead, then there was no way it would be able to last three days against four Yama-Kings on its own!

Even if it could, there was still the Harken's Nine Energy Array, which could seal it for another week! Without Chiyou as an ally, its chances of survival were next to zero!

I can still do this in time!

Its gaze was focused intently on the head that was flying into the distance. Yuncheng was encompassed under Lishan Laomu's array, so the head would definitely fall within the boundaries of the city. All it had to do was find the head, then put it back into the pond of blood, and the outcome would be different for sure!

Zhao Yun, the Harken, and Arthis immediately prepared to set off in pursuit, but they were stopped by Qin Ye.

"Your Excellency, we can't let it get away!" Zhao Yun urged in a frantic voice.

Qin Ye shook his head and closed his eyes as he said, "There's no need to go after it... Everything is over now..."

As soon as his voice trailed off, he fell unconscious to the ground.

There was nothing more that he had left to give. He could hear Zhao Yun yelling at him in a concerned voice, but he didn't want to respond.

So sleepy...

……………………………………………………

"Damn it!" The inner demon flew out of the Myriad Soul Pagoda with tightly gritted teeth. It had never suffered such a humiliating defeat before!

Why aren't they chasing after me? Shouldn't they be trying to stop me from recovering Chiyou's head? Do they think that their victory is assured?

Right at this moment, an overwhelming sense of fear and peril suddenly welled up in its heart.

Never had it a sense of foreboding this severe!

It immediately turned around to flee back into the Myriad Soul Pagoda, but the world around it suddenly fell still, and a humanoid figure appeared behind it.