Yama Rising

Qin Ye tapped lightly on the handrail and swiftly made his way down the spiral stairs. It was obviously the stairwell of a luxury cruise liner, but the feeling it gave off right now was no different from that of a morgue.

She was dressed in a red kimono from the Nipponese Warring States period. Her hair was tied up in braids, and she was weeping in the corner with her back faced towards Qin Ye.

Wuuu… wuu…. Qin Ye walked up to the girl, but she still remained unresponsive. Qin Ye sneered, “It looks like our Nipponese emissary friends have left us with a little gift… Lord Ming, have you ever seen a Nipponese horror movie?”

Qin Ye didn’t even glance at the female ghost. Instead, he simply walked past her as he continued to mumble to himself, “The sudden whipping around of her head is one of the horror movie classics. These close-up shots can be pretty good for raising one’s heart rate and giving the audience a good scare. With something like this here, then even if a living person did ignore all the warning signs and make it this far, they would naturally think twice about proceeding further. This is a well thought out plan on their part…”

The girl had at some point in time already reached out and grabbed hold of his trousers.

Qin Ye grew silent. And then, he turned around and sent her flying with a powerful kick!

But Qin Ye didn’t stop kicking her, “Uncle? Uncle?! How dare you call me an uncle! Look at my soft, supple skin and pristine complexion! In what way do I look like an uncle to you, huh?!”

Thud, thud, thud! With each kick that landed, Yin energy was forced out of the girl’s seven apertures. Finally, three seconds later, the little girl screamed at the top of her lungs under the relentless barrage of kicks.

The sound she made was completely incongruous with the image of a little girl. It was filled with immense pain, resentment and hostility. She desperately sought to turn her head around, only to suddenly find a hand gripping her neck tightly, forcing her head to turn back where she was originally facing - to the wall.

Zeeeekk… ZEEEKK! The ghost child continued to cry. This time, she mustered the strength to her limbs and struggled with all her might, and yet she still found herself unable to wrest free of Qin Ye’s vice-like grip. Just like that, she floundered about just like an upside-down tortoise.

Thud, thud! Another kick!

As soon as he released his grip around the little girl’s neck, she turned around immediately and screamed desperately - ZEEEEKKK!!

Her face was devoid of its usual features.

The true evil ghost in this room was the man standing in front of her!

That’s way too frightening… it would be wise to retreat.

The second basement saw an eclectic old man hanging from one of the electric lights. However, the old man scrambled to retreat as soon as he saw Qin Ye enter the second basement. In his haste, he even left behind the rope with which he hung himself to death. He simply screamed as he dashed straight into the wall like a madman.

“But that’s probably because they can only mobilize a hundred ghosts.” Ming Shiyin responded dismissively, and then he grew somber, “You can treat this as an appetizer leading up to the great war. Are you ready?”

He peered over and stared into the seemingly bottomless stairs!

It was almost as if this were the final warning to all who enter that they would be descending right into hell.

“Eh?”

The emblem comprised three diamond-shaped marks.

[in English] Help me.

“No…” Qin Ye gazed intently at the deep, dark abyss below, “It means - ‘save me’.”

Qin Ye rubbed his chin, and a bright glint flashed across the depths of his eyes, “What if… the emissaries had taken on the identities of the bodyguards of the head of Mitsubishi in order to gain access to the third basement?”

Qin Ye drew a deep breath, “Lord Ming, please unleash your abilities.”

Ming Shiyin’s surface glowed with a bright white light that seemed to render the roiling black fog down below completely useless. Then, several images quickly flickered through the surface of the mirror, until it finally paused on one of the images depicting a perspective of the cargo hold.

He didn’t know what methods the Nipponese emissaries had resorted to, but almost everyone within the cargo hold under the rank of an Anitya Hellguard had collapsed by now. Several boxes containing the goods to be auctioned had already been opened, only to be visibly obscured by the roiling dense fog within. It looked no different from a living hell.

One of them was none other than Master Kamo.

That said, his face was growing increasingly pale, and there was even a streak of blood that snaked out of the corner of his lips.

Hellguards!

“Tantric Buddhists.” Ming Shiyin confirmed, “And they’re learned members of their sects to boot. The Nipponese monks don’t have the practice of keeping a bald head. Their practices differ quite substantially from ours. They don’t abstain from meat and drinks, and they’re even allowed to get married. All they need to do is to chant sutras. Thus, as long as they’re not wearing their robes, it’s difficult to be certain whether they’re monks or not.”

This was also the most extraordinary one.

That said, it appeared almost as though he were completely unaffected by the incursion of Yin energy. As far as Qin Ye knew, exposure to Yin energy would immediately trigger the hidden desires of an ordinary human being’s heart, and his entire body would seize up and freeze as though it had been thrown into an icy cellar. This old man’s face appeared flushed and red, and even though the situation appeared incredibly dangerous, he didn’t show any signs of panic at all.

Noticing the bewilderment in Qin Ye’s eyes, Ming Shiyin immediately explained, “This is what you would call the Blessings of Virtue.”

So that’s what it is… Qin Ye took a deep breath and began to descend to the third basement.

There was no longer any fear of exposing his true identity to those to everyone. After all, those who shouldn’t know his true identity were already incapacitated. Thus, there was no longer a need to dally any longer. These were Nipponese emissaries, entities that were completely invisible to human beings. If things continued to drag on, it would spell certain death to them. Qin Ye loathed the prospects of dealing with two Hellguard-class Nipponese emissaries all by himself. However, he was even more disinclined to allow these Hellguard-class emissaries a free reign to do as they wished.

Close… I’m getting close… As he drew closer and closer to the epicenter of conflict, his mind grew calmer and calmer. In fact, it grew so calm that all that remained was an austere disposition.

I can still remember your Yin energy signature. It’s exactly the same as the one I’d detected back at the Eastsea North Station!

The tempo of his footsteps accelerated.

Boom!

Whoosh!! His presence instantly cut through the tide of Yin energy. His entire being had already transformed into an existence that was corporeal, yet illusory. He was accompanied by the cries of countless ghosts, and Yin energy abounded from his body as he dashed straight into the cavernous cargo hold ahead!