Yama Rising

Back in the cargo hold.

That said, Jingo and Dojin were fully aware that this was hardly something that they could keep up indefinitely!

“How much longer is he going to take?” Dojin slammed his palms together. Beads of sweat were already rolling off his forehead. After all, maintaining such a powerful technique for a protracted period of time necessarily consumed a great amount of his true energy reserves. He had already eliminated innumerable Yin spirits, but the current of Yin spirits appeared to be endless. Furthermore, they were already knee-deep in seawater by now.

Hurry up… Hurry up! You’d better be able to break the seal on the Obsidian Heaven’s Eye Bowl before Azai Nagamasa wisens up to the situation. Otherwise… we’re going to have to face several Hellguards all on our own, and death would be the only possible outcome!

“Aren’t you able to do anything to stop these Yin spirits?” Jingo gritted his teeth.

It still had the display of Justice Bao’s might and authority hidden up its sleeves. However, that wasn’t something which it could use freely and callously. In fact, it could only use it once. In other words, it was the ace up its sleeves - its hidden killing trump card. After all, Justice Bao wasn’t even on earth any longer, so how mighty could this lingering display of authority possibly be?

Back then, Ming Shiyin had already consumed a substantial part of Justice Bao’s lingering authority on the mirror, and there wasn’t much left at its disposal right now. Furthermore, there were other variables to consider in the present circumstances, especially since someone within Azai Nagamasa’s army could very well be in possession of the Book of Life and Death. Nobody knew who it was… just like how nobody knew when General Sun Jian found one of the emperor’s jade seals back in ages past. On the other hand, if it were to callously release its display of Justice Bao’s might, their opponents might well be able to adopt countermeasures by tapping into the strength of the Book of Life and Death. With what little bit of Justice Bao’s aura it had left at its disposal, Ming Shiyin wasn’t confident of overpowering the primordial treasure of Hell at all.

They were caught between a rock and a hard place. Who could have expected the Nipponese underworld to pick up the Book of Life and Death at such a critical juncture?

“Damn it!” Dojin cursed, while Ming Shiyin turned a deaf ear to him. In reality, there was already a massive tide of Yin energy that was spinning wildly in the heart of its body. If one looked close enough, he would be able to notice a faint source of light spinning softly in the center of the otherwise pitch-black surface of the mirror, almost like a point of singularity from which an entire universe would erupt.

Krr… krr… krr… Just then, the nails that had been driven into the hull of the cruise liner were abruptly pulled out at once, and seawater began to rush into the cargo hold. Simultaneously, innumerable Yin spirits began to pour in through the beehive-like holes in the hull.

“I won’t be able to hold on for long!” Jingo turned back and bellowed loudly, “The Yin energy is growing too dense. At the present rate of erosion, I can at best hold up for only five minutes! And then, the scriptures plugging the gaps will crumble. You…”

And he wasn’t the only one. Dojin also gasped at exactly the same time. And even Ming Shiyin turned around abruptly and glanced warily at the surroundings.

They had just detected the impending approach of three Hellguard-class sources of Yin energy! And each of these sources of energy was no weaker than Kuki Yoshitaka himself! These Yin spirits were on a completely different plane of existence than the other Yin spirits around right now!

Ming Shiyin immediately grew taciturn. The Hellguard-class monks weren’t able to see what was happening outside the cargo hold, but Ming Shiyin could. Therefore, it was keenly aware that the waters outside were boiling and gurgling. A great inferno of netherflames was blazing around the three sources of great Yin energy as they raced at top speed to the cargo hold of the cruise liner!

It was almost as though the lesser creatures of the mountain had all scattered to give way to the majestic tiger that had just crawled out of its den.

Boom, boom, boom! A split second later, the dense cloud of Yin energy slammed heavily into the cargo hold of the cruise line, and rather than allowing copious amounts of water to enter the cargo hold, the breach in the hull was instead filled with a great wall of netherflames. In an instant, the entire external hull of the cruise liner was covered in a jade-green blaze and filled with eerie shrieks, screams and cries of a chorus of grievous souls.

Drip… It was a dark moonless night. The sudden interchange between light and dark caused everyone to be momentarily blinded. And right at that moment, they all heard a soft sound cut through the tense silence.

That was the sound of a blade being unsheathed from its scabbard.

Time appeared to freeze at this instant. Dojin and Jingo held their breaths and suppressed the loud thumping of their hearts to a minimum. The sudden onset of darkness had caused their other senses to perk up with great sensitivity. And that was precisely why they were now able to sense the palpable, murderous intent that crept along their skin.

A bright gleam of blade light flickered through the darkness, slicing cleanly through the Moonlit Night and cutting straight at Dojin’s head!

“What an alluring smell…” A faint voice spoke amidst the pitch-black darkness, “We’re both Hellguards, but… do you really think you’d be able to stop us on your own?”

Mount Koya’s hidden technique, the Moonlit Night, had actually been unable to resist a single blow from the Hellguard-class daimyo.

Dojin gasped in horror, and immediately stood back to back with Jingo. His lips trembled as he ran his finger across the wound on his face with great disbelief. Too fast… To think that I wasn’t even able to respond to the speed of his attacks.

BOOM!! As if in response to his question, spots of netherflames suddenly illuminated the inside of the cargo hold like beautiful fireflies hovering eerily within a gloomy ice cave in the middle of winter. They twirled about in the air, dancing about, before quickly converging together into a great blaze. Moments later, a figure dressed in a red great armor that was immolating with netherflames opened its scarlet eyes and walked out slowly from the great blaze.

“The fragrance of the living… is delightful…” Murmuring, the red-armored figure spread his arms, as though embracing the darkness around him.

“You seem to know who I am.” The blazing scarlet pupils turned to the two monks. The man in the red armor unsheathed his katana and gently ran his finger across its blade, “Then, do you know my sword as well?”

How could we not recognize what it is…

And his five foot long katana called A Thousand Birds was exactly what he used to cleave down the bolt of lightning when it struck him.

“Master Dosetsu’s name has spread far and wide. There are few people in the world who wouldn’t know you.” Another voice interjected. Another large set of armor covered in crimson flames walked out of the darkness, dragging a long spear on the ground. The spear was stained with copious amounts of dark and grotesque dried blood.

Here was a genius who had commanded the Takeda Red Demons at the tender age of twenty one, whose spear and armor was dyed red by the blood of his foes. This was none other than the Red Demon himself, Ii Naomasa!

It didn’t matter how confident Dojin and Jingo had been earlier. As soon as these legendary figures from the annals of history showed up, they immediately felt a chill creep right over their hearts.

Furthermore, he was the only one whose eyes were lit with a peculiar, white netherflame. That said, his body unmistakably exuded the aura of an Anitya Hellguard. The strength of an evil ghost was inextricably linked to a person’s battlefield achievements while he was still alive. The fact that he was an Anitya Hellguard right now spoke volumes of his conquests in life.

The man’s white pupils swept across the two men emotionlessly as he quipped, “If you’ve already made your preparations… then we’ll send you on your way.”

1. This was an event that happened in the 2nd century AD. It is said that he found one of the jade seals in a well and kept it. However, when Yuan Shu declared himself emperor, he held General Sun’s wife hostage in exchange for the seal.

2. A Japanese sword drawing technique.

3. Legend has it that he survived because he cut down the thundergod in the lightning bolt with his sword.