Yama Rising

Everything was silent in the underworld.

As the great war escalated, so did each Yin spirit tighten their fists in anxiety. Everyone was desperately resisting the urge to rush straight to the surface and join their comrades-in-arms in battle.

Countless Yin spirits gritted their teeth and tightened their grasps around their weapons, eagerly anticipating the moment that their King Yanluo would give the command. If not for the fact that their role was to bide their time for the perfect opportunity to deal the final blow, they would already have sought permission to enter battle by now.

Nobody knew how devastating their casualties were going to be, but it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that at least half of the Yang Clan forces would be decimated in this war.

The assassins were only supposed to strike at the most critical of times! The time clearly wasn’t right!

And he wasn’t the only one. Several Yin spirits abruptly shot to their feets, breathing raggedly as they stared at the screen of Yin energy that was displaying the southern city walls. Even their hands were trembling profusely.

They’ve breached it!!

That’s where Hua Jieyu had been deployed…

“Don’t be fooled!” Just as both Arthis and Qin Ye were stirring with great joy, Yang Yande dragged them right back to reality, “Look here… They’re… doing this on purpose.”

The area below the city walls was far wider than atop the city walls itself, and it would make manoeuvring a larger army far easier for the Qufu soldiers!

“I wonder if General Hua would notice this in time…” Yang Yande derw a deep breath, “I’ve got a feeling that the core defensive forces at the southern walls are going to appear soon enough. They’re not going to let an opportunity like this slip through their hands…”

It was an opportunity to both Hua Jieyu as well as Qufu alike!

“God!!” Oh god!!! Help!!!” “Yin soldiers have entered the city! Yin soldiers have entered the city!!” “Where are the guards? How can the city guards allow them to trample over the city like that?!”

Hua Jieyu was dressed in an imposing black armor, sweeping through the streets of Qufu with nary an expression on her face. At least, until she got to the end of the street.

The surroundings were also sparsely populated with civilian houses. But as soon as Hua Jieyu’s forces showed up, countless Qufu archers immediately ran to the top of the houses, holding up bows and arrows that were trained directly on Hua Jieyu’s army. There were approximately 20,000 or so archers in all.

The design of the walls within Shanhai Pass were exquisite and ingenious. The inner city walls were constructed at the top of ramps and slopes that led straight down to the outer city. Incidentally, the Soul-Launching Coffins were located right at the top of these ramps. Such a design made it easy for the forces located within the inner city to descend to the outer city, but incredibly difficult for the invaders to siege the high ground.

She turned her attention away from the forces arrayed before her, and straight to the city walls apart from the one that she had come from. Each of the walls were erupting with intense Yin energy and an explosive display of netherflames. She immediately knew that she was the only one who had managed to breach the city walls and arrive at the urban areas.

It was dangerous. But it was likewise also an opportunity to her.

And if there wasn’t any room left for retreat… then there was no need to contemplate retreat at all!

No words were needed.

A split second later, the war drums began to sound from behind the enemy lines, and an entire row of Qufu’s forces comprising thousands of war horses began to charge wildly at the same time.

The houses around them quivered softly to the rumble of hooves. Tens of thousands of cavalry charged towards Hell’s forces at the same time! It was a spectacular sight! Smoke and dust scattered behind them, interweaving with the dark, billowing Yin energy about them. Everything became a hazy blur, and the only things they could see were spots of flickering netherflames that peeked out from within.

It appeared no different from the rumble of a demon god’s approach. Given the speed of their approach, it wasn’t going to take more than thirty seconds before all hell broke loose. Each stomp of the hooves weighed heavily on the hearts of Hell’s Yin soldiers. In ancient times, the sound of the approach of ten thousand cavalry was something that could even cause Yin soldiers to desert their armies and turn tail to run.

Three hundred meters… two hundred meters… one hundred meters!!

It was a military formation!

Back in the underworld. Both Qin Ye and Arthis were watching this sight with great astonishment. Neither of them had expected the Yang Clan to actually be in possession of a mighty military formation!

It was also a military formation!

It was a full-on confrontation of strength. Hell’s Yin soldiers possessed the ability to face ten rogue Yin spirits at once, but the Qufu forces clearly had an edge in the speed of their cavalry’s charge. There were no tricks in their upcoming clash. It was an unadulterated contest of strength.

While the loser would perish and be buried in the ground.

“Victory to Hell!!!” Hua Jieyu swung her hand down mightily, and the Yin soldiers tightened their defenses, yelled at the top of their voices and braced themselves for impact.

BOOM!!!

It was so deafening that everything appeared to go silent.

When all was said and done, neither side had much of an edge over the other. All that remained was a messy melee of Yin spirit against Yin spirit.

Ssss!!! Countless Qufu soldiers screamed miserably as they were reduced into spots of netherflames that quickly faded away. Yet, this was only the first wave of cavalrymen. A far larger wave of cavalrymen were approaching fast from behind!

The successive waves of Qufu cavalrymen were like mighty tidal waves that constantly battered against the shores. Qufu soldiers were pounded away desperately at Hell’s defensive formation. One wave… two waves… five waves… ten waves!! By the time the twelfth wave of cavalry arrived, Hell’s forces could no longer resist their approach any further.

Bang… One of Hell’s soldiers was knocked into the air, and the watertight defenses of Hell’s formation finally sprung a small leak. But before they could even patch things up with their reserve forces, the rest of Qufu cavalry immediately rushed straight to the gap like sharks that had smelled blood, and they tore frantically into it.

“Chaaaaaarge!!!” It was infantry against cavalry. Whenever a part of Hell’s formation was forcefully torn open, what soon followed was a raging avalanche of destruction. Fortunately, most of Hell’s soldiers who were knocked back didn’t dissipate immediately. Under Hua Jieyu’s calm leadership, they gritted their teeth and fought through the pain, before promptly rejoining the formation from behind.

They could tell that these forces were undoubtedly part of Qufu’s core forces! Otherwise, they would never have been able to go toe to toe against genuine Emissaries of Hell.

Clang, clang! Metallic clashes rang out throughout the battlefield. The battle raged with a white hot intensity. Hua Jieyu’s commands were no longer useful. In the ensuing chaotic melee, what truly shone was the disciplined leadership of the five-men leaders. As formations slowly broke up, the cavalrymen who charged into the heat of battle soon found themselves surrounded by several Yin soldiers armed with spears.

Clatter, clatter… Swords and spears flourished like the dance of dragons. Wherever they passed, Hell’s forces would scream miserably in defeat and perish in netherflames. But they would soon be replaced by fearless warriors that rushed up to take their place. Meanwhile, the waves of cavalry continued to pour in like unrelenting waves, while arrows continued to pelt down in a chaotic fashion all around. Hell’s military formation had already crumbled completely by now, and the Yin soldiers no longer had the ability to resist the impact from the cavalry’s charge.

“Long live Lord Kong!!!” With a maddened roar, the final wave of cavalry charged forward bravely into the fray. Hell had finally breached the last of Qufu’s military formation!

Now’s the time!

While they’re in the midst of regrouping their forces, I’ll head into the fray and take down the scraps of cavalrymen that remain on the battlefield. And then, I can break my army up into 100-men groups to wreak havoc across the entire city of Qufu!

She hadn’t felt a single trace of fear back during their earlier skirmish. But now… her back suddenly felt soaked through with cold sweat as a chill ran down her spine. She turned her head stiffly to locate the source of her fear at the end of the street.

She had just noticed the existence of a massive residence parked right in the center of the street.

Infernal Judge… The mainstay of their defenses has finally showed up…

“Come, tell me, what power do you serve? If you do, I--...”

There was the soft sound of gnashing teeth, “Might just consider letting you die a quicker death!”