Yama Rising

CLANG!!!

A Judge-class Prestige of the Luminary.

Qin Ye shut his eyes as soon as he noticed the assailants being repelled backwards. His forehead was already percolating with cold sweat. He gritted his teeth and lifted his hands, and countless chains suddenly shot out from within his long sleeves, swiftly coiling around the retreating ghosts and binding the ghosts who were desperately retreating!

Qin Ye’s chest heaved and fell slightly as he glanced about his surroundings warily. His fingers were still trembling slightly underneath his sleeves, ready to react at the moment’s notice. This was the first time he had felt such a fleeting moment of death and crisis arise from the depths of his heart.

But it only stood to reason. Back then, he knew full well that he always had the option of retreat when push came to shove. The only trade off was forgoing his possession of the Obsidian Heaven’s Eye Bowl. On the other hand… his current opponent’s intentions were patently clear - he was after Qin Ye’s life!

Assassination of the King Yanluo of Hell!

The sheer thought of the potential consequences sent shivers down Qin Ye’s spine.

Qin Ye’s heart was still thumping wildly. He forced himself to calm down as he turned his gaze to the jiangshi back at the central pool. He couldn’t be bothered with the mastermind for now. What was more pressing was… whether there were any clues left behind for him.

Why does this person have such an intense desire to murder me in cold blood? He’s failed once, and yet he keeps coming again and again?

That’s impossible. Even if that were the case, how could they possibly ascertain my identity as the King Yanluo of Hell? Moreover, it’s not likely that they’re able to detect the presence of the shard of King Yanluo’s Seal on me, since it’s a divine artifact after all. Even Honda Tadakatsu was able to detect the shard of King Yanluo’s seal only due to the resonance arising out of the Book of Life and Death. It’s practically impossible in the current circumstances.

But just as the corpse was flying through the air, it suddenly paused, almost as though there were an equal and opposite force that was pulling the corpse straight back towards the pool. Just like that, the corpse trembled in the air where it remained motionless!

It was only then that he realized that a meter-wide hole had at some point in time silently appeared in the middle of the pool. Water poured straight into this peculiar sinkhole, together with the body of the female jiangshi.

The sinkhole was consuming things around it almost as though it were a swirling black hole! The entire realm that Qin Ye was in right now, including the dead female workers, the factory, and even… the pharmacy, hotels, roads, street lights and humanoid paper effigies outside were being sucked straight into the sinkhole as though they were nothing more than a painting on a canvass being drawn into a powerful vortex.

Infernal Judge…

Clang! The corpse was finally pulled into the sinkhole, and his shackle snapped back suddenly, pulling back the armor around the corpse that promptly transformed into the size of a matchbox and landed in his hands.

Within moments, he was clothed in the garments of an Infernal Judge, replete with the Zhong Kui hat. His white hair scattered about menacingly, while the golden netherflame in his eyes glimmered brightly like the moon in the dark night sky. He held a Judgment Pen in one hand, and the Book of Life and Death in the other. Then, he chuckled coldly, “By Hell’s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse!”

SSSSS!!! She threw both hands up before her and struggled to pull out the shackles that had plunged straight through her body. Meanwhile, everything around her was rapidly transforming into a black-and-white vortex that was being consumed by the sinkhole. The humanoid paper effigies around were screaming at the top of their voices, even as they swirled about helplessly within the massive vortex that was swallowing up everything in its surroundings. Within moments, Qin Ye and the female jiangshi were both swept straight into the sinkhole.

Rumble! The entire space trembled. A Judge’s might was so overwhelming that it could easily trigger abrupt changes to its surroundings.

Sss… SSS!!! Qin Ye’s attack was like a bolt of condemnation that crashed straight towards the female jiangshi’s body. Her entire body trembled, and she shrieked at the top of her voice, “Didn’t… you promise… to save me?!!!”

AHHHHH--!!!! A miserable shriek filled their entire surroundings. However, the source of the scream wasn’t the female jiangshi. She was still clinging tightly to her head and glaring viciously at Qin Ye at this very moment.

Qin Ye remained silent as he glanced vigilantly about his surroundings.

Ten thousand Yin soldiers… The cloud of mystery in Qin Ye’s mind was suddenly swept clear in this very instant.

The cause of Ksitigarbha’s warning was indeed located in the heart of Valley County! In fact, it had only appeared when the Yin soldiers were marching! Therefore, Ksitigarbha’s warning must have been intended to tell me… to be careful of these Yin soldiers.

The Yin soldiers around looked no different from the famous terracotta warriors. They weren’t living beings at all. Instead, they appear to have been formed entirely out of clay, while the armor on their bodies were made entirely out of paper.

There was a sea of Yin soldiers around Qin Ye as far as he could see. It was the optical effect of having ten thousand or more Yin soldiers arrayed against him. Yet what was perhaps even more astonishing was the fact that there was a large ancient palanquin that stood out in the midst of the Yin soldiers around him. We say it was a palanquin, but… it would be more accurately described as a mobile imperial residence carried on the backs of hundreds of Yin spirits.

Dead silence.

Unfortunately, for some strange reason, the shard of King Yanluo’s Seal appeared to be activating much slower than before.

“How bold.” A man’s voice chuckled coldly from within the mobile residence, “Trifling Infernal Judge… You now stand before a direct descendent of the Confucian Family - a spiritual leader of Cathay as you know it, and yet you’re not even kneeling to pay your respects to me?!”

Qin Ye’s gaze shrunk. This man… is a direct descendant of Confucius himself? How many people surnamed ‘Kong’ are there in Cathay in the first place? And how many of these are notorious for their crimes? Of all people, why was he the one who was able to evade the cataclysmic consequences of Ksitigarbha’s ascension?

Truth be told, he was already starting to panic within. Is the shard of King Yanluo’s Seal taking longer than usual to activate because we’re in Limbo right now? That said, he knew full well that the display of fear could never resolve and dispel the source of danger in the first place.

The voice in the palace chuckled lightly, “Esteemed Infernal Judge, are you currently thinking of how you can escape from this place?”

“And if you’re thinking of throwing around baseless claims that a genuine Emissary of Hell can instantly purge an evil ghost… take a look for yourself and see what this is.”

Furthermore, a faint, white lustre glowed beneath the feet of the Yin soldiers in the shape of a tiger-shaped pattern.

That’s it…

“This is a military formation.” The cold voice continued to explain from within the mobile residence, “I know all twelve hundred Infernal Judges of the old Hell, but I haven’t seen you before. By my guess, you must have only become an Infernal Judge within the last hundred years. In other words, you would have only recently advanced to this new rank, and you naturally wouldn’t know how to deal with such terrifying, terrible things.”

“Kill him!!”

With that, the Yin soldiers echoed with an earth-shattering battle cry and loosened a volley of flaming arrows at Qin Ye!

1. It’s not a very common surname.