Yama Rising

Qin Ye also froze in horror. He was completely taken aback by the name he saw.

Neither one of the duo had expected to come across a message left by Zhao Yun in such a place.

This message might not seem like much, but it represented one crucial fact.

Who was Zhao Yun? He was practically an unparalleled existence across Hell in its former glory!

“I’d posit that his problem relates to Temujin’s soul.” The Harken thought aloud with a twinkle in its eyes, “Temujin’s soul has vanished together with Zhao Yun, while these two doors leading to the inner chambers were clearly sealed by both the Second King Yanluo and the Ghost King at the same time. There’s no way Temujin, a mere wandering soul that hasn’t been conferred any official status in Hell, would be able to escape from this place.”

“His soul… is not quite the same as the rest.” The Harken calmed his heart down and began to address its mind to the details it knew of. After all, they would be doing themselves an injustice if they passed up on the Ghost King before exhausting all of their options and leads.

“Firstly, although the Yuan Dynasty was similar to the Qing Dynasty in that the incumbents were both not of the Han ethnicity, the rulers of the Qing Dynasty eventually became sinicized, while the Mongols did not. However, that’s not the main point. Any dynasty founded on mainland Cathay would naturally still form a part of Cathay’s history. There’s simply no denying that. The point here is that when Kublai Khan first ascended the throne as the khagan emperor, his army wasn’t the only army that was marching on conquests for the expansion of their territory. Sure, his was the main force driving the formation of the Yuan Dynasty, but the other forces were in no way weaker than his either.”

“That’s right. The Yuan Dynasty was also known as a territory formed by the four main states of the Great Khanate, the Chagatai Khanate, the Il-Khanate, and the Golden Horde. To that end, these states are not considered unified states, but are rather independent of each other. Their leaders aren’t so important, but the fact remained that these independent states also meant that the dynasty was fractured. Coupled with the differences in their systems of belief, this might well have been the primary cause preventing Temujin’s soul from entering Hell. Or, to be more precise, allowed it to disobey the rules of Hell.”

Qin Ye frowned, “But, why?”

“Political scandal.” The Harken responded with a sigh, “It’s all because of Hell’s standing in the international arena. Do you know what kind of ridicule Hell would be subject to if others discovered that one of the souls of our founding ancestors actually refuses to submit to Hell? This would be the laughingstock of the millennium! I mean… we might be Hell, but we’re also concerned about our face, you know?!”

The Harken glared fiercely at Qin Ye as it continued, “Like I said, this is likely to be the case. Thus, Zhao Zilong was sent to guard this--... But that’s not right either! Even though Genghis Khan undoubtedly has the potential to become a Yama-class Yin spirit, it doesn’t change the fact that he hasn’t been officially conferred a title in Hell just yet. And that means that there’s no justification for sending a Ghost King to guard a single soul!”

What have we missed out?

Nobody said a word. Qin Ye sat at the foot of the statue of Tengri and delved deep into his own thoughts. After what seemed like an eternity, his eyes suddenly gleamed brightly, and he pulled out the heavy sword from behind his back and smashed it on the ground with a bang. His eyes blazed brightly as he turned towards the Harken, “This is it.”

The Harken didn’t rebuff Qin Ye’s suggestion immediately. However, it still had some questions, “What does Genghis Khan have to do with a second generation Forbidden Art? You’re not suggesting that a second generation Forbidden Art is something that is composed of ideas from Tengrism, are you? That’s far too lacking compared with the depths of the system of Taoism. I’m more inclined to think that the initiation module placed here had merely been entrusted to Zhao Yun’s care at the time of the great collapse.”

“The initiation module of the second generation Forbidden Art originally contained Resentment Crystals!”

Then, Qin Ye glanced around warily, before dropping the bombshell, “This tomb is likely constructed on a bed of Resentment Crystals!”

The Harken gasped, “But why would he do that? Besides, wouldn’t placing Resentment Crystals in the Mongol Empire be far too dangerous, especially since that’s also the location to the only entrance of the tomb?”

He glanced at the obsidian beneath his feet, “The fact that there’s likely a vein of Resentment Crystals down here that is far larger than what we’ve seen earlier in Khuree! In fact, the mine in Khuree is probably just the bait used to lead us to the prize! We’ve… truly struck gold this time!”

“Are you able to locate Zhao Yun?”

The Harken closed its eyes and began to sense its surroundings. Qin Ye took a step back and refrained from disturbing the Harken as well. After approximately half an hour, the Harken snapped open his eyes once more, “Northriver!”

“He’s in Zhending?”

“Where’s that?” Qin Ye had never heard of this place.

… Are you mocking me?

Qin Ye frowned, “Are you not afraid of radiation?”

Qin Ye nodded slightly.

Just then, there was the sound of a soft rumble. It started out slight, and then slowly grew louder and louder. Within 10 minutes, the sounds burgeoned from that of the trickle of a stream to the deafening roar of a rushing river that had burst its banks!

Both sides of the passageway had already split open by now, and copious amounts of sand poured in from outside!

That said, it was now patently clear given the manner in which the sand was falling through the passageway. Everything was rushing over like a stampede of horses!

“You’re not going to die from something like this. What are you so afraid of? Hurry up and let me climb into your shirt.”

“Then why aren’t you doing anything to protect me? Do you think I’m not afraid of getting dirty?!”

“What’s the point of posturing against me? Just wait for the sand to pile up and fill this chamber, stand on it and break the obsidian on top of the roof. You’re now back in Cathay, so what do you have to be afraid of? Tsk, young people these days… You need to learn how to get your hands dirty as well…”

In the desert.

There was a reasonably large crew located right in front of him, and an actor and an actress were clearly both trying to act out a scene of desolation with the desert in the backdrop. Unfortunately, the actress was unable to evoke the right emotions for her role.

They were in the Tianmo Desert.

Nobody knows how or why it was formed. There were mountains to the south, and a lake to the north. There were even beacon towers located along the ridge and the ruins of ancient counties and ancient castles located nearby. Naturally, it was a unique sight to have a desert located in the midst of all these things. In fact, the legends even had it that the desert was formed overnight, and it was something also called the overnight desert.

Unfortunately, everyone was deep in their own thoughts, and nobody saw the sandy ground beneath their feet slowly rising.

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